We really were a Noisy Neighbour

REVD HOME GIGS BECAME RIOT

INDIE veterans Reverend And The Makers have been getting personal by playing shows in fans’ houses – which has led to some intense experiences.

The Sheffield band, back with their first album for six years, even had to dodge the police when a party in Cumbria got out of hand and they were definitely the Noisy Neighbour. Singer Jon McClure, left, told me: “We played an end-of-terrace house by the sea that was absolutely rammed. “About 300 people were there, some of them crowdsurfing so that all the lights got smashed. The police turned up in a riot van, so I was, ‘Listen, I’ve got to scarper.’”

Jon also suffered an Alan Partridge moment when he arrived at a fan’s house in Wales but nobody else was there.

Echoing a famous scene in BBC’s I’m Alan Partridge when Alan gets trapped in an obsessed fan’s home, Jon quipped: “I said, ‘Where’s everybody else?’ and the fan said, ‘Oh, I just wanted to spend some time with you.’

“I thought, ‘I can’t have this’ and legged it, but the yard of his house was locked.

“Me and my mate who was driving us had to shin over a wall.” The band, who have just released new album Heatwave In The Cold North, picked local rising talent to play with them at the house concerts, with Jon now seen as an elder statesman.

He laughed: “Being a veteran is weird, as I still feel like a young kid myself. But I’m 41 and being namechecked by young artists like

The Reytons and The Lottery Winners is a real thrill.

“Some musicians of my generation start going, ‘These new bands aren’t as good as in my day’ but I’m not that guy. Share the love. Tell them they’re amazing. It meant so much to me when my heroes, like Noel Gallagher and Richard Hawley, helped us out.”