I well remember the band Martin Stephenson and the Daintees back in the mid-1980s as they were widely tipped to be the next big breakout band from the north-east of England as part of the whole Kitchenware Records scene but, while they had initial success, it never quite happened for them. Having said that I quite liked their albums including Boat to Bolivia and Salutation Road.

Fast forward to May 2007 when I was working at the Scarborough Evening News and lead vocalist Martin Stephenson was headlining the ill-fated Falcon Festival. It was intended to last both the Saturday and Sunday of that weekend. The Saturday was fine with a few local bands performing but the Sunday was washed out as it rained the whole day so organisers decided to bring the show into the Falcon Inn. Obviously there were not that many people attending because of the weather and it was a brilliant intimate gig.

Martin Stephenson was the headliner that night and we had the chance to chat and have been friends ever since. Having said that he now lives in the Highlands of Scotland, not that far from Inverness, and during my time working in the Highland Capital I never actually got around to arranging a catch up. But there were mitigating circumstances such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

But I was surprised to read that he was due to play a show at The West Walls Brewing Company in Carlisle on Sunday (June 28) with support from Carlisle band The Dead Religion. It was all very last minute but I messaged him and he agreed to add me to the guest list on the day of the gig. But I am pleased I reached out as it was a great gig.

When I met Martin Stephenson again at the venue he compared me with my current beard as being similar to Martin McAloon, the brother of Paddy McAloon the singer of north-east band Prefab Sprout who had a few hits over the years, which I am taking as a compliment.

I was initially surprised to see a member of Carlisle band Hardwicke Circus, guitarist Zach McDade, in the line up of The Dead Religion but I am reliably informed that the band was his brainchild. It was really just a warm up for the Hardwick Circus’s gig at The Brickyard that night. There was definitely a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young influence on their set that night. It is good to see a local band producing music in a very organic way.

Having said that it was a scary realisation that it was more than 19 years since I chatted with the frontman of The Daintees in that pub on the outskirts of Scarborough but it was good to catch up after all those years.

Proudly sporting his ‘Bob Mortimer fishing hat’ he was backed up by Gary Dunn, a current and original member of The Daintees, on guitar and they rattled through some of their classic tracks. These included: Watch Where The Kisses Blow, Long Forgotten and Sweet Misdemeanour, which was a nod to the classic Viz Comic characters The Fat Slags, and he dedicated the track Home in memory of both his and Gary’s mums who had both sadly passed away.

Having said that there were a load of anecdotes and tales from the north-east including picking up their hire van in Gateshead where the band members of Lindisfarne warned them from traveling on tour while looked a tad dishevelled.

I loved the version of Boat To Bolivia which bizarrely morphed into a reggae infused cover of the new wave track Jilted John by Jilted John .

I really liked his connection with the audience and at times he was a bit of a potty mouth but that was all part of the act and it was well received by the audience who were not easily offended. Having said that he did accuse me of working for the Newcastle-based Evening Chronicle, when he noticed me jotting notes for this review, or even worse the English version of ICE.

But it was great to hear the old tracks with a new twist and it was definitely good to catch up after too many years.