ORIGINALLY part of the vanguard of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Marseille are back on the scene with a new tour and album.

The band was originally formed in 1976 by Neil Buchanan, fellow guitarist Andy Charters, Paul Dale, Keith Knowles and Steve Dinwoodie.

A couple of albums were released to critical acclaim and the band built up a large fan-base by touring incessantly.

They supported everybody from UFO and Whitesnake to Judas Priest and Nazareth, and present singer Nigel Roberts remembers the band’s early days very well.

“Marseille was the first band I ever saw,” he says. “I went to the Free Trade Hall in Manchester to see UFO in 1979, but I was so young I wasn’t allowed in the bar. So I went in and watched the support band, which was Marseille, and was totally knocked out.”

But with the onset of the Eighties, things began to go wrong.

“We were playing to 30,000 people in the States,” Neil says. “Then, because of poor management things went pear-shaped and we were left with no money and no equipment, in fact we were starving.”

Neil did all right for himself, presenting the show Art Attack, but music was always his first love and a couple of years ago the opportunity came to pick up the axe again.

“Andy Charters and I always kept in touch. He came over here and I suggested getting all the band together to chew the fat,” he said.

“We got together and had a great weekend — it was just fantastic. Of course, I was twitching to get back to music and so was Andy, so we said ‘let’s give it a go’.”

New additions, singer Nigel Roberts and drummer Gareth Lee, are both from Bolton, and bassist Lee Andrews is from Wigan. And Neil is unstinting in his appreciation of their talents.

“They are awesome musicians,” he says. “Nige has got one of those voices that can peel a grape at 100 metres; he’s an out-and-out rocker and I can now write the stuff I’ve always wanted to do ’cos Nige can handle it.”

* Marseille will play MoHo, in Manchester, on Sunday, October 10.