FANS will travel from far and wide for the Ramsbottom Festival which starts tomorrow night but for one of the most eagerly-anticipated acts on the main stage on Sunday night it’s very much a home town gig.

The Plumedores - lead singer, Danny McTague, guitarist Mark Potter and drummer Dean Casement - won’t have far to travel all having grown up around Greenmount.

Mark is perhaps best known through his work with Elbow and Danny accepts this will always feature in any interview with the band.

“It’s bound to happen when you have someone with such a high profile,” he said. “But people who come to see us through Elbow, shouldn’t expect us to sound like Elbow.”

Indeed the band’s influences are fairly varied and their sound is constantly evolving.

“Mark and I have known each other since we were about 17 and we were in to same music and always used to play together after a night out.

“Back then we always said one day we would be in a blues band together and then about 20 years we later started to do it,” said Danny.

“It took a little while to get off the ground because he got busy but it was always something we were going to do and we’re really loving the music that we’re making now.”

The band’s influences range from old blues songs from the Twenties and Thirties to the Sixties Blues Explosion and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac.

“Our songs have definitely evolved so perhaps it’s no longer true to describe us as a blues and folk and bluegrass band -we’re not quite like that now,” said Danny.

One of the features of the Plumedores sound is their drum machine which originally belonged to American singer-songwriter J J Cale.

“As I understand it, he commissioned the drum machine from a company called Ace Tone which later became Roland, so this is one of the earliest drum machines and he would throw it in the back of his station wagon along with his amp and guitar and tour the States,” said Danny.

The Plumedores played the festival last year on T’Other stage and have now progressed to the main stage on Sunday.

“It’s a great little festival and we’re all looking forward to it.” said Danny.

n The Ramsbottom Festival featuring Public Service Broadcasting, Gaz Coombes and Fun Lovin Criminals tomorrow until Sunday. Details from ramsbottomfestival.com