WHEN King King were forced to pull out of a headline slot at this year’s Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival in Colne, organisers were delighted to secure the services of legendary British blues rock outfit Ten Years After as a replacement.

Formed in 1966, the band was at the forefront of the blues rock explosion led by mercurial guitarist Alvin Lee and in just five years they had eight top 40 albums in the UK. Appearances at the Newport Folk Festival and then Woodstock saw the band take America by storm.

Today the band still feature original members, drummer Ric Lee and keyboard player Chick Churchill and are fronted by award-winning blues musician Marcus Bonfanti who was asked to join in 2014.

“We are good friends with King King and we all wish singer Alan Nimmo all the best,” said Marcus.

Nimmo has been advised to cancel all live work to deal with a persistent throat problem.

“Now it is up to us and do that Sunday night slot justice,” added Marcus.

Having picked up a number of British Blues Awards himself and given 10 Years After’s iconic status in the blues rock world you could forgive Marcus for feeling some trepidation when he was invited to join the band.

“The biggest part of me wanted to do it but there was also that feeling of ‘can I do it’?” he said. “Ric Lee got in touch as I’d been recommended to him and the first question I asked was ‘what do you want me to do?’.

“Alvin Lee was such a phenomenal and unique guitar player that no-one can sound like him and I didn’t want to spend my time trying to sound like someone else. I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life trying to sound like me.

“But both Ric and Chick were both adamant that they wanted me to do my own thing which was just what I wanted to hear.

“Obviously there are certain parts of songs that people expect to hear but there is plenty of scope for me to do my thing when we get to solo sections.

“But that’s what Ten Years After have always been about really - set up the song, convey a message and let’s see where we go. To be able to develop it with a bunch of people who were at the birth of that style is amazing.”

Marcus has been surprised that even though the band has been making music for six decades, their enthusiasm for what they do remains as strong as ever.

“With some bands you get the feeling that they are just turning up and going through the motions and I didn’t want it to be like that,” he said. “But when I met them it was brilliant because it’s obvious that they all do it because they love it, it’s their life. That’s just a great atmosphere to walk into.”

Marcus said that balancing his solo work and life with Ten Years After has been pretty straight forward.

“I think you have got to have an element of a split personality to get into music in the first place,” he said. “Being on stage is so wildly different from going to the shops but you have to do both on a daily basis.

“For me with the solo stuff, it got to the point where I was still enjoying it but was struggling a little bit to find what I wanted to say.

“Ric’s phone call came at right time for me. It gave me time to put my solo stuff on ice but instead of just taking time out, I could get involved with this great band and immerse myself completely in it and now I’m feeling like I want to write again - it’s re-energised me.

“I do play with different musicians and different bands and people do ask me if I ever get mixed up but you just get into a zone within a band.

“Also I’ve come to realise that I like to live my life by doing different things.

“I now appreciate the importance of playing with other people and doing different things over the past few years and I think I’m still developing as a musician.”

Marcus can’t wait to head to Colne this weekend and the Sunday night closing slot at the Muni.

“Oh Colne is going to be brilliant,” he said.

“We really don’t play in the UK that often. I think the last full tour was about eight years ago. We’re so busy in Europe and America but for some reason UK dates just petered out.

“It’s funny but so many people think Ten Years After are an American band because they were so massive in the States but they were just a bunch of boys from Mansfield.”

Being part of such an iconic band has allowed Marcus to experience what a special place Ten Years After have in music fans’ hearts.

“Chick has said to me that he will look out into the audience and see teenagers singing along to songs which they wrote many years ago, and he just thinks’ wow, they’re still relevant 50 years on,” he said.

“That’s the dream - to get something that sends a message to people forever.”

Ten Years After play Colne Muni at the Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival on Sunday. Details from www.bluesfestival.co.uk