LONDONER Gary Hammond trekked north to join the Beautiful South, but now the ace percussionist is forging a different path as half of folk duo The Hut People.

Hammond lived the dream with the Hull pop sensations, fronted by their charismatic leader Paul Heaton, and who enjoyed mega hits with singles Rotterdam and Perfect 10.

Much sought after for his diverse percussion skills, Hammond recorded songs with James Galway and Norman Wisdom and arranged music for popular TV shows London’s Burning, Absolutely Fabulous, Monarch of the Glen and the anarchist Comic Strip featuring Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall.

“I started out tapping my knees and moved onto my chest and cheeks until I could afford to buy myself a pair of bongos,” joked Gary, who brings instrumentalists The Hut People to Barnoldswick Music and Arts Centre on March 1.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the rhythmic element, the force, sound and feel of rhythm.

“I’ve got 400 different types of weird and wonderful instruments, and most I’ve used with the Hut People.

“For example, there’s the Thunder Drum, a Shekere, an African maraca, a Boing Stick, a Log Drum, Shaker Box, bottle tops and a bell tree!

“It is all very different from when I went to Hull in 1995, having moved there after joining the Beautiful South as a session musician, and when the band’s Blue is the Colour album came out.

“It was a remarkable part of my life, going to Japan and America, playing in front of 100,000 people at Glastonbury with The Beautiful South.

“My feet never touched the ground for a decade. I was very lucky indeed.”

Gary and musical partner Sam Pirt, a former member of John Peel favourites The Soup Dragons, are now more used to creating their art in chapels, village halls, churches and festivals – or just in their garden shed.

The fuse was lit when the unlikely pair met at a bonfire party. Their fourth album, Routes, and a support slot on a Young ‘Uns tour, has propelled The Hut People’s bewildering array of percussion and accordion-fired songs into orbit.

Fusing global rhythms with folk, you are just as likely to be tapping your toes to feel good dancing tunes packed into containers laden with grooves from South Africa, Scandinavia, Sussex or Canada in The Hut People’s quirky show.

“We are professional musicians, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously because we like to have a lot of laughs when we play live and it is going to be a great show at Barnoldswick because we are really on form right now,” added Gary.

“Looking back, maybe I wasn’t pushed to my limit technically with The Beautiful South, but I really feel that we are taking music to the edge with The Hut People.”

The Hut People, Barnoldswick Arts Centre, Rainhall Road, March 1. Details from 01282 379561 or www.barnoldswickmusicandartscentre.com