BIG Country will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of their album The Seer by playing it in its entirety at their show in Blackburn next Saturday.

For the fans, it’s a special treat, but as drummer Mark Brzezicki points out, for the band it’s quite a challenge.

“I think we only ever did one tour of the album and a lot of those songs on it we never played live again,” said Mark. “In fact I think there are a couple of songs which we never played live.

“It has been really interesting revisiting the album in preparation for the tour. The first thing that struck me was how good the songs still are and led me to wonder why we have not played them live before.

“Because I played on the album originally I had a slightly different learning curve from some of the other guys. I’ve had to work out what I played. I’ve not gone into it trying to do something different but on some songs I’ve had to listen carefully to what I did.”

The Seer was Big Country’s third album and featured their best selling single Look Away.

Led by Stuart Adamson, Big Country’s distinctive guitar-driven sound made them one of the biggest bands of the Eighties.

Following Adamson’s untimely death in 2001 the band’s future looked in doubt, but Mark and founder member Bruce Watson decided to continue.

“After we lost Stuart it would never be the same,” said Mark. “At first we didn’t think we’d ever be able to play the songs as we just didn’t have the enthusiasm to go out there and do it.

“But the amount of love people had for the band from around the world convinced us that we should celebrate Stuart with the music and the lyrics and he’s always there on stage with us.

“We never set a microphone in the middle of stage, that’s Stuart’s space.”

In basing their current tour around The Seer album, singer Simon Hough faces a particular challenge.

“For some of the songs, even Stuart never sang them live in the key they were recorded, we’d often drop them down a little for the live show,” said Mar. “But Simon’s going to keep them in the original key, we were amazed.

“It’s the same with Scott Whitley on bass. He’s enjoyed the challenge of working out the complex parts that Tony Butler did on the album.

“Big Country is a really interesting band.Although it came out of the punk era, it has always been a musician’s band where everyone can play to a high standard.

“Working on the songs from The Seer, I’m amazed how good the stuff is this long after. I thought ‘blimey I’ll have to be on top of my game to play that’.”

Big Country have just returned from their first tour of Australia

“We were met with such enthusiasm,” said Mark. “It was amazing to have people saying they had waited 35 years to see us. At some points it was almost like a religious experience, it was very emotional.”

n Big Country, King George's Hall, Blackburn, Saturday, October 8. Details from 0844 847 1664.