PRIMAL Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie has pledged his support for a Blackburn homeless charity ahead of the band’s special one-off gig at King George’s Hall.

The indie icons, whose classic hits include Movin’ On Up, Rocks and Loaded, take to the stage on Saturday evening, for a show in aid of Nightsafe which helps homeless and vulnerable young people in Blackburn and Darwen.

Gillespie, known as prominent campaigner for a number of political causes, said he blamed the current Conservative Government for the huge rise in homeless amid a surge in rough sleeping in England.

Government figures show the number of people sleeping on the streets has increased by 165 per cent in the past eight years.

“I know about the work of Nightsafe and it is a good thing to be involved in,” said Gillespie, 57. “It all ties into the policies of the Tories and years and years of austerity and I lay the blame at the door of this Government.

“You go for a walk along the canal here in London or go to Kings Cross and you’ll be meeting 20-year-old kids living in sleeping bags or on park benches. They’re running away from something and they’ve nowhere to go.

“No one should be in poverty in Great Britain. It’s gone too far. My dad was born in the 1930s and he had a hard upbringing and it’s like we want to go back there.

"I was born in the 1960s and I count myself lucky, because the current system does not work for everyone and I think if you were a true British patriot you would want to see your fellow citizens have a decent life.”

The gig is just one of the special events based around the Adidas Spezial exhibition which is being held in Blackburn’s Cotton Exchange until Sunday, October 20 and partly organised by Darwen-born Gary Aspden who has worked with Adidas for more than 20 years.

“I saw an exhibition Gary did here in London a few years back,” said Gillespie. “He has a huge collection of trainers.

“I’ve been buying Adidas since I was a teenager and I’ve still got a pair of Sambas and a few bits of special old stuff – it’s an iconic sports brand.”

This year saw Primal Scream release their best of collection Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll: The Singles with its 30 years of songs managing to capture the mood of the nation from the euphoric acid house of Screamadelica to the degenerate rock ‘n’ roll of their mid-90s period.

“We are very proud of the work we’ve done and that is why we wanted to release this record,” added Gillespie.

"I love greatest hits albums. Some of the first albums I bought as a teenager were greatest hits: things like The Who's Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy. They're a portal into the mind of the artist.

"As a teenager in the 70s it was all about singles and I came from that culture where a single was a very important statement from an artist. If you were into Public Image Limited or Siousxie and the Banshees you always looked forward to what the new single was going to sound like: what are they going to do next and where are they taking us? It was such an exciting thing and when I was a teenager bands lived and died by their singles."

Gillespie formed Primal Scream in the mid-'80s while drumming for noise-pop pioneers the Jesus and Mary Chain. They began as a jangly indie pop band but after being introduced to acid house by Alan McGee, the head of Creation Records, the Scotsmen cut Screamadelica with producers Andrew Weatherall and Hugo Nicholson. Screamadelica's fusion of indie pop and dance broke down musical boundaries and changed the face of British pop music in the '90s, helping to make dance and techno acceptable to the rock mainstream.

In 1994, they returned with Give Out But Don't Give Up and the Rolling Stones-esque hit singles Rocks and Jailbird before another left turn saw them recruit bassist Mani from the Stone Roses before further classics likes Vanishing Point and its experimental successor XTRMNTR pushed the group back from the brink after years of drug abuse took their tole.

"When we started to become well known it was for songs like Loaded, Come Together and Don't Fight It Feel It and it was very club orientated," said Gillespie. "But after that the next album was full of dark ballads and when you get to Vanishing Point the first single was Kowalski and I don't know what kind of party that was! The party anthem songs started to get less and less as the years went on and I think in some ways things got more interesting.

"We just write about a lot of different subjects now. As we get older we'll make music and write about things that are more appropriate, but more people want to hear us live and they want to hear things like Loaded and Come Together and we're happy to play them because we just want people to have a good time.

"They'll be a lot of moody stuff in there too like Kill All Hippies and Swastika Eyes and that kind of punk funk dark vibe but as we go on maybe the music is going to change and it might take a different turn."

Almost three decades on from Loaded's classic ode to hedonism, Primal Scream's place in the the pantheon of British music is assured, but Gillespie claims he is a changed man from the rake thin singer who urged us to get our rocks off.

"I don't really party anymore," he laughed. "Those days are gone and it's a young man's game, but people still want a high energy, good time rock n roll show with a bit of darkness I guess and we try and give them that."

Adidas Spezial is taking names for a waiting list for the Primal Scream gig. Leave your email address and name at www.spezialblackburn.com to register.