Harborough band from Robert Smyth set to reunite - 30 years after their first gig

When Kristian Carter, Mark Perkins, Stuart Copping, Nick Lee and Craig Wolverson formed their band Oblivion Rises they were in school at Robert Smyth Academy.

After leaving in 1996 they went their separate ways, until a photo recently shared of the band on social media promoted them to meet up. Now they are planning a reunion gig.

Craig said: “Mark shared a picture of us on Facebook from the last time we’d all seen each other. A lot of our friends commented it would be great to see us play together again so we jokingly said we would.

“We met for a drink and it was like there had been no gap in time whatsoever, we had a great laugh and decided to give it a go just for fun. There seemed to be genuine interest so we decided that, seeing as it’s 30 years since we played together and 30 years since our school year’s GCSEs, we could do a bit of a gig to tie it in this year.”

The band are holding the free gig at the Admiral Nelson on Saturday August 31 from 8.30pm, performing an hour and a half set.

Craig added: “We haven’t officially announced it as any sort of high school reunion but we’re hoping it gets people from school who we haven’t seen for a long time to get together, have fun and reminisce.

“We’ll have a listen to some old classics plus some newer stuff, and party with some old faces.”

While some of the band decided not to carry on playing music after school, some of the members have gone on to play sell-out shows.

Drummer Kristian Carter plays in two bands, Bad Hombre, and Steve Winch and the Inception and is set to perform at the British Grand Prix later this year.

Guitarist Craig joined some local bands, going on to tour New York and also supporting The Undertones. He now plays in Stereophonics tribute band Stereosonics which he joined six years ago and has performed in front of huge audiences at festivals across the country.

Visit www.facebook.com/oblivionrises for more information.