Unbelievable Truth back together after 25 years - Brighton date

Before splitting in 2000, Unbelievable Truth released two critically-acclaimed albums, 1998’s Almost Here (Virgin) – which reached number 11 in the album charts and contained two top 40 singles – and the follow-up Sorrythankyou (Shifty Disco).

Then came the split, but in 2023, vocalist/guitarist Andy Yorke (younger brother of Radiohead’s Thom), bassist Jason Moulster and drummer Nigel Powell reunited for some gigs to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Almost Here. And back together again, they discovered that they couldn’t help but write new material. Their first new songs in a quarter of a century came together on the Citizens Band EP.

Nigel recalls: “Andy and I have known each other since school. I moved to the Oxford area in 1985 and Andy was one of the first people I got to know at school and there was always a musical connection. I first recorded the band that Andy was in. The band had a drum machine so I suggested that I should become the drummer. Then Andy went off to university and drifted away from all of that for a while but while he was studying in Russia he wrote to me and said he had written some songs and that we should get together and form a band. When Andy got back the three of us got together.”

The early phase of the band ended when Andy left the band in 1995: “I have left the band so many times I have lost count,” he laughs. “But I just think it was too early for me. Things started happening in terms of industry stuff but then I came back in 96. I went back to Russia after I graduated. I graduated in 94 and worked in Oxford for a bit and then went back to Russia but when I got back from six months in Moscow we got together again and got going. From then on things happened quite fast for us. We did some shows and we got some record company interest quite early on. We didn't have to play lots of toilet venues around the country to earn our stripes. We signed a record deal in 97 and Almost Here came out in 98 and then in 2000 I decided to leave the band again. We had recorded a second album and we thought it was really good but the people that championed us and brought us to Virgin had both moved on. We had a new A&R man who was really not into it. We were trying to deliver this album but they were dragging their heels about it. That was part of it but really the whole thing just wasn't working for me. There was quite a lot of negativity around and I didn't really feel completely comfortable being front man and I wasn't really convinced about being on stage and being the singer.”

But for some reason it all feels very different now, this time around: “I felt a lot of pressure back then that I don't feel now which is maybe to do with having matured and also to do with seeing my kids take an interest in music now. I suppose I've just worked through some of the issues that I had! But it does feel different now. I think perhaps I am less neurotic and I think I have less expectations. It does not have to be a successful. When you are young it's all about how you're going to be a success and how we're going to put food on the table. That's not the case now. The food is pretty much guaranteed! Now I just think about what makes me tick and I think about the things that if they've fallen by the wayside then why have they fallen by the wayside. And it just feels really good to get back into playing guitar and working on my voice and trying to be as good as I possibly can which I didn't really try to do back then.”