A POPULAR rock band on the Cheshire music scene are gearing up to release a new EP.

The Blue Yellows are well known to audiences across the county having appeared at a host of events, including Middlewich's Folk and Boat Festival.

The band previously released two albums – All These Things Right Now in 2012 and Kitchen Sessions in 2019.

But the new four-track EP, titled A Minute in the Sun, was created amid the challenges posed by coronavirus.

"It was something that we had to get sorted fairly quickly as we knew lockdown was coming," drummer Dave Coomer, from Middlewich, told the Guardian.

"Covid has been very, very difficult – but that is across the whole industry.

"One of the biggest things we would normally do is play charity gigs for causes that we feel strongly about.

"But we are not able to get out there and do the things that we normally would."

The Blue Yellows are made up of Jonathan Tarplee on guitar and vocals, Emma Alcock on keyboard, accordion and backing vocals, Simon Taylor on bass and Dave on drums.

The band formed in 2009, but Dave joined the group later on, having previously offered his services as a drummer.

He said: "We have a lot of fun. We are mates as much as anything else.

"We don't have the pressures of other bands, we fully support each other on and off-stage, we're like a family."

"We each bring a lot of different things to the table. I personally bring a classical music taste – I was trained up in orchestras and brass bands before I found rock and roll.

"We all have different influences but they all melt together in this pot we call the Blue Yellows."

A Minute in the Sun will be available to stream from via Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other platforms from February 19.

The opening single, Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm, will be available on February 5 on the band's YouTube channel.