Bemis sound the drums for their Minghella Studio gig

After a decade and four albums, the band have seen a few line-up changes and as a result have ended up with two drummers on their books.

And tomorrow the band have got a rare chance to use both of them alongside each other at the same gig.

Frontman Gareth Howells says: ‘As part of this line-up we’ve got two permanent drummers, but they don’t usually play at the same time – they’ll take it in turns.

‘And what’s exciting about Saturday is that they will both be playing together. One of the songs we’ve not played for a while that we want to put back in the set is drum-heavy, so it should be good.

‘They’ve both got quite different styles, even though they complement us so well.

‘Neither of them wants to leave the band, but they can’t always do every gig, and we don’t want to lose them, so it’s nice to do a gig with both of them.’

Although this is their first time in the Minghella, the band are no strangers to the New Theatre Royal.

‘We did it twice, the last time in 2011 and that show ended up being our live album – we sold out the main room, and it was a great night. It’s slightly more low-key this time, but I’m intrigued to know what it will be like to play in the Minghella room.’

The band often used to play their ...and Friends shows at The Cellars at Eastney, but since that closed last summer had to look elsewhere.

‘If The Cellars was still around we probably would have done it there,’ admits Gareth. ‘One of the things we always used to do at The Cellars, when we did Bemis and Friends, was to get everyone playing in each other’s sets, but because of the line-up changes we’ve done less of that over the past couple of years.

‘But we’ve had this stable line-up now for two-and-a-bit-years, so I think people are familiar with it and we can play around a bit again.’

Megan Linford supports.

The Minghella Studio, New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth

Saturday, July 16

newtheatreroyal.com