They seldom get the opportunity to perform together, so their gig at Café René on Friday evening (July 27) promises to be an occasion to savour for the members of Gloucester band Hired Guns.

The four-piece rock group will be playing the popular Gloucester venue on what will be a special evening for the band, who have built up a large following in the south-west. The performance is part of Café René’s annual Rhythm & Blues Festival and having played at the event last year the band are raring to go ahead of their first live performance of the summer. Luke Austin, who provides vocals and plays guitar in the band, says the opportunity to play at one of their favourite venues will be one of the highlights of the band’s 2018 schedule. He said: “We love playing at Café René, we’ve played there a few times before and have always enjoyed ourselves. The atmosphere is always good, and the crowds are lively. It’s nice to be invited back, it shows we must be doing something right!

“Our music is based on big grooves and strong vocal melodies. We like to put on a show and get people on their feet and dancing. We’re very keen on making music that people can sing along to, we’re not one of these bands that scream lyrics out down the mic.

“We play our own songs, but next Friday we’ll also be playing some of our favourite cover tracks as well. We like to mix things up, we’ll be playing songs that you wouldn’t expect a 4-piece rock band to play.”

Luke, who has been in the band for six years, says playing alongside his fellow band members is an experience he savours. He continued: “To get applauded for doing something you love is an amazing feeling. The best thing about performing is seeing people enjoy our music. Any musician will tell you the buzz you get from seeing people up on their feet and singing along to your music is amazing. We’ve got a really strong local following, it’s so nice to think what we do for our own enjoyment provides fun for other people.

“One of the best things about playing at Café René is they don’t have a live music curfew, so we don’t have to worry about squeezing our set into a time slot. One time we played there we ended up playing for three hours, that was one of the best performances I can remember.

“We headlined the Hereford Beer Festival last summer, that was definitely a gig we won’t forget for a long time. The intimate, smaller gigs are enjoyable, but you do get a real thrill when you play in front of a big crowd. We haven’t had too many opportunities to get together and play so far this year, so we’re really looking forward to next Friday, it’s going to be a real blow out.”