By Richard Derbyshire

SOUTHAMPTON band Cassava will realise their ambition of playing alongside their heroes on Wednesday when Sheffield indie-stars Milburn come to town.

It’s a dream come true for talented singer-guitarist Liam Cole, lead guitarist Torrin Rees, bassist Jared Plumb and drummer Scott Chambers, who’ve recently sold out The Talking Heads and The Joiners as well as being signed up for this year’s Common People. Now they are set to play another big show with a band who’ve influenced them from the start.

Liam told the story of how they’ve managed to hook up with Milburn who, along with Arctic Monkeys, helped launched the famous Sheffield sound of 2005 with debut album Well Well Well.

“We found out Milburn wanted to play a couple of shows before going to Europe, so our manager and local promoter Tom Dyer was straight onto them trying to tie them down to Southampton; somehow he did and then it was whether we could get on the bill too.

“Milburn were keen but wanted to listen to some of our tunes so it we had an agonising wait to hear back. We avoided getting our hopes up, but eventually Tom messaged us with a copy of the Southampton show poster with our name on it; we thought it was a joke, but it was all true.”

Milburn has had an influence on the musical careers of all four lads, as Scott explained.

“It was a Milburn song which got me into Cassava as my audition was to learn their song What About Next Time in about ten minutes. The drums are the trickiest part, but I got through it and I was in.”

“I first listened to Milburn after they had broken up in 2008, so I was gutted when I thought that I’d never have the chance to see one of my favourite bands play live” added Liam.

“But I was at bassist and lead singer Joe Carnall’s 2015 Sheffield Christmas show when his brother Louis, Tom Rowley and Joe Green all came on stage with Joe together as Milburn for the first time since splitting.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, everyone went mad. I was stood with Jon McClure of Reverend and the Makers who’d been singing earlier and must have known something special was up, though his plan for me to lift him onto my shoulders didn’t worked out as he’s much taller than me!”

“Torrin and I went to the original comeback shows in Sheffield last April when they played to 10,000 people across four nights. They are huge up north, but this time it included fans like us trekking from across the country, it was a special time, it was nuts.”

“We supported Joe Carnall’s Book Club band in 2012 at The Joiners. He was really down to earth and invited us on a night out afterwards, but I was only 17 so I couldn’t really risk getting refused entry. It’s probably the biggest mistake I’ve made, turning down a night out with one of my heroes.

“We’ve nailed our set for The Engine Rooms including our next single Long Way Home and another new number we’re really excited about. It’s going to be an upbeat in your face half an hour to show everyone what we’re made of and why we should be supporting bands like Milburn.”

Milburn and Cassava play The Engine Rooms on Wednesday March 22, 2017. Tickets £15 at engineroomssouthampton.com