Four Swindon musicians are back on stage more than 25 years after they split up.

Indie rock band Secret Troop are Kevin Fitzgerald playing guitar and vocals, Rob Sharples on drums, Chris Plaister on bass guitar and Jez Smart on rhythm guitar. The musicians used to drink together in The Castle in Old Town and on Saturday they will return to the pub for their big reunion.

Kevin said: “It’s like a revisit with us performing and the DJs playing alternative stuff from the 1980s such as Bauhaus and Killing Joke.’’ Secret Troop came to the notice of RS Records through their first single, also called Secret Troop, but it was the ep Junction 16 which secured them a French connection through Cartel, the distribution company. The record went to number 21 in the French indie charts and the guys were invited to play at the Cannes Music Festival when Pete Townshend, from The Who, was headlining.

“We set off for France in a camper van, in January, which was cold. We stopped for a couple of shows in Paris and broke down in the Alps, where all our water froze, but we did get there at last,’’ said Kevin.

When they returned to the UK, Secret Troop recorded their debut album andthe ep got to number 75 in the UK indie charts. But the recording company decided to put the release of their album on hold – the guys became disillusioned and split up.

‘’We may rework and release it in the future after we see how the gigs go,’’ said Kevin.

Over the years Rob and Jez left the UK and formed a band in Los Angeles, Kevin ran a studio in Gorse Hill and then created music pubs out of The Victoria, The Furnace and The Rolleston while Chris runs Plaister Autos.

But now they are back together and after three rehearsals and one warm up gig at Riffs they are ready to rock. Kevin said that once they were back on stage it was as if they had never stopped playing together.

It is a free gig at the Prospect Hill pub from 8.30pm.