AFTER 15 years on the road with indie rock band Doves, Andy Williams and his bandmates decided it was time for a new direction.

Teaming up with his twin brother, Jez, Andy launched a new band — Black Rivers — who will take to the road with their own tour next month.

The group will also appear at Manchester's O2 Apollo on Saturday, February 7, as support for Bury rockers Elbow, and at Manchester Arena on Monday, March 9, with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

Andy, who grew up in Cheshire, said: "We have got our own tour coming up, a couple of Elbow support gigs and Noel Gallagher in Manchester.

"It's all good. It's dead exciting to be playing new songs and we're just dead keen for people hear the new stuff.

"We were touring for the last 15 years with Doves.

"It felt like we needed a break and to try different things out.

"We all went our separate ways."

During their time with Doves, the brothers and Jimi Goodwin released four studio albums, two which reached number one in the UK album charts.

Jez and Andy formed Black Rivers in summer 2014 and released debut single Voyager 1 and free download The Ship later that year.

They decamped to a remote cottage in Anglesey to write and record new material and their self-titled album will be released through Ignition Records on February 9.

Andy, who has been in bands since the age of 13, said: "It sounds different to Doves.

"It was like starting from the ground up. We have been here before.

"We were originally in a band called Sub Sub."

In the early 1990s, they found themselves on Top Of The Pops when dance act Sub Sub scored a Number three hit with Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use).

Speaking of the latest band, Andy said: "We decided to grab the bull by the horns and crack on.

"It was exciting but a bit scary because we didn't have the safety net of a semi-successful band behind us.

"I feel lucky, 20 years of being able to make a living out of music.

"Especially these days, the environment is becoming tougher and tougher."

Jimi, Andy and Jez had met at school in 1985 and became regulars at The Haçienda nightclub in Manchester while composing their own material together and launching Doves in 1998.

Andy said: "I went to art college for a bit. Jez went to music college and we both left early and decided to give it a go."

He says there was no masterplan as such but the trio went on to open for U2 at Twickenham Stadium in London in 2005, support Oasis at the City of Manchester Stadium and Coldplay at the Reebok Stadium in 2008.

Andy said: "We have toured lots with the Elbow lads before.

"We did an American tour with them and the UK tour with them as well.

"They're great people. We've known them for a long time."

After 2009 album Kingdom of Rust, Jez and Andy admit they needed a break from each other, as a band if not as brothers, but are happy to be musically reunited once more.

Drummer Andy said: "We generally get along very well.

"We write music and it comes naturally.

"We have done it since our teens. A lot doesn't have to be discussed.

"We have grown up together and we know what each other is like so far as musically.

"It's what we've always known, it does speed up the writing process.

"That's not to say we don't get on each other's nerves sometimes."