WHEN Mike Rutherford decided to reform the band he originally started as a sideline to his work with Genesis, little did he know they would still be around 30 years later.

Rising, phoenix-like from the ashes, Mike + The Mechanics are back with a brand new tour, calling in at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, on Tuesday, April 28.

Mike originally formed the band in 1984 with Paul Young (ex Sad Café) and Paul Carrack, enjoying hits such as The Living Years, All I Need Is A Miracle and Over My Shoulder.

In 2000, Young died suddenly of a heart attack but the band reconvened — as Mike + The Mechanics and Paul Carrack — to record the 2004 album Rewired.

Mike said: "I thought the band had run its course.

"Especially after we lost Paul Young.

“There was a chemistry between the three of us that really worked.

“Then I got involved with the Genesis reunion tour in 2007.”

After the Genesis tour, Mike carried on writing songs and the idea of bringing back The Mechanics came to the fore.

He said: "Basically, I love to write.

"And I was writing some songs with Chris Neil, who had written and produced for the old Mechanics, and we thought, why not go back to the beginning again and find some new singers?

“The band always was a bit of a project."

In the end, Mike has repeated the successful formula of the original band by recruiting two lead singers.

He said: "I’m doing no more solo albums.

“I can’t really sing and, if I write a song, I want a good singer for it.”

The two singers that replaced Young and Carrack were Andrew Roachford, who had a top five hit with Cuddly Toy in 1989, and Canadian actor/singer Tim Howar, who played Rod Stewart in musical Tonight’s The Night.

Mike said: “Andrew was recommended to me and we asked him to come down. We actually wrote some stuff on that first day.

“Having an R&B type singer in the band works, and Tim has this theatrical background which also makes him suitable for the songs that Paul used to sing.”

Joining Mike, Andrew and Tim on stage will be Gary Wallis, who played drums in the old band as well as touring with Pink Floyd, Anthony Drennan, who has toured with both Genesis and The Corrs, and keyboard player Luke Juby.

Mike said: “There’s a new energy within the band.”

"We’ll do most of the old hits and a couple of Andrew’s songs.

“We’ll be playing a couple of Genesis songs that I really like, like Turn It On Again and I Can’t Dance.

“I’m looking forward to playing in the UK, it’s a great place to play. I have a great band here which I feel has slightly more mainstream appeal than the heavier stuff I did with Genesis.”

Mike + The Mechanics will be at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, on Tuesday, April 28.

MARTIN HUTCHINSON