Twenty-five years after their last Liverpool gig, Lotus Eaters are returning to the city. Peter Coyle speaks to Laura Davis

PETER COYLE is feeling cheerful. Not only does he have the Lotus Eaters homecoming gig to look forward to and a new album out but he has discovered a shop that sells Marmite.

“I’ve just found out you can buy it,” he announces on the phone from his home in rural France.

“But there are other things I still miss – you just can’t have curries out here.

“We live in the country and it’s not a cosmopolitan place that’s for sure. But we love it out here. It’s not for everyone, but for us it’s perfect.”

So enthralled by the place he now calls home, about an hour north of Toulouse, that two of the songs on the new album are written in French.

“I love the culture but I can’t do anything about my accent,” he says with a grimace in his voice.

“Sometimes I’m just too much of a laugh for them – they just smile because it must be so strong.

“But even Jane Birkin... she’s fluent but her accent’s bad as well. It makes you realise how English you are.”

It is 25 years since the Liverpool band played in the city – bowing out with a benefit gig for the striking miners back in 1984.

“I came through the crowd and tried to get onstage and the bouncers wouldn’t let me on,” exclaims Coyle, 47. “That was a great gig.”

Twenty-five years on and Lotus Eaters are back in the same venue, the Philharmonic Hall, for this year’s Summer Pops.

“It’s a major event for us. We’re coming back home and we’re playing in front of our friends, family and people who’ve supported us all over the years – it’s going to be so lovely.

“A lot of people are coming from far and wide because they’ve never seen us before.”

Lotus Eaters was formed in 1982, with Coyle on vocals, Jeremy Kelly on guitar, Mike Dempsey (bass) and Stephen Creese (drums), at a time when Liverpool musicians were starting to receive plenty of national attention.

Other bands from the era, including China Crisis and Lightning Seeds, are also performing as part of the Summer Pops fringe.

“All of us knew each other and played football together and hung out in the same bars and we were just very passionate,” recalls Coyle.

“Music was the only thing that mattered to us.

“The city was in a difficult place financially and that made us even more determined.”

Coyle hopes the current economic climate will inspire young people to turn to music in the same way they did in the 1980s, despite a very different recording scene.

“It’s difficult for the music industry because they feel they can’t take risks and that is a shame because life is about taking risks,” he says.

“They’re making decisions based on money, which is understandable, but they should also be making decisions based on music.

“It’s such a difficult time for musicians and I think now more than ever, now people have lost their faith in money, maybe music will come to the fore again.

“It can make a bad day very good. It’s like sunshine – it can change the whole complexion of the way you look at things.”