The Wedding Present to play Sunderland stage

The band is hitting the road to mark the release of Marc Riley Sessions Volume I, the first in a series of radio session releases which celebrates the indie legends, as well as their ninth studio album Going Going.

Marc Riley Sessions Volume 1 highlights the consistency of band member David Gedge’s prolific songwriting over the period of three decades after the band formed in 1985.

The release includes Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft, Brassneck, Heather, Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk and live favourite Where Everybody Knows Your Name, a cover of the theme music to classic US sitcom Cheers.

A band with a history that’s inextricably intertwined with the BBC and in particular the late BBC DJ John Peel, an early champion of the band, the Marc Riley Sessions Volume 1 echoes the famous Peel/Selwood releases on the Strange Fruit label that included BBC sessions from the likes of New Order, Buzzcocks, The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen.

BBC 6Music DJ Marc Riley, an avid Wedding Present fan, said: “The release of The Wedding Present sessions done for our 6 Music programme over the years is something of an honour. In the great tradition of the Peel/Selwood releases on the Strange Fruit label this record proves that even without John the BBC can still be a place where great bands can continue to grow and be creative amongst friends.”

David Gedge said: “The sessions are recorded and transmitted live to air so there’s an intensity and exhilaration - not to mention fear - that’s present when you perform songs like that.”

•The Wedding Present play The Point in Holmeside, Sunderland, on Friday December 2. Tickets are available from The Point’s Facebook page on https://www.facebook.com/sunderlandthepoint/