RETIRED rock ’n’ rollers crept out of the woodwork to play their first gig in 25 years.

Thrash metal threesome Gastric Ulcer played to some 80 people at Winchester’s Railway Inn, giving the locals a trip down memory lane with tracks from their teenage years.

But that’s not before a planned publicity stunt went wrong and was called off at the last minute. The band had planned to travel around the streets of Winchester playing their hits in the back of a London taxi, but in a scene worthy of Spinal Tap, blew the amplifier.

Drummer Jon Banks confirmed that the gig itself went much more smoothly though. He said: “We are definitely going to stick together and carry on. Everything we played on Saturday was from years ago, so we’ll get into rehearsals and do some new stuff now.”

Jon Banks (drums) Steve Newell (bass) and Graeme Lockett (guitar/vocals) often played at the St Paul’s Hill venue in the early 1990s.