Reef: Southampton Guildhall, Tuesday December 12

IT'S a case of second time lucky for West Country rockers Reef when they visit Southampton on Tuesday. Their long-awaited appearance at Southampton Guildhall is a rescheduled gig, after the band were forced to cancel their original date following lead singer Gary Stringer's knee operation.

After lenghty treatment and being forced to spend weeks in a wheelchair, the band are back and raring to promote their new album Getaway.

Their gig at the Guildhall is their second appearance in Hampshire this year. In July they visited Eastleigh's Barton Peveril college on their tour of colleges where they held workshops for the pupils.

The band played a small set and spent time teaching budding musicians some of their tricks of the trade, just proving that Reef are probably the nicest rock 'n' roll band ever!

The band's fourth album Getaway contains their most upbeat, energy-pumped set of songs.

The 11 new tunes comprise a major challenge to the notion that Travis, The Stereophonics and packaged teen pop have cornered the market in popular melodies.

Getaway is the sound of a band planning on a creative high. That's not exactly a surprise.

When the firey four toured their way out of obscurity in 1995, barging into a Brit Pop obsessed music scene, it was the band's exuberance that drew in the crowds.

Right now, with a trail of hit singles behind them, the band who are Stringer-House-Bessant-Greensmith are at the perfect point in their evolution to lock down all that energy into four intense minutes.

And although the four-minute song is something that is is typical of the chart pop pap that the band dispise so much, Reef feel that they are now starting to rival the likes of Steps and Co.

The arrival of Getaway has boosted their self-belief - something that was missing before.

"I think we have been under-estimated for our songwriting sometimes," says Ken. "We've developed as songwriters and I think that's had a lot to do with new producer Al Clay's influence."

In fact, Getaway is the only album you'll get this year where you can hear the drummer laughing at the end of a song

So why Getaway as the title? "Good music just has that effect where it doesn't matter what's gone on at home. When you stick Superhero on, it lifts you out of it," says Gary.

* You can catch Reef supported by Crashland and Wilt at Southampton Guildhall on Tuesday.