Dave McPherson

Brentwood band InMe are gearing up to return to a “life affirming” festival next weekend.

The group, who experienced chart success from 2003 with their debut album Overgrown Eden and follow-up White Butterfly, are preparing to go back to the Sonisphere Festival in Hertfordshire.

After their breakthrough onto the scene, the band continued to tour and release albums, but didn’t earn the level of stardom that some had expected following their initial success.

Singer and guitarist Dave McPherson, a former Brentwood County High School student, said that playing at the festival in 2010 gave the band a career boost.

He said: “We went off the radar a bit, and were out of the media. It would have been disheartening if we’d lost everyone.

“It was kind of life affirming because we were playing in a 2,000 capacity tent and it was full up with people still trying to get in. We were clashing with big names like Motley Crue and Gallows, and I would have been happy with 300 people there.”

After the show, Dave said he changed his mind about his ideas for InMe’s next album. He said: “I was working on stuff but I scrapped it and I think we needed time to figure out what sort of album we wanted to make.”

Currently in the studio working on the as-yet-untitled album, the singer, who performs regularly at O’Neill’s, High Street, said that the band’s fifth studio album would be a different prospect.

“The last couple of albums I’ve been working from home on my computer. This album is more live-based and it gives it a different feel.

“It will have a lot of melody and a lot of feeling. We’ve ventured into melancholy in the past, this one is much more upbeat.”

n Sonisphere takes place in Knebworth, Hertfordshire from July 8-10.