A musician has described his excitement at returning to play his Powys hometown with his lockdown rock band.

Edd Price will be introducing Brecon to his Kent-based band Motor Raider as they play The Foundry this Saturday.

The 31-year-old, who lives with his wife in Kent, said: “We started during lockdown. We were all part of other bands and various bits and pieces.

“We decided to get over the lockdown blues and start a band together. It’s become surprisingly popular, and we had a hit which was a single called Hotel Road and it became really popular in Australia.

“Since then, we’ve gone onto to do a tour and finally, after we saw The Foundry was being made, I thought what a perfect time to come back to Brecon.”

The singer and guitarist said he is “incredibly excited” for the gig which will also feature Brecon-based musician John Eyre and Bristol-based band Typan at The Foundry, formerly known as North House, on Bell Lane.

John, who sings with an acoustic guitar, is also based in Brecon and is formerly Edd’s guitar teacher.

Edd said: “It’s a bucket list item on so many levels. I’ve always wanted to play Brecon - it’s been a dream of mine. To get to play with my guitar teacher is another dream.

“It’s always been a big dream of mine to just go back to Brecon and be able to play in Harley’s on the stage – we’ve got an album called Big Pit which was obviously based on The Big Pit in Wales.

“We’ve also got a new song on our latest album, called New Classic Rock, called Forty Five. We’ve already released it as a single and that song is actually about The Gremlin.”

The song, which is already available to listen to online on YouTube and Spotify, is about a group of young men who go on a night out, ending in The Gremlin pub in Brecon where one of them has a late-night encounter with a 45-year-old woman.

“It is based off a true story – it involves my brother although he was just in the group, it wasn’t him that it happened to”, said Edd.

“It’s quite a brilliant story – the group went to Harleys and went to the lounge, went past the Siddons and everything was closing. They then went down to The Gremlin and there were three people in there, one of whom was a lady who was about 45.

“One of them decided to take her home and woke up the next day and couldn’t remember anything from the night before but he was battered and bruised, and all of his clothes were ripped. All he could remember was that she was 45 and so that’s where the song came from.”

Speaking about the band’s music, Edd said: “There’s a lot of comedy, a lot of tongue in cheek and a lot of Welsh influences that go through our music.”

Edd, who grew up in the market town and still has loved ones in the Brecon area, moved to Kent around nine years ago.

While the rocker said it was a shame Harleys is no longer around, he believes The Foundry is a great addition to the town as a live music venue.

The band is made up of Ian on lead guitar, drummer Paul and bassist Gram who also performs backing vocals.

Gram also has family in the Brecon area who he is hoping to visit around the time of the concert.

Edd, who is the band’s vocalist and rhythm guitarist, said he is the “brainchild” who helps to push the band along with Gram.

The former Brecon High School student said he is hopeful that there will be a good crowd at the concert.

Motor Raider has been in the process of completing its “Invicta Tour” of the London and Kent area over the summer.

Edd said: “As an extra stop, we thought we’d do an exclusive Welsh date and we thought that, for our very first Welsh date, we had to do it in my hometown.

“For me, it’s a hero’s return although I’m not sure anyone else will see it as that – we are planning to come back to Wales again in future, but nothing has been set yet.

“We’re planning on a couple of dates in Swansea, but we just wanted to get this first one out of the way – most of the lads in the band, they’ve all been to Wales, but it will be nice to get them down to Brecon.”

Motor Raider, which is part of the new wave of classic rock, takes inspiration from bands such as The Darkness, Tenacious D, and Electric Six.

Edd said: “We also take inspiration from bands like Those Damned Crows, Stereophonics and a little bit of Tom Jones - not that you can hear it - but he’s definitely a big influence of mine.

“I’m a big fan of Welsh bands and Welsh singers and Tom’s a national treasure at this point.”

The band, which has almost 2,000 Facebook followers, has so far released an EP, an album called The Big Pit and a few singles – it also has its upcoming album New Classic Rock.

Motor Raider is also on Spotify where it features five of its singles – Forty Five, Hot N Heavy, Lava, Black Jar, Hotel Road along with a Christmas single from last year.

The group of rockers came together in March 2020, just before the start of the first Covid lockdown.

Motor Raider did not let Covid stop them as they worked within the law to get the band started – whether that was rehearsing when they were legally able to or working in pairs when there were restrictions on the number of people meeting up.

Edd said: “Luckily, technology is very good these days - we used to save music we’d been working on in a folder and share it between each other. It was very different way of approaching music.

“It’s quite funny, we worked on loads of stuff and we came together after four or five months and we already had the ideas and the band formed, and that’s how we’ve done so much in so little time.

“If you’ve spent four months sat in a room thinking about something, it’s easier to get an overall picture developed. I don’t think this band would not be the way it is if it was produced in a different time - I think lockdown really helped.

“I was furloughed for four months, so being stuck in a flat with instruments and my own mind and not being able to go out, I think one of two things was going to happen – either I was going to produce an album, or I was going to go crazy and luckily I produced an album.”

The musician had originally worked in IT, although he said after catching the Covid around Christmas his priorities changed and he decided to focus on what he enjoys.

He also said the pandemic meant the group could not rush into performing meaning they had perfected their shows before playing to an audience.

Edd said: “We had six months where we were just in a room, and we could work on every part of a show. We worked on our stage performance, our attire, our persona – if we just went out as a band and performed, it wouldn’t be quite the same.

“It meant that by the time we did get out and perform in front of people, we were already a well-oiled machine.

“We’ve had so many compliments on our sound and people can’t believe how short a time we’ve been together. We just gel together as a group, and we put in a lot of rehearsals as well as performance. We’re all experienced as well.

“Most of the rest of the band are in their 50s so they’ve all been around and been in various bits and pieces. My hyper-ness is actually softened a bit by their maturity which is quite good.

“I can be a bit crazy when I’m on stage so it can be good to have a group of calm people behind me keeping me level-headed.”

For more information about Motor Raider’s concert in The Foundry, visit the band’s Facebook page or The Foundry’s website.

Tickets are available for £11 each at ents24.com, which can also be accessed on Facebook, and doors open at 7.30pm.