Milltown Brothers’ Simon Nelson on 100 Club show, Long Road & Tim Burgess

The back-to-back dates in Barnoldswick, which take place on Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7, will also celebrate the band’s reissued vinyl for their fourth studio album - ‘Long Road’, which was released in 2015. When speaking with Nelson, he promised the band would be performing a few numbers from the aforementioned album in Barnoldswick. But what approach will they take for the set?

“We might either split a set of Long Road songs across the two, or just focus on one set that has predominantly Long Road, and then other songs that we play in our normal set from the other albums. Maybe a cover or two, maybe some surprises as well, hopefully,” Nelson stated.

The original release of ‘Long Road’, back in 2015, came after a decade-long gap between the five-piece’s third studio album - ‘Rubberband’ and the aforementioned ‘Long Road’, but they were unable to tour it very much, due to a variety of reasons, including Barney Williams, the band’s keyboardist, being on the road at the time.

Unfortunately for the five-piece, the inability to tour remained for their fifth studio album - ‘Stockholm’ as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The album was met with acclaim upon its release, but the Milltown Brothers were unable to build on that success due to the enforced lockdown across the country. “It fell between the cracks a bit, did Stockholm,” Nelson admitted when asked if he felt the pandemic derailed the album’s momentum. “We just finished it and mixed it just as Covid was hitting. It really was around that time. So we were unable to do anything,” the guitarist added.

However, much to the band’s surprise, they became subjected to a level of renewed interest, after their debut album - ‘Slinky’ featured on The Charlatans’ frontman Tim Burgess’ Twitter Listening Party. “It did come as a bit of a surprise and we were grateful for that,” an appreciative Nelson said.

“Tim very kindly arranged that listening party. I'll tell you what we did at the listening party. You have to be quick on the draw when you're answering the messages in there. That kept us on our toes. That sort of reconnected us with him a little bit and we did his merch market last May in Manchester, which was great. We played at Gorilla in Manchester, which was fun. And then we're playing on the Tim Peaks stage at Kendal Calling, which is part of something that he puts on there. So yeah, it's been great to reconnect with him and his management. They've been pretty good with us,” Nelson concluded.

Since their debut, the Milltown Brothers have a short, but memorable history with Burgess and The Charlatans. In 2025, the five-piece performed at Burgess’ Merch Market event at Manchester’s intimate Gorilla venue, Burgess helped the band appear at the Mercury Rising Festival in Stockport, where they recorded their ‘Live at St Mary’s’ album, performed on the main stage as The Charlatans at Reading Festival in 1992 and embarked on a springtime tour with Burgess’ band back in the 1990s.

On that run of shows, the Milltown Brothers were given the opportunity to perform in some of the country’s historic venues, such as the Apollo in Manchester, Glasgow’s Barrowlands, and Brixton Academy in London. Since their return to the stage in 2023, the Milltown Brothers had an opportunity to tick off another famous venue on their bucket list - London’s iconic 100 Club - a place that has hosted the likes of The Clash, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, Paul McCartney and Muddy Waters.

“It was really special,” Nelson admitted. “That was one that we never played back in the day. You know, we played the Marquis, we did Dingwalls, the Powerhouse in London, several sorts of venues that were well known at the time, but never the 100 Club. It was a real pleasure to play that. And you go down there and it's a funny long shaped stage, which is, it seems awkward at the time, but it's actually brilliant. It's really old fashioned. And all the pictures on the wall of one's heroes is amazing. So, for example, I was playing the guitar on my amp, above it was Pete Townshend and Paul Weller and all this kind of stuff. Amazing, amazing experience, really great gig there,” the guitarist finished.

The performance at the 100 Club came after the band's return to live performances with a sold-out performance at Hebden Bridge’s Trades Club in August 2023 - an experience that Nelson admits was a little bit nerve-wracking.

“Going back to Hebden Bridge that night was a bit nerve-wracking because we hadn't really been playing live much. But it was wonderful to go back there because the first time we'd been there in 1990, there was no stage. It was really quite like a working men's club, as it is. And it was always very atmospheric. There's some footage of us, I think. There's somebody on YouTube that filmed us playing there in 1990. And it really does look a bit different. It was down and basic, but for all the good reasons. And it still remains an iconic venue,” Nelson stated.

Two years later, the band released their sixth studio album - ‘Boogie Woogie’ - an album that marked the five-piece’s first entry into the Top 100 of the UK’s Official Albums Charts in 30 years as well as a Top 40 spot in the Official Vinyl Charts - a feeling that was very “satisfying” for the Colne five-piece in Nelson’s admission. Soon after, the five-piece made their triumphant return home with a sold-out show at The Muni in December 2025.

“It was a real pleasure to go back there. When we were starting out, we took a risk back in 1989 and played at the Colne Muni. Perhaps there were 150 people there, we played again in late 1990, there were maybe 250. Then when our first record came out, the single that got us in the charts, we played there in 1991 and it sold out. Matthew and I are from Colne. Matthew is the lead singer, I'm the guitarist. So it's a real sense of being back in your roots and a place that's so familiar. It was fabulous, we had a great night, we really loved it,” Nelson said.

As for 2026, it’s set to be a busy year for the Colne five-piece. After their Barnoldswick shows, they’ll be playing at Preston’s Action Records as part of the launch for ‘Long Road’ in July before shows in Hebden Bridge, Kendal Calling and the Lexington in Islington, London later this year.

You can read the first part of the interview with Simon by clicking the link here.