Sheffield band Longpigs are celebrating their hit debut album nearly 25 years on – here's what's happening

Longpigs formed in the city in the early 1990s, consisting of singer Crispin Hunt, guitarist Richard Hawley, Simon Stafford on bass, and drummer Dee Boyle.

They split in 2000, and there has been little prospect of a reunion in the intervening years – but now the group’s period in the spotlight is being revisited.

For the first time ever, Longpigs’ debut album The Sun Is Often Out is being reissued on vinyl.

Originally released at the height of the Britpop movement in 1996 on U2’s Mother label, the LP reached number 26 in the charts and featured four UK top 40 singles, including On And On and She Said. It was only pressed on vinyl in small quantities at the time.

The new edition is being issued by Demon Records, and is being presented on a 180g heavyweight blue disc, tying in with the colour scheme of the cover artwork which depicts a suited man lying in a swimming pool.

Longpigs only released one other album, 1999's Mobile Home, and the band members have taken diverging paths since the split.

Hawley became Pulp's touring guitarist and is now an acclaimed solo artist who has twice been nominated for the Mercury Prize in his own right. Last year he branched out into drama with Standing At The Sky’s Edge, a musical at the Crucible Theatre that featured his songs and is set to transfer to London.

Hunt is chair of the Ivors Academy for songwriters, and in 2019 ran as a prospective MEP in the European elections. Stafford is director of popular performance at Liverpool University.

Boyle – who was replaced by Andy Cook before the recording of Mobile Home – died in 2017 aged 52.

The Sun Is Often Out is scheduled to be reissued on June 5 and can be pre-ordered here. A limited-edition version signed by Hunt has already sold out.

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