It's Southsesa Fun for power-poppers The Stayawakes as they play hometown headline show at The Edge of The Wedge

​The four-piece have played in the city at Icebreaker Festival and The Valentine’s Day Massacre charity gig. But a little further afield they’ve also had their 2018 debut album Dogs And Cats / Living Together given a physical release in America for the first time, on Kool Kat Records.

Jimmy Cooper (bass and vocals) says: ‘It's bizarre – every day we're getting tagged in radio playlists. It seems to have bit of a spot over there. Steve (Hart, drums) was saying the other day, he can't keep up with the Facebook notifications on our band's sites.

Andrew Ricks (guitars and vocals) adds: ‘The album was never officially released in the US – we sold a few copies from Bandcamp, and it got some reviews out there, but it was never released over there.

‘We never had anyone put anything behind it,’ says Jimmy, ‘we didn't have a label. It's amazing really – if only we could be out there for it...’

The rerelease came on the back of other work with Kool Kat after the label came across the band on the radio. The label invited them to contribute a track to a charity album for Ukraine, and then they were also asked to record a cover for a tribute album to cult 1980s UK band, The Pencils.

However, now two years on from their own well-received album Pop Dreamz, they are looking to push their own material again.

‘We've got about 10 songs pretty much in the can,’ says Jimmy, ‘we’re just finishing them off now. The real question is how we're going to release them, which route to go down. That's our next big decision – what to do with the tunes. And there's a few more in the incubator, so we're just going to keep writing, keep recording, put out some singles, and then maybe do a collected format at some point not too far in the future.’

Somewhat coyly, Ricksey adds: ‘We're talking to a Portsmouth label at the moment about putting out a single, and for the B-side we're looking at recording a classic song by a much-loved Portsmouth band…’

Soon though, the band are playing their first hometown headline show in quite some time.

‘We haven't headlined in Pompey in years!’ says Ricksey.

‘There was a point where we were playing locally quite regularly,’ adds Jimmy, ‘and then we decided to take a bit of a step back because you don't want to be The Edge of The Wedge house band, which we did feel like sometimes. We were asked to do a gig and it seemed like a good time to do a hometown show.

‘The promoters, Southsea Fun put us on years ago,’ explains Ricksey, ‘so it's nice to play for them again. We were always going to say yes to them.’

The Stayawakes headline The Edge of The Wedge in Southsea with Everyone Lies, Rats Rats Rats and Norm Archer on February 28. Ticket £6. Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk.