It’s been 40 years since Balaam and The Angel released their debut album The Greatest Story Ever Told, and like the venue where they start their summer tour, you can’t keep them down.

They will appear on May 9 at Fiery Bird. The Woking grassroots venue was set to close last December but received a last-minute reprieve and is seeking funding to keep going indefinitely.

Balaam and The Angel are “essentially three Scottish brothers who grew up on a council estate in Cannock” according to guitarist Jim Morris.

They formed the band in 1984 and signed with Virgin Records with whom they released that first album.

In those early days they played with names like Iggy Pop – who has a poster of the Brixton Academy gigs he and the Morris brothers did together displayed in his Malibu beach house – and Kiss.

Jim Morris fondly recalled playing to 64,000 people in New Hampshire when touring with Kiss, but said: “Whether it’s 64,000 or 64 people we’re still there on the stage connecting with the audience - that’s one of the beautiful things about performing.”

In the 90s a planned short sabbatical turned into a long one as brothers Mark and Des had children but they returned in the early 2020s.

“It’s great to be playing live again,” he said.

“We’ve got faithful fans who have stuck with us and in this tour we will be playing some old and new tracks, including some from the upcoming EP Love Death Wealth Water.”

Like the 2024 EP Forces of Evil, it explores serious themes, “relevant to living as a human being,” said Jim.

They wrote the lyrics in their teens, considering them “naïve” at the time, yet their take on faith-inspired violence is frighteningly true today.

Tickets are available online.