Local band The Characters are back together again after eight years away from the local music scene.

Original members Ray Mercieca (vocals/guitars), Gino Micallef (bass), Antoine “Gaggu” Griscti (drums), Antoine Faure (keyboards) and Adam Bonello (guitars) decided to bring the band back together after meeting up unexpectedly at a local club and ending up jamming together.

“The energy was so strong that we all had this look on our faces and seemed to be asking the same question”, Ray said after the jamming session.

Produced by Howard Keith, the new single, So Alive, will be the first single to be released since their break up in 1999. “This seems to be the right time for us to re-unite and our priority is to be true to ourselves”, added Ray.

In fact, this last year the international music scene has seen various come-backs, such as Iggy and the Stoogies, The Police, The Who and many others.

The Characters were founded in 1982 in the UK, making them veterans to the local music scene with 25 years experience, a few line up changes and one of Malta’s biggest names on the local scene during the 1990’s releasing four albums Destination Red, The Truth, Face To Face and Combination with hits such as Which Way Does The Wind Blow and Down By The Water.

They won many Malta Music Awards during this time and staged their own concerts in 1996 and 1998 at The Luxol grounds, where over 5,000 people were present. They also had stints in Austria, Germany and the US during their peak.

The Characters will be appearing this summer at The Malta Rock & Jazz Festival on 20 July and at the Farsons Beer Festival on 27 July.