I once met Bobby Gillespie, lead singer of Primal Scream, when he was hanging round with a band called Pop Will Eat Itself.

It was at a Birmingham club called The Powerhouse with two male friends.

We were invited back to a party with the Primals and Pop Will Eat Itself at a dodgy B&B in town.

Primal Scream had just made it into the indie charts with their debut single and Bobby was sporting long hair that partly obscured his face.

From then on, they just seemed to go from strength to strength over the years.

After seeing them play at V2002 in Staffordshire this year, I have to, grudgingly, admit they were one of the best live bands around.

The latest band news is that they are all set to release their single, Autobahn 66 from their seventh album Evil Heat on Monday, October 28.

The single features an edit of Autobahn 66 alongside a mix by German outfit Alter Ego.

"We've got a Primal Scream voice now and we're still exploring it," says Bobby.

"Half the album seems to be this weird electronic/psychedelic music, then the other half seems to be insane, explosive white-light rock and roll, really free-form, crazed, high-energy music.

"Real sarcastic, real messy, the way rock and roll should be.

"It's a good mix and I think it's full of hits."

As was the way with Screamadelica, the core members of Primal Scream apart from Bobby, are Andrew Innes, Robert Young, Martin Duffy and Gary Mani Mounfield.

They recorded the tracks themselves with My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields and invited various associates to mix them.

"It's like the production thing here," says Bobby.

"We're not bogged down by the standard band, musician rules where everybody's ego has to be fulfilled.

"It'd be boring to have the same guys playing the same instruments in every song.

"It doesn't seem to work that well for us.

"We like to use different instruments for different sounds."

Just some of the celebrity names associated with the album are Kate Moss and Robert Plant.

The latter probably explains the Led Zeppelin influence on some of their live songs at V2002, which was simply awesome.

Primal Scream will be playing Birmingham Academy on Tuesday, December 10.

For further details contact the box office on 0870 771 2000.