BIG bands are continuing to come to Weymouth and the next one onstage in the Ocean Room are InMe, veteran guitar rockers from Essex who have toured Europe and shared a stage with the likes of Nickelback, Limp Bizkit, Pendulum, Deftones, Serj Tankian, Staind, Feeder and Biffy Clyro.

Their latest album The Pride was released earlier this week and at the time of writing stood at number 66 in the iTunes charts. InMe frontman Dave MacPherson says that the new album is something of a departure for the group as it is ‘more uplifting’ than their earlier music.

“It is more highly charged emotionally. The last album was dark and cynical which we wanted at the time, but this is where the band is at now which is a really good place.

“It has been a hard and gruelling year to get here but we have made it and this is celebratory as a result. We also wanted to push ourselves on an instrumental level. We felt we were getting a bit ‘widdly’ with too many guitars and we wanted this album to be about the songs and the hooks, because if you haven’t got that right you’re not doing your job.”

InMe were formed back in 1996 when Dave was just 13. Then, the band was made up of Dave, Joe Morgan and Simon Taylor, but Joe left and was replaced by Dave’s brother Greg. The fourth member is guitarist Gazz Marlow, who signed up two years ago.

“This is Gazz’s first album with us, but it’s a healthy line-up because we have mainly been together so long and are good friends,” said Dave. “It also means that we can be brutally honest with each other and we don’t have to tiptoe round big egos!”

The Pride is being sold through Pledge Music and a percentage of the money raised will go to the Alzheimer’s Society, a charity that the band has first-hand experience of. This is the second time Dave has raised charity music through Pledge – last year his solo debut made £2,000 for Save the Children.

“The fans get directly involved with the band through Pledge and it is also helping us raise money for Alzheimer’s Society, who are an amazing charity and really enthusiastic to be working with us.

“Alzheimer’s affects so many people and it ruins so many homes and lives and it is good for us to be able to help them while also making money to keep us on the road.”

Looking ahead, the band has a 35-date tour to get through before they take a bit of a break and prepare for a summer touring the festival circuit. In the meantime, they are enjoying their continued time in the sun – even though the charts and current state of the music industry makes Dave scratch his head a bit.

“I was looking at the chart and we are pretty much the only guitar band in the charts,” said Dave. “I’m not saying you have to be a guitar band to be good, but a lot of the artists out there are coming from TV reality shows.

“It’s really hard to put your finger on what the music industry is all about at the moment. Artists, labels and managers are all trying to evolve but if you look back at the 1980s and ’90s, even the pop music had more substance. Musicians I admire are people like Frank Turner – five or six years ago he was playing to an audience of 50 but this year’s he’s selling out Wembley Arena. I like the organic way he has grown.

“And I know it’s unoriginal but I love that Gotye song (Somebody That I Used to Know). It just rips your heart out and I can’t stop listening to it. It will never get boring.”

InMe are at Weymouth Pavilion tonight. Call 01305 783225 for bookings, details.