Birmingham unsigned band The Carousels squeeze in Black Grape support slot

Almost exactly a year ago – April 1, 2018 – the four-piece rockers played a venue called The Studio in Hartlepool to around 50 people supporting North East Britpop cover band The Baggy Mondays.

They, you'd assume, largely take their name from 90s Madchester superstars Happy Mondays. And fast forward those 12 months and The Carousels found themselves again on stage with another act linked to the psychedelic funsters.

On March 29, the unsigned act were at The Mill, Digbeth, in their base city of Birmingham, warming up for a sold-out show to around 1,000 people supporting Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder in his other big band - Black Grape.

"It was quite surreal," says vocalist and guitarist Jeff Best – a pilot at Birmingham Airport when not supporting Britpop superstars. "We turned up at 2pm to load in at The Mill. The venue team and Black Grape tour staff were already set up.

"I wandered upstairs where the door opens out onto a large veranda – it was a really sunny day and I found the Black Grape lads crashed out on towels outside, knackered from partying the night before in Reading.

"I recognised Kermit, aka Paul Leveridge, and said 'hello' and had a chat with him. There was no sign of Shaun Ryder - he travels separately from the band and turns up at gig time, gone are the days when he needs to soundcheck.

"We then went off for a beer at a bar at The Custard Factory."

Joining Jeff in The Carousels are drummer Gavin Davies, from Cradley Heath, bassist Nivan Smith – born in Birmingham but grown in the Black Country – and fellow guitarist Phil Wilkes, originally from Stroud in Gloucestershire. They only formed in 2017, so the journey from friends jamming to supporting somebody like Mr Ryder has been a swift one.

It was just as well a couple of pre-gig beers had been downed to settle the nerves because there were some technical issues upon their return.

"We came back to soundcheck and had to set up in front of their equipment," Jeff continues. "Soundcheck was great at first but we had horrendous feedback several times as the sound engineer tried to get the levels right.

"We spent a bit of time backstage with Black Grape - lots of banter, very funny guys."

But the day wasn't all about schmoozing. The Carousels had a job to do. And at 8pm, it was time to show 1,000 indie-mad music lovers what their sound was all about, such as recorded on their sole EP to date - She's All I Need.

"The band got together at the side of the stage and Phil did a quick recap of the things we needed to remember for the set," says Jeff. "The atmosphere was great in there - there was a great lighting rig and a sold-out crowd.

"I introduced the band and kicked off the set with our song So Clever, which was originally the first track off my solo album Revolution Gonna Stop Disillusion."

That solo album, incidentally, has been remastered and is available to hear via the band's website.

READ MORE: Birmingham unsigned band The Carousels to support Shaun Ryder's Black Grape

"We played a half-an-hour set; seven songs. The set went great and the crowd's feedback was amazing. We were asked to play all original songs but we decided to throw in a cover version to fire up the crowd.

"We launched into Pretty Vacant by the Sex Pistols. It has pretty powerful opening chords and is a nod to the time I liked to pretend I was Johnny Rotton when I was about two years old after hearing my brother's vinyl copy of Nevermind The B******s. I think I just loved the bright album cover and obviously wasn’t aware what the words meant.

"We ended with our song called Cold Feet, which is a Rolling Stones-style driving song."

So with their work complete - minus lugging their gear off the stage of course to make way for the headliners - they could sit back and relax a bit to watch Mr Ryder, Kermit and the gang let loose. And watching seasoned pros go at it gave them inspiration for the future.

"We were standing there watching the band kick off, and a few moments later a figure dressed in black with sunglasses and a cap on came on – Shaun Ryder," recalls Jeff. "They launched into their set with In The Name Of The Father.

"They were great - rock, funk, hip hop, it was all in there. Kermit was full of energy and Shaun stood there and did his thing looking very cool indeed. We got a thumbs up from Kermit as they kicked the song off. We are still unsigned but it was definitely a validation of what we have been doing for the past two years."

And the crowd had enjoyed what they saw as well.

"It was a great night and we had amazing feedback from people there - one saying we were 'the best support band' he had seen 'in a long, long time'. We had a great review from Counteract, too, who said ‘we liked them best when they cut loose with a ramped up version of the Sex Pistols’ Pretty Vacant'."

So with praise ringing in their ears from those both on the stage and in front of it, that was one night's work worth doing for The Carousels.

And it will prove great practice for when they headline this year's Wolvesfest on June 19 at Wolverhampton Rugby Club.

The Carousels can be found on Facebook @BritpopCarousels, while Jeff also posts about the band from his Twitter account @jbestuk. They also have their own website - www.thecarousels.info - where you can hear their EP as well as Jeff's solo album. Tickets for Wolvesfest are available from the event's website.