International Rescue are one of the great "what ifs" of the East Yorkshire music scene.

Based in Bridlington, but packing a punch in Hull and beyond, the rocking 1980s outfit were one of the rising stars of the region's music scene.

The foursome reached the heady heights of appearing on The Tube in 1983 and looked all set for stardom.

And then, on the day the band was due to sign a record deal, frontman Steve Skinner quit to join Edwyn Collins's band Orange Juice.

But if International Rescue signed off with bags of unfulfilled potential, the band is now doing their best to make up for lost time.

When the group reformed for their first gig in 28 years, last February, they packed The Spa Theatre with more than 450 fans, inspiring the group to make the reunion a more permanent arrangement.

Later this month, they'll perform at The Spa again, unveiling an EP of new material, called Sonic Lightning, when they do.

Steve, who now makes his post-popstar living as a film studies teacher in Hornsea, said: "We had planned last year's show as a one-off to be honest.

"But the reaction we got was amazing. We were bowled over that so many people turned out to see us.

"We had originally booked one of the smaller rooms at The Spa, but as they kept selling out, they kept moving us to a bigger arena – and we eventually ended up in the theatre.

"I've played at Wembley in front of 16,000 people supporting Pulp, but I don't think I've ever been so nervous as I was walking out at The Spa.

"But by the end, the place was absolutely jumping. We had people dancing in the aisles."

Using the proceeds from the reunion gig, Steve and bandmates Dave Waller, Chaz Cook and Joel Cash, relocated to Fairview Studios, in Willerby, to record the first new International Rescue music in three decades.

The result is a three-track EP including two new songs, Armadillo and All I Want, and a reworking of an old number The Shining, which Steve says the band never really properly captured back in the 1980s.

"We wanted to do an experiment to see if we had developed at all in the past 29 years," says Steve.

"And I think the new songs are definitely up there with anything we did in the 1980s.

"If anything, the new stuff is better. We always felt we never captured the live, raw sound we had back then, so now this is our opportunity to put that right."