OCEAN Colour Scene have joined the fifth label of their 14-year career, a move marked by this summer's release of their seventh studio album.

One chapter may have closed with the Universal/Island retrospective Anthology, but another is starting with the new studio set for the Sanctuary label, North Atlantic Drift.

As guitarist Steve Cradock prepares to play York Barbican Centre tonight, he sees the Sanctuary move as a continuation, a consolidation. "If you're a touring band, as we are, you need to keep it going with album releases.

"This time we didn't want to sign for a major label having been on Universal for the last three or four albums. It was good for the first two but, like with football managers, you end up working with someone you didn't work with at first. For us, to work with a smaller label is more intimate and that suits us."

North Atlantic Drift does not find Ocean Colour Scene making radical musical changes to match their change of label. "I can't imagine us going techno. That would be stupid, and we don't like that kind of music anyway. We still like guitar music," says Steve.

Tonight, Cradock's band will be visiting the Barbican for the fourth time, testament to their love of live shows. "The main reason for us doing music is playing live," says Steve, "You do that before you sign to a label and we still love the thrill of performing. That's why you start and that's what it's all about."

Ocean Colour Scene bring a similarly uncomplicated attitude to recording. "I think Moseley Shoals in 1996 was the first raw record we made, whereas with the first album in 1992, the producers tried to make us sound how they wanted us to be," says Steve.

"We wanted the new album to be simple and guitar led. It still has a whimsical side but we hit hard on the first five tracks, so you could open a live set with those songs."

Opening an album with the strongest songs is a time-honoured practice. "You need to make an impact straightaway because often people only listen to the first five songs," Steve says. "People went through this idea that a long album was value for money but I think 15 or 16 tracks is too many."

Expect to hear eight to ten tracks from the new album tonight. "That's the point of it. It would bore people just to be playing the same set; that would be cheating people. It's more fun to have a new injection of songs," Steve says.

Ocean Colour Scene savour playing music as much as ever and have every intention of doing so for many years to come. "I think it would become very obvious if people in the band didn't want to do it any more, but we still enjoy performing and we still believe in the band," says Steve.

Ocean Colour Scene play York Barbican Centre, 7.30pm. Tickets: £18.50 on 01904 656688 or on the door.

Updated: 09:53 Friday, September 12, 2003