For 20 years Dave Gedge and his cult indie band The Wedding Present were closely associated with his Leeds hometown.

But now the man who put 12 singles into the Top 40 in 1992 and played Ukrainian folk songs 20 years before any other Western band, has moved south to the sunny climes of Hove.

And he is treating his new home city to the launch party for his ninth studio album El Rey tonight.

"It's more like a long visit to Hove to be honest," he admits. "I have been floating around a bit for the last few years. I was living in Leeds for 20 years. Then I split up with my girlfriend and felt it was a good time to have a change of scenery."

As well as living in Sussex he has been spending time in America, living in LA where he wrote most of the new album.

"People have said it is The Wedding Present's LA album because the last one (2005's Take Fountain) was done in Seattle," says David. "There are a few references to LA in there but a lot are quite obscure. Others have said the music sounds lighter but I can't hear that myself."

For the recording itself, the band returned to Chicago and the recording studio of one Steve Albini, the man behind 1991's career highpoint album Seamonsters, as well as classic albums by Nirvana, PJ Harvey and Low.

"The songs were more guitary," says David. "We thought the one person in the world who is good at recording guitar bands is Steve Albini.

"People ask what is his magic trick. All it is, is a band that is well-rehearsed, with good songs and good equipment.

"You play the songs live and it's done. It's like how bands used to make records."

The new album followed on from a six-week tour recreating The Wedding Present's classic debut album George Best.

In fact, during the El Rey sessions the band took time to re-record the George Best album live in Steve Albini's studio, although David has no plans to release it yet.

The new record is the second by the reformed Wedding Present, after David took a break from the name for nine years to record with his then girlfriend Sally Murrell. Their band, Cinerama, focused more on David's love of soundtracks, from John Barry to Ennio Morricone.

"It is weird," says David. "We were away from guitar music with Cinerama, but when we decided to do The Wedding Present everyone was into guitar music again, with bands like Franz Ferdinand and the Arctic Monkeys."

El Rey sees the departure of long-time Wedding Present and Cinerama guitarist Simon Cleave. He is the latest in a long line of personnel to go, in a band turnover probably only second to Mark E Smith's The Fall. "It is always sad when people leave," says David.

"Simon left after ten years and I was heartbroken when that happened. But when a new guitarist comes in you get a person with fresh enthusiasm and you get back to the way a band should be - it makes you start again."

The ever-changing personnel did cause David one headache though, as he tried to piece together the sleeve notes for their massive John Peel session box set.

"I had to remember who had played what and where," he says. "Half the information I had in my diary was missing.

"It was great going to the mastering sessions though and hearing the band from when we started in 1985/6 up until 2005 over a day and a half."

Support from Dawn Landes.

  • Starts 7.30pm, tickets £14.50. Call 01273 709709