SEVENTEEN years and still going strong.

That’s London’s Turin Brakes, otherwise known as Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian who arrived on to the music scene back in 1999 with their lilting melodic acoustic sound that captured the hearts and minds of music-lovers everywhere.

Their debut, the Optimist, got itself a Mercury Music nomination, the duo got themselves some festival dates, but unlike other groups of the time, the pair refused to rest on their artistic laurels.

While the majority of the musical class of 2000 have become frozen in our memories, Turin Brakes are back on tour to promote their seventh studio album, Lost Property, and Gale, for one, still can’t quite believe it.

“When you start a band you never know how long it’s going to last,” he says, “but you kind of think it’s going to be forever. You can kind of analyse it but I really don’t know how we managed to stay around. I suppose the fact we didn’t exactly explode on to the scene but kind of simmered away at a certain level.”

While the band was formed by Olly and Gale in a South London bedroom, the duo have now enlisted long-term collaborators Rob Allum and Eddie Myer into the mix not just for the touring but also the music-making process.

“Olly and I are glad of the company,” he adds. “We have known them for so long it’s really easy to bounce ideas of them.

“For this new album we wanted to create something that was really simple. Just let the music do the work for us and not over complicate it too much and actually we’re really pleased with the results.”

• Turin Brakes play the Colchester Arts Centre on March 3 from 7.30pm.

Tickets are now sold out but to be out on the list of returns call 01206 500900.