In October 2007, Colchester Zoo realised that the summer temp they had employed - Mike Lord - was still being paid. While those in the zoo’s upper echelons plotted his demise, Lord remained blissfully unaware. He saw his future there, amongst the animals.

Thankfully, it wasn’t to be. Falling ice-cream sales and lacklustre postcard displays sealed his fate. Lord was sent packing back to the seaside town of Brighton, his tail between his legs. Following a series of low-profile failures as bin-man, hot-dog vendor and telesales monkey, Lord decided to turn his hand to music. His formative years spent stealing Flaming Lips albums from older brothers’ bedrooms were to serve him well.

Locked away in his bedroom with just a piano and some lo-fi recording equipment for company, Mike tapped into a rich vein of songwriting: like Jarvis fronting the Eels with Ben Folds on piano, coupled with The Flaming Lips’ technicolor ambitions and melodies to match, Stars and Sons were born.

At this point Lord felt happy with his bedroom project but he was lonely, and decided that Stars and Sons needed to be a fully fledged band to truly take shape and fly. Herein he called on friend and fellow Brighton artist Paul Steel: the two had met and bonded on Brighton’s music scene over a mutual love of Brian Wilson and Paul offered to play the bass guitar for Mike’s fledgling live act. Mike also enlisted the help of guitar supremo and Scottish exile Sandy Buglass and the line up was completed by a second Scot (and Mike’s childhood friend), Stuart Provan on drums.

It is at this point in September 2008, that Stars and Sons’ story as a hugely exciting four piece band truly begins.