STRANGE Kind of Purple play their last Swindon gig at the weekend.

Since 2005 the local outfit has delivered countless sets of music drawn mostly from Deep Purple’s so-called ‘Mk 2’ phase, delivering classics such as Smoke On The Water and Highway Star.

Now the members – vocalist Tim Stephens, keyboard player Alex McCracken, guitarist Tony Jordan, bassist Paul Campbell and drummer Bob Page – are planning to focus instead on a new project and scale down Strange Kind of Purple’s operations.

There’ll be a couple of festival gigs next year, but a free show on Saturday at the Queens Tap in Station Road will be their last local performance.

Tim Stephens said: “For the last seven years we have played in and around Swindon, and as far north as the National Harley Davidson Rally in Oswestry and as far south as Southampton.

“This will be the last Swindon show for Strange Kind of Purple.

“We’re working on a new project which we’ll be rehearsing solidly for the whole of next year, a stadium rock covers band called Monument. We’ll be covering all the really big stadium acts of the 1970s, such as Journey and Boston.”

Tim puts the success of the Deep Purple tribute down to the accessibility of the band’s songs, especially during the golden era the tribute mostly focuses.

Strange Kind of Purple’s website is www.deeppurpletribute.co.uk.