As they prepare for the release of their first studio album in 32 years, the reunited members of 1970s folk-rock band CAEDMON took time out to speak to Lins Honeyman.

It seems however that a central Christian focus was part of the band's core. Explained Angela, "I loved singing and saw it as using the gift God had given me. We enjoyed doing what we were doing and I personally believed we were serving in the Kingdom."

After several years of performing and writing together, Caedmon decided to record an album in 1978 shortly before going their separate ways. Despite the release's retrospective status, it seems that it was recorded in less than prestigious circumstances. "Barclay Towers Studios, where we recorded the album, was basically a top level Edinburgh tenement flat," explained Sam. "You'd go up four flights of stairs to a garret and there was a little turret in the corner where all the equipment was. I seem to remember that we recorded in the kitchen with the oven door open to keep warm!"

"We recorded it over two weekends due to exams and lack of money," recalled Simon. "It was very much in the punk ethos of the time to go off and record an album by ourselves and not bother with a record label." Jim agreed that the recording sessions had their limitations. "We didn't have a lot of time to fix things and I'm not sure we were trying to achieve anything other than to make some decent recordings of the songs we'd been playing for the previous four years," he said.

I wondered what the band would have done differently if they had known at the time that their humble efforts would have become so renowned. "We didn't know it would become so popular," admitted Ken. "If we had known, we would have perhaps taken more time over it. There is something about the immediacy of it that gives it a certain charm, though."

It seems that the amounts that the album has sold for amongst collectors initially took the group by surprise. "About 15 years ago, I got this call from a guy who asked me if I had any copies," said Simon. "I had an extra one and he offered me £125 for it - my jaw hit the floor and I sold it to him." Continued Angela, "My daughter's teacher told me that copies of the album were on sale on the internet. It's hard to believe that some have been sold for up to £1,500!"

Bringing matters up to date, I asked how the new album 'A Chicken To Hug' compares to their much sought after previous release. "In the many ways, our trademark has always been that our music is quite varied because we have Simon, Jim, Sam and myself as writers who have collaborated and thrown ideas into each other's songs," stated Ken. "It's strange because I thought it would have an entirely different feel to the original album - mainly because Simon is playing a full drum kit whereas we only had bongos before and the fact that we are all in different places in our lives. In many ways, it still sounds very like Caedmon because it has that variety."

It seems that this variety is one of Caedmon's main appeals, as well as an eye for a quirky album title. "On the second of the two reunion concerts that we did at the Netherbow Theatre in Edinburgh, there's a song I did about not being able to have children, called 'Childless'," clarified Ken. "It's a story song but it reflects my feelings about my own personal situation. It's an emotive song for me and I was quite nervous about singing it live. There's a line in the song that goes, 'With mince and Martinis and a kitten to hug life was fine' but, because of nerves, I sang 'a chicken to hug' instead. Everybody laughed and it was a memorable moment so we thought we'd use it as the title of the new album!"

The aforementioned "Childless" features on the new release and I asked Ken which songs stand out for him amongst the new material. "I think Jim's 'Let The Four Winds Blow', when I listen to the album in entirety, seems to be one that's very strong," he considered. "Also, I like 'Elephant In The Chatroom' because it came together when we jammed and it's very quirky and Caedmon-like."

Sam shed some light on the meaning behind "Elephant In The Chatroom". "I'd sent an email to everyone suggesting that, since we'd got back together, we hadn't really talked about the thing that was key to the old Caedmon - the Christian aspect. It was the idea of the old fable of the elephant in the room except we were communicating electronically. As a result, we agreed that we should acknowledge that, in some ways, views on Christianity within the group had changed."

"The song's about integrity in saying that we're not who we were 30 years ago and in terms of our outlook on our lives, we've changed, matured and moved on," suggested Simon. "It was probably the case back then that we all had different views but, because we were younger we were more subject to the rigours of dogma, we didn't acknowledge our diversity as much. There's something very wonderful in doing something together after all these years, even with our different views on things."

"With the new songs, the Christian baseline has changed," advised Angela. "The songs are more about life - and ageing!" Ken took this thought further, "We were conscious even back in the '70s that what we were writing wasn't strictly 'gospel' music time. It was more that we were Christians who were musicians and writers and people could hopefully get to know a bit of us through what we were writing. Angela, Simon and Sam are still churchgoers and very much still firmly Christian. I still have a faith of some sort but I'm not part of a particular organisation."

Lastly, I asked what the future holds for Caedmon and it seems that more material and further live appearances have not been ruled out. "My hope is that we write some more material but it's difficult to prescribe when that will be," commented Ken. "We haven't made any plans to do more gigs but, for me personally, if 'A Chicken To Hug' is listened to and people like it we would need to confront going on the road with it. It would be very exciting."

Jim had the last word. "Maybe we could record another album that would be worth hundreds of pounds in 30 years time!"