LAST seen opening their tour at the White Rabbit back in 2010 alongside Fei Commodo, British alt rockers INME return to venue on February 26, as part of a 35-date headline tour.

They are headliners this time – testament to their hard graft and ability to think outside the box, which has kept them going where others have fallen by the wayside.

Last year, they were promoting Phoenix, A best of INME, featuring tracks from their previous four albums Overgrown Eden, White Butterfly, Daydream Anonymous and Herald Moth.

This time they'll be brandishing their brand new long-player The Pride, widely regarded as their finest work to date.

"We don't want to be one of those bands accused of not taking risks," main man Dave McPherson explains. "With every album we have attempted to change the sound, try and move in a different direction. People who dismissed our first couple of albums might like to give our latest a try. For a start, it's made by men as opposed to teenagers!"

It's rock/metal with a twist, with cleverly-thought-out guitar parts, epic orchestration of sound and the catchiest of melody lines."

The band will be playing a good half of the album each night on tour.

"The album is out on February 20, at the start of the tour, so hopefully people will know the songs by the time we get to their town, and sing the lyrics back at us as usual."

That they still have a such a loyal fanbase is down in no small part to their resolve to survive in these difficult times.

"Our proudest achievement is still being here doing it when loads of our peers have gone. In a way we had too much too young, we were signed early and I guess got a bit complacent. But when we found ourselves without a label or management in the mid Noughties, we really had to work hard to survive."

Their hard work paid off as they discovered when they were asked back to Sonisphere festival in 2010.

"We hoped a couple of hundred people would turn up, but were amazed to have beyond capacity of 1,500 plus 500 more watching from outside.

"The next year we were invited back and put in a 5,000 capacity tent, which again concerned us – but we were thrilled to find it packed out with more people outside trying to get in."

Kerrang magazine were there to witness the occasion describing: "Fans old and new celebrating a band who lion-heartedly refuse to die."

During their nine-year career they have toured with Nickelback, Limp Bizkit, Pendulum, Deftones, Feeder and Biffy Clyro and they built a reputation for packing tents at the likes of Reading, Download and Summer Breeze as well as Sonisphere. But they admit it's getting really tough for bands to survive financially at their level, so as well keeping the music quality up, it's all about reconsidering the marketing strategy.

One new ideas is the Come Dine With INME package.

Dave says, "Fans bid to come and have supper with us at a really nice restaurant. Can't really think who would want to pay to have an evening out with us, but amazingly we have a few takers already."

Their current album, is being released via Pledge Music, allowing fans to connect with the band and support a cause of their choice.

"Pledge Music enabled me to take my solo music to a whole new level," says Dave. "It helped finance the whole campaign, whilst raising £2,000 for Save The Children. We have around 70 incentives including The Pride album, DVDs, personalised songs, house party gigs, a massive merch range, handwritten lyric sheets and loads more.

"My and my brother Greg's Grandfather passed away earlier this year due to complications from Alzheimer's so we'll be donating a portion of the funds raised to the Alzheimer's Society to help combat this terrible condition for the future."