Fifty years after the release of their eponymous debut album in 1967, Ten Years After returned with the brand new studio album, A Sting in the Tale containing twelve newly written tracks. As well as original members Ric Lee (drums) and Chick Churchill (keyboards), the band now features bass icon Colin Hodgkinson (Peter Green, Spencer Davis, Chris Rea) and multi-award winning guitarist/vocalist Marcus Bonfanti (Van Morrison, Ginger Baker, Ronnie Wood).

The beginning of Ten Years After's meteoric rise to fame can be pinpointed to their performance at The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in August 1969. The audience was blown away by the intensity of the band's performance and their unique combination of jazz, blues and rock. This made them one of the biggest bands of the early 70's. However, they broke up in 1974, but re-united a couple of times the decades after. Initially this included the enigmatic frontman Alvin Lee, later they toured with various different guitarists and singers. In 2013, to the great shock and surprise of the remaining founding members, Alvin Lee died from complications during a routine medical procedure.

In 2014 Ric and Chick (wanting to keep the memory of the band alive and pay tribute to the legendary albums they made with Alvin Lee over the years) put Ten Years After back together with a new line-up. They were keen to record a studio album that showcased this exciting new lineup that had been touring the world over to great critical acclaim. The album was engineered and produced by Bonfanti at his studio in London and mixed by acclaimed Canadian mix engineer Doug Organ. Mastering duties were overseen by the legendary John Astley who had worked on Ten Years After remasters in the past, and had also worked on projects with individual band members in various guises.

The subject material on the album ranges from childhood memories of growing up in post war Britain, songs of love lost to the rock n roll lifestyle as well as sincere odes to a life well lived. They pay homage to the steam train drivers of the past and guitar heroes of the future as well as other interesting characters the band have encountered since they embarked on this journey over 50 years ago. There is a great depth of subject matter packed into this 53 minute album. Each member met individually with Bonfanti, using him as a ‘central writing hub' and crafted the songs before ‘full band' rehearsals were used to hone them in to Ten Years After songs. The band were careful not to over rehearse this new material as they wanted to capture that same energy and spontaneity in the studio that made the early TYA albums so magical.

The title A Sting In The Tale reflects the same sentiment Ric and Chick wished to convey in the 2015 live album The Name Remains The Same. Although the band lineup has changed and the music continues to evolve and grow 50 years on, the sound of the band will always be heavily rooted in the way they paved the way during the late sixties and early seventies and will never forget its incredible heritage. This new record is the ‘sting' in the continuing tale of Ten Years After.