Maybe it was the black railway guards' outfits, or the solemnity of their songs, drawn from tragic events of the past.

Witch trials, the Great Fire of London, the assassination of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, even the tribulations of chess champion Bobby Fischer provided ILT with lyrical inspiration.

But then last year their record contract was cancelled and their percussionist and video-maker Ashley Dean left, and the band decided it was time for a fresh start.

Holing themselves up in a friend's house near Settle, singer David Martin, guitarist Guy Bannister, bassist Alistair Bowis and drummer Simon Fogal began work on new songs which, they promised, would be a departure from the historical gloom and doom.

Next week they're back with the first fruit of that new direction, the self-released single Sea of Regret. A soaring epic, it could just be the song that finally earns I Like Trains the sizable audience they have long deserved.

David Martin is not counting his chickens just yet, though. While quietly confident that the song will strike a chord with DJs who have supported the band in the past, he's quick to point out its possible drawbacks. "It's six minutes long," he notes. "It's probably a bit more radio-friendly in its sonic qualities but we did not give (the stations) a radio mix. We will see."

Where the rest of the new material is pointing, he'd prefer not to give the game away, just yet. "We would like people to draw their own conclusions," he says before dropping a hint. "There's only so long you can be looking back towards history until you start looking forwards to where we are heading. It's still a pretty bleak picture we are painting with our music."

The band are clearly mulling over their music at the moment. Sea of Regrets "took a long while to come together", says David. "I had the bare bones of it; it was probably one of the first (of the new songs) we were writing. But we were trying to make it what it was not. (The changes) happened in an organic way, by a process of elimination. It finally came together in a form like it is now in among the sheep in the countryside in Settle."

As to why ILT felt the need for shake-up, David says: "We've always like to challenge ourselves. I seemed the obvious thing to take things at a different angle. We talked a lot before we wrote a note about what we wanted to achieve.

"The new songs we have written are probably quite different to what we talked about initially, though. These things need to be a process, a journey. We tried to forget everything we were doing before but I think a bit of what we were doing snuck in under the radar.

"We thought we would make a record that was completely alien to what we had been doing but we are still the same people. It's really a different angle."

Releasing the single without record company backing is "exciting in itself", says Dave. "We're very close to every aspect of it. Not that we weren't before but we're even more so now.

"It's a scary step, definitely," he admits, "but it's one we are all relishing. We are all throwing ourselves into every aspect of the release and it's getting good pre-sales and a good reaction."
Having to handle everything from PR and airplay is hard work, he adds, "but it makes you appreciate things a bit more".

And if the single is successful the band hope that it could lead to a new record deal. "We have been talking to a number of different people," David reveals. "But it got to the stage where we had this song recorded. It's the centrepiece of the new album and we've been playing it live for a while. We thought it was the right time to release it.
"If we can prove ourselves with that song it will stand us in better stead with the epople we have been talking to."

Fans will be pleased to know I Like Trains now have a surfeit of songs written for the follow-up to their debut album Elegies For Lessons Learned. "The record was written a few months ago. Since then we've written a whole load of new songs," says David. "It will only be good for the record. The longer we take the better it's going to be.

"We were a bit frustrated that we did not get it out earlier but at the same time we are still in a very creative please for writing, so that's fine. We will see what the near future holds for us."

In the meantime the band have a UK tour to think about. It includes a gig at Leeds Cockpit on October 16. Hometown shows are always special, says David. "We have played in front of thousands in Germany and big audiences elsewhere, but when you play to your friends and girlfriends etc it's always more nerve-wracking. They are not afraid to tell you when it's not gone so well.

"But nerves add an extra dimension to performing; it's not necessarily a bad thing."

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