South Shields duo Woodface to reunite after almost a decade when they return to the stage

Lee Gray, 34 and Paul Snaith, 35, will reform their duo, Woodface, for a rare performance on Saturday, August 10 at the Trimmers Arms in South Shields.

South Shields-born Lee and Paul played together for 10 years, and built up a loyal following in the North East and further afield, performing across the UK.

However, the pair went their separate ways when Lee moved to New Zealand eight years ago, and both men have since made a name for themselves as successful musicians in their own right.

Lee, who is now well established on the New Zealand music scene, has appeared at festivals across the country, and even performed the opening song at the FIFA Under 20s World Cup in 2015, which he wrote and recorded.

As Lee and Paul, who now lives in Finland, will briefly return to South Shields this summer, they have taken the opportunity to play some of their old favourites again.

“It’s going to be a trip down memory lane and bit of nostalgia,” said Lee, who will also perform at Bents Park on 4 August, as part of this year’s South Tyneside Festival.

“We’re really excited for it. We always had so much fun playing together. We have both got our own thing going now, so it’s going to be interesting, but we always gelled well, so hopefully we can get back into it.“

And fans are looking forward to seeing the duo back on stage together.

“The people who followed us back in the day are all really excited about it,” Lee continued. “We get messages all the time from people asking when we’re going to be playing again.

“We started to gather some really good momentum towards the end. We used to get big crowds turning up and every gig was a really good vibe, so fingers crossed we can pick up where we left off.”

Woodface will perform at the Trimmers Arms, South Shields on Saturday, August 10 at 7.30pm.