Canadian folk band, The East Pointers are named after a lighthouse at the furthest east point of Prince Edward Island, where the trio come from.

Guitarist Jake Charron said: "Koady (banjo player) was a lobster fisherman for a while, fishing off the island to fund his music.''

Jake grew up in a musical family with both brothers playing fiddle. "My dad put me on guitar - I guess there were only two fiddles,'' he said.

The third member of the band is the lead singer and fiddle player Tim Chaisson, Koady's cousin.

The musicians write all their songs together, often when they are on the road touring. They bring in ideas on chord progression or lyrics and weave them into their own sound. Their last album Secret Victory won them the Canadian Folk Music Juno Award.

"We were overwhelmed, it was not expected,'' said Jake. "We knew of the awards when we growing up, so it was great to be part of that whole scene, particularly being young as a band.''

The East Pointers will be singing songs from their new album, What We Leave Behind, in Uffington tonight as part of their UK tour.

When they are out on tour Jake says they are pretty well behaved and usually travel with their sound guy in two cars rather than a tour bus.

"Besides a big tour bus can't fit on your British roads,'' he said.

He says the band are really looking forward to touring the UK and he is hoping that people will be up and dancing to their music.

"The people are great in the UK, we jut can't wait,'' he said.

As part of their world tour the musicians visited Tazmania when some of the worst wild fires for 50 years broke out.

The fires were raging so badly that they were forced to cancel one of their gigs, but then the wind changed direction and the boys decided to go ahead and play.

"It was scary,'' said Jake. "But we were in good hands and it turned out to be a very special night, we raised people's spirits and it put things into perspective.''

To add to the adventure the trio were staying in a log cabin!

"I got up every two hours to check on the fires,'' said Jake.

The Tazmanian experience inspired the band's current single 82 Fires, which is taken from What We Leave Behind.

All the songs spring from the musicians own experiences, travelling, playing and hearing a mix of genres and styles.

"It's a mix of songs we have put together that have taken a contemporary direction, it has a pop vibe,'' said Jake. "Although we grew up playing traditional music we also listened to the radio. It wasn't planned it was natural, organic - it's what happened.''

The Pointers will be at the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall in Uffington tonight. They will be supported by fellow Canadians Harrow Fair who will be playing the Americanafest in London while in this country.