VINTAGE Brit rockers Bad Company are going back on the road in the new year – but fans can get an early preview on Friday when they play the launch of the new Wahoo bar at the former Walkabout on Southampton High Street.

Fronted for the last eight years by Poole-based singer Robert Hart, the band’s career spans four decades, three bassists and several guitarists and drummers since being formed in 1973 by ex-Free singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke with guitarist Boz Burrell and bassist Mick Ralphs.

A split in the early 1980s ended with a reunion in 1986 and a new singer in Brian Howe who stayed until 1994 when Robert was brought in for the albums Company of Strangers and Stories Told and Untold, matching new versions of old Bad Company hits with seven new songs.

Now with a new album planned, Robert is joining Bad Company alumni Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell (guitar), Jazz Lochrie (ex-Go West, bass) and Garry ‘Harry’ James (ex-Thunder, Magnum, Ian Gillan on drums) on the road with the Rock ’n’ Roll Renaissance Fantasy Concert featuring the stars of Bad Com- pany.

“I’m really looking forward to getting Bad Company back out there,” says Robert.

Robert is also lining up his latest song for the armed forces charity Help For Heroes.

We Will Remember Them is a no-holds-barred tearjerker written in honour of all those who have laid down their lives for their country – especially those who have fallen in Afghanistan.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve done on this one,” says Robert. “It’s a real hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck job to get the crowd going.

“It was originally written as the theme song for a David Frost TV series on HBO in the States, but when that fell through I rewrote it. It really means something now, something special.”

He’s also been writing with Mark Read, formerly in boy band A1, and has cooked up a potential song for the England World Cup squad.

“It’s called We Ain’t Going Home Empty Handed and we’ve got a crowd singalong chorus and everything – can’t fail,” he reckons.