Little Angels put new songs behind a reunion instead of living on the old set
Little Angels have made the reunion considerably bigger than a trip through the old songs
GMCR-DB · U-Rock® Manchester · 2026-09-29
SCARBOROUGH, UK — Thirty-two years after their last new studio recordings, Little Angels have made the reunion considerably bigger than a trip through the old songs. The classic lineup is recording again.
The British hard-rock band released “Hero (That Was Then, This Is Now)” on September 28, the first taste of a five-song EP appropriately titled Big Bad & Back, due November 6 through Big Bad Music on CD and 12-inch vinyl. It marks Little Angels’ first newly recorded material since 1994. MNPR Magazine
That distinction matters. Little Angels already proved they could reunite for the stage when they returned around Download Festival in 2012, but this year's reunion has developed into something different. The upcoming shows feature the classic lineup of Toby Jepson, Bruce Dickinson, Jim Dickinson, Mark Plunkett and Mark Richardson, and rehearsing together again unexpectedly led to new songs. MNPR Magazine
According to the band, making another record wasn't originally part of the plan. As Jepson began bringing in ideas during rehearsals for the Big Bad & Back tour, however, the musicians started jamming on them and realized there was still creative chemistry between them. Their criterion was straightforward: there was little point recording again merely because they could — they needed to feel that Little Angels still had something to say. MetalTalk
That idea is right there in the new single's title. “Hero (That Was Then, This Is Now)” isn't being presented as five musicians pretending three decades haven't passed. Jepson has described the new writing as reflecting on where they came from and who they have become, calling the process one of “returning home.” MetalTalk
There is another connection to the band's past in the way Big Bad & Back was made. Following rehearsals in their hometown of Scarborough, Little Angels went to Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire and tracked the material live as a band. The recordings then traveled to Vancouver to be mixed by Mike Fraser, whose enormous rock résumé includes AC/DC and Aerosmith and whose history with Little Angels reaches back to their chart-topping 1993 album Jam. MetalTalk
For anyone who missed Little Angels the first time around, that 1993 period provides some useful context. The band emerged from Scarborough and became a significant part of Britain's late-'80s and early-'90s hard-rock scene, ultimately landing 11 UK Top 40 singles and four hit albums. Jam reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart in 1993, before the group brought that original chapter to an end following a sold-out Royal Albert Hall farewell in 1994. Hard Rock & Metal Magazine
Now the story has another five songs.
