FORMER members of the Scottish rock band The Silencers have reunited – in a project borne from pain and heartache of losing a loved-one.

JJ Gilmour and Joe Donnelly enjoyed great success and critical acclaim during their respective individual stints with the band and toured with music greats such as Simple Minds, David Bowie, U2 and The Pretenders.

Though never playing in The Silencers at the same time, Joe and JJ bonded immediately during an emotional week in Glasgow as all the ex-Silencers got together to play a sell-out gig in aid of bandmate Cha Burns, who was gravely-ill at the time.

Sadly, the much-loved guitarist Cha passed away soon afterwards.

Joe and JJ, both torn by their anguish, seized the opportunity and decided to start writing together in memory of their dear friend.

The result of this creative collaboration is the new band Caezar; an album of powerfully-emotive material, and two live dates in Glasgow for the duo this summer.

Joe said: “The sadness and emotion we both felt at this point was so raw and there was only one way to turn this into something positive and that was to make music.

"Life really is too short and when the chance came up to work with another top musician, it was full steam ahead.

"The album was a real labour of love and we’re so proud of the new songs and we can’t wait to play them for all our fans soon.”

Caezar’s new album Time will be released on Friday, July 20, and available from wearecaezar.co.uk, Spotify and iTunes.

The duo will play Oran Mor, Glasgow, on Friday, July 27, with a support slot with The Pretenders at the Kelvingrove Bandstand on Monday July 30.

Tickets for both gigs are available from ticketmaster.co.uk