CHILDHOOD friends who formed a band after leaving school have been put back on the path to stardom after a chance meeting with some worse-for-wear radio DJs.

Tony Hall and his three friends formed punk four-piece Purple Monkey in 2001 and enjoyed six years of making music together.

The friends eventually went their own ways but remained close and have now been pushed back together by a radio competition which has convinced them to pick up their instruments again.

Tony, 29, of Birdhurst Avenue, South Croydon, said: "It has all been very surreal for us, but we are going to get back together. It is weird how things work out really."

Tony was listening to Absolute Radio, which was broadcasting a show called DJs in PJs, where the breakfast show hosts stayed at a listener's house and spent the evening with them before doing the radio show live from their living room the next day.

Last Thursday the breakfast team stayed at a house in Shirley, but came back from the pub a little worse for wear and broke the blind in one of the rooms they were staying at.

They appealed for help the next morning – and Tony came to the rescue. He said: "I heard they needed help and I am pretty much only round the corner so I offered my services.

"When the band split about five years ago, we all decided to go our own ways professionally, and I became a builder. We are childhood friends though so still really close.

"I went round there, fixed it and told them I had been in a band as a youngster and they wanted to hear one of our songs.

"The next thing I knew we were being played at 8am on the radio to millions of people."

Tony was in the band with friends Stephen Savoury, 31, Luke Neave, 29, and Daniel Taylor, 29, and he said they were all as pleased as him.

He added: "Me, Luke and Daniel all went to Selsdon College together and we met Stephen straight after school, but it was like being kids again.

"We couldn't stop smiling, it was the first time we had ever heard one of our songs on the radio.

"We decided to get the band back together and we have picked up our instruments.

"I was on the drums, Luke on the guitar, Daniel played the bass guitar and Stephen was the singer. We did gigs in Croydon, London and Manchester.

"We had a really good reaction from listeners, and some of them have been Tweeting me since the song. Hopefully we can go onwards and upwards now."

Tony and his friends perfected their craft at his mum's house in Headley Drive, New Addington.

He added: "We used to practise in my mum's shed and my nickname was bones, so we called the shed the 'bone yard'.

"I now have a garage so we are going to go in there. We were all saying 'the bone yard is back'."

Listen to Purple Monkey at www.myspace.com/purplemonkeyband