HOMEgrown music stars Alphabet Backwards didn’t do a Duran Duran and visit Antigua for their new video.

Instead, singer James Hitchman plumped for his hometown of Abingdon as the background for the video to latest song Taller.

The video shows different band members in a number of easily recognisable Abingdon locations including High Street, Abbey Meadows, and Throwing Buns café next to Abingdon Museum.

The former St Birinus School, Didcot, pupil said: “I grew up in Abingdon and there are parts of the town which can look quite beautiful.

“When I started the band a few years ago I was working in Modern Music in the High Street and all the songs were about people in the town. I had one lyric which referred to a ‘chewing gum smile’ about a girl who had really bad teeth.”

The band has signed to Highline Records and has an album out in May.

Mr Hitchman said: “I think Abingdon is a really positive town and it keeps me happy – it has its own shambolic charm.”

The other four band members are fellow singer Steph Ward, her brother Josh Ward who plays bass, Paul Davidson who plays drums and Rob Thomas on keyboards.

The Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon has also been used as a location for Big Top, another song recorded by the band, which features with Taller on their three-track British Explorer EP.

He said: “We used the stage in the theatre and I think that video is quite atmospheric.”

Mr Hitchman, who works in publishing, said one of the highlights for the band so far was headlining the Carling Academy in Cowley Road in February.

The group is on tour later this month and will be playing at The Cellar in Oxford on Sunday, November 26.

The Taller video can be viewed at abingdonblog.co.uk.

affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk