•Elba decided to focus on Crisis charity with video release

•Band members are all from the area and wanted to reflect that

• They are delighted with the 'fantastic' response so far

An Ashby band have raised almost £300 for the Crisis charity with a video of their cover version of Driving Home for Christmas.

They re-recorded the festive Chris Rea song to help publicise their soon to be released EP.

But they have also used the video to raise money for the homeless.

The clip features a number of instantly recognisable local areas and has proved popular so far.

Rob Lea, Elba's lead singer and rhythm guitarist, explained how song and video came about.

"We decided to record the Christmas song initially as a way of gaining some publicity and creating a bit of a buzz on social media for the release of our debut EP which will be out in the next couple of weeks," he said.

"But after we'd recorded it and I was editing it, we thought, as it's Christmas, it'd be nice to do something charitable and raise some money for people who need it.

"We chose Crisis because the song 'Driving home for Christmas' leads to thoughts of those who aren't fortunate enough to have a home to go to this Christmas.

"And on that theme of home, that's why we chose to record the video in and around Ashby - we are all local lads and we wanted to show this in the video.

"I'm from Oakthorpe and a few of the driving shots start in Measham then we head into Ashby and Swadlincote.

"The response to the video has been fantastic - it's exceeded all our expectations in all honesty.

"And we're so pleased it's raised so much for the charity - nearly £300 - which is enough to reserve 10 places for guests at one of Crisis's Christmas centres."

Elba are performing at The Soundhouse in Leicester tonight (Thursday) as part of the venue's Sounds of Christmas show which will be their last gig of 2019 before promoting the EP release in the new year.

Click the red button below for more information on Elba and their charity video.