The Napoli has proved inspirational to one Tipton man and his band.

WHILE the Napoli has proved a source of fascination for residents and visitors to East Devon over the past year, it has proved inspirational to one Tipton man and his band.

With the wreckage finally disappearing from view last month, Roger Hunt, 43, and his band The Starkadders have put the finishing touches to a song marking the stricken vessel's time off the coastline.

The band, which also features Gareth Bardon and Jon Smith, spent a chunk of their free time in July lugging equipment up and down cliffs near Berry Barton, battling daylight and the elements to film the video for their Napoli Ballad.

While Roger feels the song's style wouldn't usually sit well his fellow bandmates, the trio made an affectionate exception to tell the story in music.

Roger, who also runs an open mic night at the London Inn in Ottery, said: "Quite a few of the songs I write now have their roots in the landscape and atmosphere peculiar to this part of the country."

"This Napoli song is not really typical of mine and would be spat out whole by the band as too Dylan and folkie but it tells a version of events and is more about getting that across than getting an audience on the dance floor."

"Still, hopefully the film that Alex, John and I made this July, hauling heavy equipment up and down the cliffs near Berry Barton and repeatedly running out of daylight, will serve as a reminder of the wonderful , strange and slightly dodgy experience that the Napoli wreck was for us down here. It feels kind of ghostly without the wreck, like something's missing."

"It might appear that I look somewhat serious in the video, this is not in empathy with the fate of people who misplaced some quite important car parts but because Alex had just read the lyrics and informed me that Napoli had only one p not two like I had thought."

Follow the link on our homepage to watch the video. Open Mic night at the London Inn begins on October 26 at 8.30pm and will run on the last Sunday of every month.