A FORMER Bournemouth student tipped as “the next big thing’” is playing his first gig with his new band The Scheme in his home town next month.

Aleksey Lopez, 23, is one of three members of London-based band,The Scheme, which formed in 2015.

The band consisting of Kris James, Kyle Carpenter and Aleksey Lopez, will be playing at the at The Old Fire Station on February 13 alongside X Factor finalists Union J.

Aleksey said: “I am really happy that our first gig in Bournemouth is going to be our fully MD’ed show. Hitting the hometown with a bang!”

The former St Peter’s student joined the band in March 2015 and said he clicked with the rest of the band straight away.

He added: “Joining the band was a completely new experience for me. I was working as a session guitarist at the time the boys scouted me, so joining a band where I had to sing the occasional lead line was a bit of a shock. However the boys were really supportive and now it just feels natural..

“I don’t really come back to Bournemouth much anymore, my family is still based there though. so I am always back for special occasions like Christmas.

“It’s always good to have them here in the summer, to live that beach life when I can. The band is just so busy and based in London so unfortunately I don’t really get to come back as much as I would like.”

The Scheme has performed alongside names such as The Tide and Lemar and released the first EP, Jerome Heights, late last year.

The album was recorded at Tileyard with producer Soren Anderson. Doors open at 6pm and tickets are £22 and available from seetickets.com/tour/union-j