RISING stars China White are used to playing all over the country. But even they found it a little overwhelming when they arrived at Danny Saber’s studio in West Hollywood.

The Warrington electro funk band spent three weeks with the legendary music producer who has worked with Madonna, David Bowie, U2 and The Rolling Stones.

“It was surreal and pretty full on as we were working through the night,” said frontman Liam Croker.

“When we walked into Danny’s studio there was a crucifix with Mr T on it and there were a couple of black widow spiders knocking about.

“We were in Laurel Canyon so we weren’t far from where Ozzy Osbourne lives and Alice Cooper was just leaving as we arrived.”

Danny was working on remixes of China White tracks but that proved to be just the beginning of what the band described as their best year yet.

Last year, they also recorded tracks for Keith Allen’s anti-Olympic opera album ‘Will Cliff Be There?’ and toured as part of Keith’s band Fat Les.

Liam, 30, from Latchford, added: “It was a once in a lifetime experience and it was nice to see how things worked on that scale and be treated like a popstar.

“We met so many great people like Howard Marks and Leeroy from The Prodigy and had bacon butties with Sara Cox.”

That friendship with Keith has paid dividends for the band – the actor even introduced China White when they recorded a show for BBC Manchester towards the end of the year.

Now the band are promoting their new EP Yeah Fool/Keep on Livin’ which was launched with a live video shoot at Antwerp Mansion in Manchester. They will play an acoustic set at Liam Gallagher’s Pretty Green store in Manchester this Saturday, April 27.

There will also be a homecoming show at Friars Court on May 5 from 8pm, including a DJ set from Clint Boon, when a free download of their Black Sabbath cover ‘It’s Alright’ will be released.

China White – whose name comes from the Grandmaster Flash classic White Lines – was formed after Liam met band member Antony Egerton at the Barley Mow. They got chatting about their shared love of Pink Floyd and Primal Scream.

The current line-up also includes Inder Goldfinger, Jamie McGregor and Sam Tushingham.

n Yeah Fool/Keep on Livin’ is available on iTunes and Amazon.