"I LIVE in Hell," declares Kjell Inge, otherwise known as Jolly Jumper.

He's not joking either.

The Hell he's referring to, however, is not a flaming pit of despairing souls, but instead is the name of a little town in mid-Norway.

"We like to say we've come out of Hell," adds Kjell, referring to his fellow band members, Big Moe and the Bootlegger Blues Band.

"In Norwegian, Hell means a flat mountain area, which is why it's the name of the town.

"We have a Hell blues festival here every year and we even won the Ambassador for Hell title, back in 2001."

As well as being favourites at the festival of Hell, however, Kjell and his band are veterans of several international festivals in Germany, Switzerland and, of course, Colne.

This will be the fourth occasion the band has played at Colne, but the first time it has appeared with all its original members.

Kjell explained: "For the first couple of years Big Moe and I played there as a duo. Then, last year our drummer could not attend, so this is the first year we will be playing with the original band."

The band is an acoustic four piece group with Kjell on harmonica, Big Moe on several instruments, including guitar and slide mandoline, a drummer and singer.

They play traditional music from the 20s and 30s, influenced by the likes of Robert Johnson and the Jug Band.

Kjell said: "We make our own music in the same tradition. We try to keep the noise down. There's so much electric guitar around now. Our music is easy on the ears."

Big Moe started his first blues band in 1966 - as 38-year-old Kjell says - "the year after I was born!"

Kjell joined Big Moe in 1991 and the group will celebrate its 12th anniversary in September.

Colne, according to Kjell, will be the perfect festival to usher in the occasion.

He said: "We are really looking forward to it. Colne is a beautiful festival and it's a beautiful place. The audience is great and, since this is the fourth time we've played there, we must be doing something right."

Catch Big Moe, Jolly Jumper and the Bootlegger Blues Band at 7.30pm on the international stage on Saturday, August 23.