it's the perfect pick-me-up for any veteran rocker.

No, not booze, but praise from a younger generation.

"I met a young guy, maybe 17 or 18, and he asked if I was the singer of Gun," recalls Dante Gizzi.

"He goes, 'I saw you at Rock Ness and thought I wouldn't enjoy it, but you were absolutely amazing.'

"That's a great feeling to have as it's important to have a connection with a younger fan base and I hope that young kids aspire to be like the bands who have been around for a while.

"My nephew is listening to Supertramp or 10CC and that's great to see, as it means there will always be kids in Glasgow wanting to pick up a guitar and follow their idols."

There's plenty of Glasgow musicians who might have been inspired by Gun, given that they enjoyed real success after forming in 1987, including cracking the Top 10 with their cover of Cameo's Word Up.

By 1997, however, the well had run dry and the band broke up, only to reform in 2008.

Two years later vocalist Toby Jepson stepped aside, and Dante, Gun's long-standing bassist, was faced with either splitting the group up again, or giving it a go with a new singer.

He plumped for taking on the vocals himself and making a new album, Break The Silence.

And he feels switching from four strings to frontman wasn't as hard as expected.

"I didn't think much of it, as I still sang on the old stuff, albeit on backing vocals," says Dante, who lives in the East End.

"So I knew how they should sound live. It was quite easy for me to think of it in that sense, but you're thinking that in the back of your mind that people will prefer the original.

"But this album turns a new leaf and can let people hear what Gun sound like now."

Break The Silence is the sound of a band who have retooled themselves for the future, rather than just looking to the past.

Dante believes it was big-hitting modern bands that are inspiring Gun just now, as they look to keep up with the times.

"In the past it was bands like Aerosmith or the Cult that influenced us," explains Dante.

"As you get older you're still listening to modern bands though, like the Killers or the Foo Fighters, and that's how we thought Gun would sound in 2012."

It's a strong comeback, with the band determined to prove that they can still cut it.

Yet they've not got rid of all the past connections either, seeing as they're touring next week with the Cult, who have also just released their best album in years, Choice of Weapon.

The tour stops off at the Barrowland next week, and Dante can't wait, especially as he got on so well with Cult singer Ian Astbury that they swapped jackets.

"We're a perfect match, as musically it's hard to pigeonhole the Cult, and it's the same with us," claims Dante.

"Ian Astbury is singing really well now, and he's got his head in a good place.

"He and Billy [Duffy, the Cult's guitarist] are totally tee-total now, and they're really nice guys – we'd met them in the past years ago at a festival in Germany and we exchanged jackets. Ian took my leather jacket, and I took his AC Milan jacket, and I've still got it in my house."

Now Dante's hoping that another generation of Glasgow rock gods might follow in Gun's footsteps.

He said: "There's always been fantastic bands coming out of Glasgow, whether that's Glasvegas, Franz Ferdinand or loads further back in the past.

"There's been nothing that's blown us away musically in the past few years, but I think that'll come back around in time.

"There's still some cracking bands out there, a band like Churches, they've got fantastic songs."

But even though he has his eye on the next generation of acts, he's in no mood to hang up his holster just yet. Gun are back now – permanently.

"It's a building process," he concludes.

"I want to continue to write new songs now, and when you're on the upswing you want to write more new songs for the next album and then get that out next year. I don't want this to be a flash in the pan, and it certainly won't be.

"We'll be around for a while."

n The Cult and Gun, Barrowland, September 14, £30, 7pm. Break The Silence is out now.