TOPLOADER are itching for the summer to start.
On Friday August 22, the English pop-rockers headline Watchet Live, West Somerset’s small-but-mighty music festival, paving the way for a corker of a weekend.
Formed in ’97, the band sold millions with their Harvest Moon cover, ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’, which re-entered the UK charts last June.
Now firmly back on the scene, they’re proud regulars on the BBC Radio 2 airwaves.
Frontman Joe Washbourn chats to DAISY BLACKLOCK down the line from his seaside home town, Eastbourne.
“We’re really excited about it,” he says. “We’ve got a really big summer, with pretty much every week out, so it’s a great time of year for us.
“Our music’s always suited that kind of outdoor environment, and we’ve always had close contact with Somerset.
"And looking at the pics from previous festivals, it’s going to be a great weekend.”
Global hit, ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ is the track most in the crowd will know, of course.
Its UK chart renaissance also reflects a rekindled appreciation for the song with Joe and co.
“I think a few years ago it became a bit of an albatross for us, but I think time’s been good to it.
“It’s a song that gets everyone involved. There’s now a whole generation of younger people who didn’t hear it the first time, and it gets around with its feel-good vibe. It’ll never die.”
Having split in 2003 and reformed in 2009, Toploader are better than ever.
“It’s lovely really. In the last year we’ve had a single out which has had lots of R2 airplay, and we’ve pretty much finished our UK tour of theatres and smaller venues.
“We’ve a few new tracks at the moment yet to be recorded which will probably become a 4-track EP.
"We’ve got such a big back catalogue of songs now.
"And of course we’ve progressed: Your tastes change as you get older.
“You listen to some of the stuff from the first album, and it’s a bunch of 20-somethings; it really captures a moment in time, but you can’t ever write albums like that again.”
THE acts playing Watchet Live on August 22-24 include Boney M, Bellowhead, Dub Pistols, Bad Manners, Eric Faulkner’s Bay City Rollers, Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band, Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs, Leatherat, Tankus the Henge, Company B, RSVP, N.U.M.B., the Wurzels and many more. Day tickets start at £17 for teens and weekend tickets cost £30.
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