The festival with the golden touch

They were last here playing to thousands at Victorious Festival and now rock band The K’s are returning to headline Golden Touch in Southsea on Saturday, June 10.

Frontman Jamie Boyle, lead guitarist Ryan Breslin, bassist Dexter Baker and new drummer Nathan Peers will lead a line-up of 20 up-and-coming artists at The Wedgewood Rooms, and it is their only date on the south coast this summer.

Ryan tells us last year’s August bank holiday weekend was ‘a pinnacle for the band in terms of festival runs in one weekend’, for as well as Victorious (pictured above), they also played the main stages at Reading and Leeds and Camper Calling.

‘The crowds are getting bigger and bigger, it’s mad to hear thousands of people singing back to you and see a sea of flares going off, it’s ace,’ he says.

The band sold out the 3,000 capacity Albert Hall in Manchester last year, but it was only a few years earlier that they played their first gig at The Sunbeam Hotel in their hometown of Earlestown, near St Helens.

Ryan says that his time playing pubs and clubs before and with The K’s are experiences he still values now.

‘I’ve played to only my Dad and his mate in a pub, and his mate was looking the other way,” he laughs, ‘But you have to do that to learn your craft and earn your stripes.’

He adds: ‘I think coming up as a musician that way, you understand how hard it is and you learn things that stick with you forever.’

But after seven killer singles, including Hometown and Got a Feeling, Ryan says the question the band cannot escape is when will their debut album be released?

He says: ‘In terms of songs, we have more than one album ready to go, but there will be new music out soon and more tours to announce, so stay posted. We won’t release an album until everything is right.’

The three musicians attended the same school in Earlestown, with Jamie and Dexter knowing each other since nursery. This year, they have released singles Hoping Maybe and Chancer and performed on Soccer AM and at The Teenage Cancer Trust at The Royal Albert Hall.

They also completed a 12-date tour in March.

Tickets £15. Doors at midday. Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk.