RISING indie stars The Sherlocks will play their first festival in the UK this year at Common People this weekend.

The band, whose first album Live For The Moment was the biggest selling debut by any group in 2017, are joining headliners James, Lily Allen and fellow special guests All Saints and Sparks on Saturday.

It’s been a packed year so far for front man Kiaran Crook, his brother and drummer Brandon, lead guitarist Josh Davidson and his brother and bassist Andy; they’ve supported Liam Gallagher in Europe and toured their own headline shows in the UK and North America.

No one else at this year’s Common People have played more shows or in front of more people so far this year.

But it’s not all rock and roll for The Sherlocks. When I spoke to Brandon, he had just finished hoovering their van at home in Bolton upon Dearne. “We may be in a band, but we still have to put a shift in” he laughed.

No strangers to Southampton, the lads have climbed every step of the ladder here since playing their first gig in the south at The Joiners in March 2015.

Since those early days, they’ve performed at hundreds of gigs and festivals across Britain, supported Kings of Leon in Sheffield and sold out the 3,500 capacity Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse.

They’ve played five times in Southampton, including to more than 700 fans at The 1865 in September.

Live For The Moment, featuring songs like Chasing Shadows, Last Night and Nobody Knows, was a top six hit in the official album chart in August.

Last month they toured Europe with Liam Gallagher. “Believe or not, that was the first time we’ve ever supported someone else on a tour,” said Brandon.

“Before that we’d only grafted by ourselves, building up fans at our own shows. There had been no leg up from anyone else.

“Now we’ve supported one of the biggest names in rock and roll history, a national treasure, which is mad for us.”

Brandon says they received some wise words from Liam: “He told us to keep doing what we’re doing, keep things real and honest, stay with guitars and don’t lose what we already have.

“We all listened to him. Like us, he’s a northern lad who knows what music and hard work is all about.”

They join up again with the former Oasis lead singer at his solo show in Finsbury Park, London in June.

The band plan to release their second album soon. “We’ve 15 songs ready to record and Kiaran has another five he’s working on that could make the cut,” Brandon revealed.

“We can’t sit back because we’ve had a record in the top 10. In many ways, we’re still underdogs, even insurgents, to some in the music business, so we have to keep working. We never stop.”

The Sherlocks play Common People main stage on Saturday.More at commonpeople.net.

Richard Derbyshire