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Inverness punk rockers The Signal picking up a good reception as band booked in for biggest show yet at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool – playing alongside legends including Descendents, The Stranglers, The Damned and more


By Kyle Walker


Inverness punk rock stalwarts The Signal have made a name for themselves in the city with their fast, raw and aggressive sound – and that passion has been noticed further afield too. As the band gear up for a trip to Blackpool for their biggest gig yet – an appearance at the UK's biggest punk rock festival Rebellion this weekend – Kyle Walker caught up with vocalist Nikki to talk about the festival

Q The Signal are playing at one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) punk events in the UK next weekend, and that’s absolutely bloody bonkers! How are you feeling about it?

A To say we're chuffed to bits is an understatement! It's been on our bucket list for many years now.

After 11 years of relentless gigging and travelling up and down the country we are honoured to be asked to play at Rebellion, we can finally tick it off our bucket list.

We can't wait to get there, there are more than 350 bands from all over the world at this festival and we're one of them – it's exciting and terrifying at the same time.

Q What’s your history with Rebellion – have you ever been to the festival before? What is it about the festival that’s so thrilling for you to be playing?

A We have never been to Rebellion but we have played at the Nice 'n' Sleazy festival held in Morecambe, which was our stepping stone to play at Rebellion.

We met a few influential people there with links to Rebellion. After seeing us playing there they caught what we were all about and they liked it.

The Nice 'n Sleazy festival is a smaller gathering. Rebellion has now become one of the biggest punk gatherings of its kind in the world and definitely the biggest in the UK, that's why we are thrilled to be a part of it.

Q You’ve played other big punk things before – Cramond, Punktoberfest – but is this the biggest gig that The Signal have played to date? Did you ever imagine that The Signal would end up on this level?

A It will be the biggest festival that we've played but there are many different stages with different capacities, bigger the band the bigger the stage.

We are Rebellion virgins so it will be on the introducing stage this time round. If we are lucky/good enough to be asked back next year we'll move up a level to a bigger stage and a bigger crowd.

It's taken 11 years of hard work and we'd always hoped that one day we'd make it to Rebellion. We still can't quite believe it ourselves but we are really excited to be playing & we're going down there with the intention of giving it our all.

Q Any bands at Rebellion you’re hoping to check out while you’re there? What top tips have you got for folk?

A We're playing the Friday of the festival alongside the UK Subs, Subhumans, Angelic Upstarts, and Leftover Crack – to name just a few – but with AAA passes we hope to mingle a bit!

Really looking forward to seeing Subhumans again, we supported them recently in Dundee and they were brilliant.

On the Saturday there's The Exploited, Citizen Fish, Cock Sparrer, Cockney Rejects...there's so many bands we can't wait to see!

But we're going to try and spend as much time possible at the Introducing Stage because it's good to see what's going on elsewhwere in the UK and beyond.

Top tip for people going to Rebellion? Come see The Signal on Friday, August 2, 6.30pm on the Introducing Stage!

The Signal play Rebellion Festival in Blackpool this weekend. To find out when you can next catch them in the north, go to www.facebook.com/TheSignal01


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