Wigan band The Lilacs talk about their biggest gig yet and being inspired by The Lathums in new TV show

The Lilacs have built up a very decent following across the country and will be finding their way throughout the UK in the summer in the lead up to their biggest gig yet in November.

The jovial four-piece, born out of a two-man wedding band with much higher ambitions, met at college and are beginning to make quite a name for themselves, so much so that they're about to play the Isle of Wight festival for the fourth year in a row.

It is part of their summer schedule which will also include dates at Tramlines in Sheffield and Y Not? in Derbyshire, before hitting The Ritz in Manchester on Friday, November 1.

"All things head to The Ritz in Manchester," said frontman Ollie Anglesea.

"It's three times our biggest show to date. That's a massive step up. It's a risk of course, our last gig in Manchester was five or six hundred, this is like 15, 16 hundred. It's a huge step but we took the jump, sales have gone better than I thought they would already."

The Lilacs are another example of the musical talent in the North West and even in Wigan specifically, off the back of The Lathums' huge rise to prominence in recent years.

The Lathums have released two albums – How Beautiful Life Can Be and From Nothing To A Little Bit More – both of which topped the charts.

They will return to their home town this summer for their biggest headline show to date, when they perform at Robin Park Arena on Friday, July 19.

So why is it that the region continues to throw out some of the UK's most talented artists?

History and working class drive, say the band.

"Wigan in general has always been a stronghold for music in years gone by, with the northern soul stuff and Wigan Pier, but there's a lot of people doing it and there's a lot of good stuff as well," said guitarist Sam Birchall.

Matt Johnson added, on their northern roots: "I think it gives you a bit more of a drive. It can break the mould of going into a job, working as hard as you can, but how about we don't do a job and go and do this for a job instead?"

On The Lathums setting the pathway, Ollie added: "It's just making you realise that four lads with guitars can just go and do it. You can look at it two ways, like we'll never do it because they're doing it or you can look the other way and go 'hang on a minute, they've done this, why can't we?'

"For those guys it was brilliant, credit where credit's due, they have absolutely gone and nailed it and it just proves that you can do it."

The Lilacs were speaking on Kicking and Screaming, a show about football and music, available on Shots TV! on demand here or on Freeview channel 276.