"I walk my dog in Herrington Park!" - Steps' Faye looks forward to performing on home turf at Sunderland's Kubix festival

Pop band Steps, featuring H, Claire, Faye, Lee and Lisa will provide a high energy finale to the festival, which will be returning to Herrington Park in July this year.

The band, which launched in 1997 with their line-dancing classic 5,6,7,8 are set to perform at the all day summer event on July 9.

With 14 UK top 10 singles and three multi-platinum albums in three years, the popular group say they’re excited to be headlining Sunderland’s festival.

And that includes band member Faye Tozer, 46 who has lived in Boldon for 13 years after marrying husband Michael Smith at Beamish Hall in 2009.

She said: “I’ve lived in the North East for 13 years now and I definitely wouldn’t go back and live down South, I love it here.

"I walk my dog in Herrington Park so I’m really excited to be performing so close to home, it’s nice because I have so many friends and family members here that the festival will be more intimate and relaxed.”

Alongside Steps, Danish-Norwegian group Aqua and Vengaboys have also been revealed as the first two acts for the summer party event.

Faye added: “Vengaboys are one of our favourite performers we have worked with because they bring so much energy and have such a hyped vibe, so we can’t wait to perform alongside them again.

"It’s not like in the 90s where we had to prove our success – if we didn’t take a gig then somebody else would so it’s nice to be able to look back and be grateful for that time but now we all just enjoy the creative and relaxed side of performing.”

This year’s festival will see the event’s expansion to a full weekend of the rock and indie music part of the festival, with guitar based acts heading to Herrington Country Park on Friday July 15 and Saturday July 16 while the pop and dance side of the festival will be hosted on Saturday July 9.

Step’s Faye, who contracted coronavirus while on the band’s UK tour last year says the gig is ‘something to look forward to’ following the pandemic.

She said: “It was such a shame when I got covid but I’m so proud of the rest of the band for carrying on and it’s just an unfortunate sign of the times.

"The festival is a wonderful thing to look forward to not only for our fans but for ourselves too, we just wants to enjoy the music and have a dance.”

The band continued releasing music in 2020 despite the pandemic with ‘What The Future Holds’ and their latest album ‘What The Future Holds Part 2’ was released in September last year which reached number two.

Faye said: “We’re so grateful for our loyal fanbase and also younger people who love our music, it’s a huge compliment that people still buy our tickets even after 25 years.”

Steps will be performing at Kubix Festival on July, 9 2022, for tickets and full details visit www.kubixfestival.com

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