SIMPLY Red, one of the biggest selling British bands of all time, will headline the Summer Days Festival in the grounds of Clitheroe Castle in July.

After a string of hits including the albums such as Stars, Picture Book and A New Flame, the band split in 2010 but reformed last year, releasing yet another top 10 album Big Love and embarking on a major world tour.

As they prepare to come to Clitheroe on Wednesday, July 6, frontman Mick Hucknall answered a few questions.

You have just come back from performing many dates across Australia, New Zealand and South America. When was the last time you toured so extensively across the world?

Our last worldwide tour was back in 2009/2010, so it's been great to get back out to places like New Zealand and Australia. I'm always amazed when I see so many younger faces in the crowd, it's a great feeling to know our music is still reaching a new generation of fans.

What makes performing outside so special for you and the band?

For us, it's more about putting on the best show we can – come rain or shine, indoors or outdoors but it's also a great change of scenery. We'll definitely be hoping for good weather but that being said, some of the best shows we've ever played have been when it's poured down with rain!

You have sold over 50 million records and recorded 11 studio albums. How do you choose which tracks to perform each time?

The set list writes itself, but even I'm sometimes surprised by how many hits there are to choose from. All those big songs we have, they're popular and well known all around the world so we never have to try and regionalise the set list. At every show we try to do a good job, people know the songs and it's a great feeling to see the audience singing every word back to us.

Sometimes when I'm performing Holding Back The Years I have to pinch myself when I look back to when I wrote that song. I was on the dole, living in Manchester at the time and I never could have imagined that it could intertwine itself into other peoples lives and affect them the way it has, it's a real privilege to be part of that.

You are still writing and recording new material. How did you find yourself approaching the process of writing Simply Red songs again?

Well, it was a bit of an accident, really. My manager came 'round to see me in the summer of last year and said: "I want to make you aware that next year will be the 30th anniversary of the beginning of Simply Red. What do you want to do about it?" I asked him what he wanted me to do about it and he said, "I thought you should do a tour."

So I kind of thought about it a little bit, and I agreed, because 30 years… You don't do that very often, and it seemed like a good number.

So I agreed. And then I started wondering, "What would Simply Red sound like in 2015?" And then that got me to thinking, 'Well, probably the record company will want to release yet another greatest hits,' and then I thought, 'Well, maybe I could do one or two new songs…

So I started writing, and when I got to the third song, I thought, 'I can take on a challenge here: I can try and see if I can write 12 songs for an entirely new album instead of regurgitating another greatest hits' and here we are!

Big Love was your last album. Are we right in thinking the album is about family relationships?

I had a very particular upbringing myself, being brought up by my father. I lived with him for 18 years and he never married again, so it was a very unusual kind of upbringing with no typical family.

But my father showed incredible devotion to dedicate his own life like that. It was very unusual in 1963, you know? It's kind of unusual now, but then it was just unheard of!

So I reflect on that in the song "Dad," which is about losing my father a few years ago. So it's about that, and it's about birth.

I have a seven-year-old girl, Romy, I'm married now. Even the dog's a girl!

So I'm kind of in a completely different world now, being surrounded by a family of girls, and…I'm really writing from both sides of that, trying to capture that feeling, because that's really all I can be inspired by at the minute. That's what I'm doing: relaxing and enjoying my life, focusing on just living, really. So it's natural that the lyrics and the theme would be about family and that world.

Will you be bringing the family out on tour with you this summer?

Touring is effectively me going back to work, so while I'm sure they'll be coming out to see a few shows, I think it may get a little boring for them at this point! Plus, we have to work around school term for my daughter so that limits the amount she can visit while I'm away. Luckily, we won't be too far from home this time so I'll be able to pop back and see her more often than say, if I were back in Australia.

Of all your work, which is your favourite song and album, and why?

I don't really have a favourite album or song to perform live, however Holding Back The Years' and the Picture Book album still hold the greatest amount of significance to me. I wrote that back in Manchester, while I was on the dole and at the time I never had any idea that it would lead to me playing those songs all around the world and having the incredible career I've been so lucky to have.

Do you have a message you would like to give your fans?

Have a good time, all the time.

Simply Red headline Summer Days on Wednesday, July 6. Also performing on the day are Gabrielle, the Christians, the Steve Norman Band and Mike Peters. Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra headline on Friday, July 8 and Echo and the Bunnymen, Saturday, July 9. Details from www.summerdaysfestival.com