THEY were a band with one of the worst names ever who had a cult following across East Lancashire.

Formed by a bunch of mates from Burnley, Nelson and Colne - who all happened to be highly successful musicians with other outfits - The Rubbish found themselves playing Wembley Arena twice as they supported rock giants Status Quo on major UK tours.

The band released one self-funded album, Crazy Farmers, in 1998 but in spite of being backed by Radio One DJ Kevin Greening they failed to make the big time.

But now, The Rubbish are back - 15 years after playing their last gig together they will play the House Party stage at the prestigious Kendal Calling Festival on Sunday.

“I think we’re probably the least famous band ever to be invited to play the festival,” joked lead singer Bruce Thomas.

Four of the band’s original members - Bruce plus keyboard player Barney Williams, guitarist Chris “Biff” Hartley and drummer Chris Precious will be playing - with Milltown Brothers bassist James Fraser. completing the line-up.

Bruce who back in the day fronted the band Beware of the Green Monkey, now runs a company developing websites and apps for some of the biggest bands in the world and is friends with Kendal Calling organiser Ben Robinson.

“I told him this year it was 20 years since our album and he had a listen to it and really liked it,” said Bruce. “He just said we should play the festival to mark the anniversary of the album. We just can’t wait to go and do it.”

Although it is so long since they last played together, the band have always stayed in touch.

“We have always said that The Rubbish was so much more than a band to us,” said Bruce. “We really are like brothers.”

Even so, you might have expected a lot of feverish rehearsals once they got the call to play the award-winning festival which this year is headlined by the likes of The Libertines, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Plan B.

But that’s simply not The Rubbish’s way.

“We got together for about three hours last week,” said Bruce, “and spent the first hour catching up and messing about. Then we ran through the set we’ll be doing three times and that’ll do us.

“It honestly was like we’d never been apart and these lads are all such great musicians we have no worries about going out on stage again.”

Bruce also explained how the band got their name.

“Barney and I were going to Alton Towers with our girlfriends at the time,” he said, “and we saw a sign for the Heights of Abraham which we though sounded intriguing so we went there instead.

“While were there we started having this silly conversation about what we were going to do.

“At the time Barney had been through the whole record thing with the Milltown Brothers and just wanted to be in a band for a bit of fun so he said ‘if I play in another band I want the name to be rubbish so that no-one will ever sign us’ and that was it. We were The Rubbish.”

The band were never ones to conform, preferring to enjoy themselves rather than take the music business seriously.

“We recorded the album in just four days,” said Bruce. “To this day I sill don’t know how to write a song and yet we were so close, we could just get in the studio and start jamming and all these great songs just flowed.

“I’m still not sure how we did it but I’m very proud of what we achieved - there are some good songs on that album and it will be interesting to see how the festival crowd reacts to songs none of them are likely to have heard before. You never know some of them might even go and try and find them online - we might make some money off that album yet!

“Just to be on the safe side we’ll start the set with a version of a well-known children’s TV tune to break the ice.”

So will Kendal Calling mark a new start for The Rubbish?

“Who knows,” said Bruce, who currently sings with covers band Northern Social.

“If Ben invites us to play some more festivals we’re not going to say no but really this is a one-off and it’s going to be great.

“The Rubbish has never really been just about the music. For us, it’s about what we all share. We are just really close and to get the opportunity to get out on a festival stage at our age is brilliant.

“It’s my birthday the day before we play so that’s not a bad present is it?

“We’re just going to make the most of it and enjoy every moment of it.”

Kendal Calling, Lowther Deer Park, Thursday, July 26 to Sunday, July 29. Details from www.kendalcalling.co.uk