WITH over two million album sales and a string of top 20 hits both home and abroad, it feels a little unfair to accuse Toploader of being a one hit wonder, but talk to guitarist Dan Hipgrave and he's refreshingly honest about the impact that their 2000 cover of Dancing in the Moonlight has had on the band's career.

"I was talking to our old guitarist the other day and he was saying that song is now up there as one of the great classic songs from the UK," says Dan proudly. "I'm not trying to overdo it but there are some songs that will always be in the psyche of our country and it's one of them. It's not a bad thing to have on your CV."

Dan and his band mates Joseph Washbourn, Rob Green and Matt Knight, will be in Cheshire later this month when Toploader play the Polo Fest music festival which takes place at Chester Lakes near Dodleston, on Saturday, September 15 and Sunday, September 16.

The new addition to the Cheshire festival calendar will feature live music, exhibition polo games, entertainment for all the family and award-winning catering as well as other big names including Mel C, Gok Wan, Simon Webbe from Blue and Sam Bailey.

"There's something for everyone that's for sure!" laughs Dan. "I know it's a nice part of the world which always helps so all we need now is the weather and we're all good.

"The festival scene used to be July and August when I was a kid and now people put them on from May to September - there's just so many. Something like Polo Fest will be great to take the kids too and enjoy a couple of beers and have a few nice organic sausages. There are so many festivals now for people who don't want to turn up at a festival along with 50,000 other people where you have that headache about getting around when it's manic. Now you can go to these boutique festivals and it's more chilled out, manageable and more enjoyable if we're being brutally honest."

Dan, 43, and the rest of the band have certainly been relishing the chance to play wherever they can this summer with a punishing schedule helped by the fact they've been able to catch up with a number of close friends along the way.

"The schedule this summer has been crazy and I think it might be the busiest summer we've ever had," he says. "In the last couple of weeks we've had gigs in Spain, Holland, Germany, Poland and then back to the UK. It's great because it keeps us busy but there was a little conversation on the last flight home about how we don't feel 25 anymore. It gets harder as you get older that's for sure.

"We know so many bands from our era who are playing all of these festivals," he continues."People like the Lightning Seeds and Dodgy and Sophie Ellis Bextor and Starsailor. We first toured with Starsailor on a joint tour in Germany 18 years ago, but we caught up with them a few weeks ago and we were reminiscing.

"Looking at some of the line ups just makes me feel old though. The 90s was my decade and it was when I was getting into music and experimenting with life. It doesn't feel that long ago for me but if someone had been talking about bands from the 70s at the time I'd have thought they were ancient. It freaks me out because I look at those bands and don't think they're that old!"

Toploader formed in Eastbourne in 1997 and got their big break supporting former Jam frontman Paul Weller on his European tour. They went on to back Robbie Williams and Bon Jovi, becoming the last British band to play the original Wembley Stadium.

But it was the success of Dancing in the Moonlight in 2000 which transformed Toploader into a household name after the song became a worldwide hit and one which would remain on the British charts well into 2001.

"We spent a lot of years feeling like the glass was half empty because we felt it detracted from our other work," says Dan. "Now we've got older and more mature I think we realise how lucky we are to have it. If we didn't have Dancing in the Moonlight things would be very different and maybe people wouldn't want to book us for gigs as much as they do. You've got to look at it as a bonus and not be negative about it. When we play it the reaction we get is overwhelming - everyone from young kids to old grannies are smiling so that's got to be a good thing."

In 2007, the song was placed at number 17 on BBC Three's list of "The 100 Most Annoying Pop Songs...We Hate to Love" and Dan admits it is sometimes hard to escape.

"I've heard it in some really weird places," he laughs. "I remember I was in a taxi in Ecuador when it came on and one time I was in a hotel room in Thailand in the middle of nowhere and I put the TV on and there was the video. I don't think there is a corner of the Earth where it didn't make it which is really cool - imagine having a song that most people in the world probably know?

"It's a double edged sword but it's one that has got blunter over the years. We realise now that it's very hard to have a song that is known all over the world and there are a lot of bands out there who are much bigger and more successful than us that don't have that. We had other top ten hits too like Achilles Heel for example and the naysayers might say we only have one song but that's not really true. I don't even mind if they do say it because I just smile and think even if it is only one song at least we've bloody got one!"

Tickets for Polo Fest are available from www.polofest.co.uk or by calling 0344 800 0410. Gates open at 12pm on both days.