AN unsigned Brighton band has been invited to play in front of up to 15,000 people at a festival in Dubai after being spotted on social media.

Red Emperor, who normally play small pub gigs in Sussex, will share the stage with the likes of Kasabian and Craig David at the Blended Festival on April 30.

The group of friends from Brighton were spotted by the event organisers after one of their songs reached them via social media.

Lead singer Charlie Herridge, 20, said: “This is on another level. We’ve never played to more than a few hundred people.

“When I got the call from Dubai, I hit the roof. It’s amazing where social media can take you.”

The band recorded an EP last year and shot a music video for the lead track, Kink In Your Soul, which reached Sanjay Shah, chief executive of Autism Rocks, the charity Blended Festival is in aid of.

Despite the huge booking, the band remain calm at the thought of their big break.

Lead guitarist Edward Bedford, 20, said: “We’ve got no pressure. They won’t know who we are. The only thing we can do is impress. There are no preconceptions.”

Ollie Horner, 23, bass guitarist, said: “We’re going out with a clean slate. We’ve got to make the most of it – it’s a golden opportunity.”

Drummer Nav Manku, 20, said: “We’re not used to the VIP treatment. They’re asking things like whether we’re bringing our own lighting engineers and sound engineers. We don’t have anything like that.”

Remembering the moment they found out about the other acts, Charlie added: “I don’t think we realised how big this gig was.

“We thought they would just put us on some little stage by ourselves playing to about ten people. When we found out we were playing on the main stage with Kasabian, we lost it.”

Red Emperor are releasing a new EP in the summer and their current material is on SoundCloud.