Dane Lloyd and Taylor Jones aka ‘Into The Ark’ are bringing their emotive, accessible dance-pop sound to Chester Live 2017 at The Live Rooms (Sunday, June 25).

After finishing 2nd on ITV’s ‘The Voice’ under the tutelage of the legendary Sir Tom Jones, the duo have been thrust into the attention of the UK media.

With a full UK headline tour lined up over the coming months, we caught up with the band to talk about performing at the festival, personal inspirations and more.

How are you looking forward to playing Chester Live?

We’ve only played Chester once in the past. We both loved that experience and can’t wait to stroll around a bit and see what its about this time hopefully!

How do you think the festival can benefit the city, not just this year but in the future as well? 

We’d admit to not knowing much about the city itself, but we always think live music is a great way of bringing people together and keeping the music scene alive. The festival is a great event for the the scene in Chester. Hopefully it will encourage people to keep playing and the festival will grow by the year along with the music scene of Chester.

What advice would you give to emerging artists in Chester on how to build on any exposure the festival may provide? 

Social media is a big factor these days. Make sure they advertise all their online details and tweet/Facebook when and where they are playing, but also just communicate with anyone and everyone you can through those platforms. And don’t be afraid to be personal, and honest.

What have been some career highlights of your own, so far?

I think two of our favourite moments would be supporting Paolo Nutini in Newport and our duet with Sir Tom Jones. Still can’t believe that happened!

What did you learn from your time on The Voice?

One thing we learnt that seems fairly obvious maybe is how important it is to look after our voices a bit more. We were surprised how much actually goes into looking after them, and how much we had been neglecting them before…

How has touring opened your minds to possibilities within the industry? 

Touring is more about trying out your own material and seeing what reactions you get from the public. What songs worked and what songs didn’t. This then helps when it comes to showing the industry folk, you’ll be less nervous because you have toured so much and you’ll be aware of what are your best tracks, what works for you as a band, and what your audience loves most about you.

What would you say the biggest challenges are for your band right now?

The biggest challenge for us now is to keep the ball rolling, really capitalise on the great exposure we have had and keep touring. Our goal this year is to get new material out into the world, maybe look at putting together an album if the time is right.

You can catch Into The Ark live on Sunday 25th June 2017 at The Live Rooms, Chester as part of Chester Live 2017.

Tickets are available from www.chesterlive.co.uk