Ian Bland of Dream Frequency to appear at this year's iconic Beat-Herder Festival as it celebrates its 20th anniversary

Bland, who runs Maison Records from his home near Whalley, penned the lyrics for the mighty 1992 dancefloor hit on a sheet of A4 paper in his bedroom. “There are moments in your life that you never forget and when that song came out my life was never the same again, but it was just a rave record,” said Bland, who is busy fine-tuning his Dream Frequency set for an appearance at the Beat Herder festival in the Ribble Valley later this month.

“Feel so Real’ was a song of the time, and when people tell me that it has stood the test of time, then that makes me incredibly proud.

“It felt like a raw synergy, a coming together if you like, in the sense that I was going out raving, and hearing these incredible new tunes everywhere I went. Of course, I drew inspiration from what was happening around me in the clubs, but there were other influences too,

Gary Numan and John Fox from Chorley, who was in Ultravox, for example.”

Bland’s first live show was seeing Gary Numan’s Teletour at Preston Guild Hall in 1980, a decade before the rave revolution swept the land. “I was a teenager and it felt like an alien had landed on stage when I saw Gary Numan, with his red hair and black astronaut jump suit.And then hearing Cars, Down in the Park and Are Friends Electric? live, made a huge impression on me. That early electronica went into the mixing pot when I started writing and putting music out with Dream Frequency and it fed into the energy of the song.”

Feel so Real – with Debbie Sharp on vocals - was just one of a string of dancefloor hits and remixes for Dream Frequency, including Take Me, Live the Dream and Love, Peace and Harmony. “I’ve put my whole heart and soul into Every Dream Frequency track but Feel so Real was such a big one,” said Bland. “I never started music to be rich and famous and the funny thing is I hate writing lyrics. I’m just more comfortable with picking a melody in a song. When I quit my job at 19, well that was a huge decision as I was doing an apprenticeship at British Aerospace.

“I handed my notice into my boss and he said: ‘You’ll be back Ian, ‘See you on ‘Top of the Pops’, mate. And do you know what, two months later Dream Frequency were. But I reckon I’ll be playing Dream Frequency when I’m on my zimmer frame.”

This year sees Beat-Herder celebrates its 20th anniversary in the lush fields of the Ribble Valley and under the shadow of Pendle Hill.

“I’m very blessed to have had the opportunity to have played Beat-Herder several times,” he said. “It is a huge honour. And what the lads who run Beat-Herder have created over the last 20 years is as special as it was when they opened the gates for the first time, because there’s a magical feel to it. It is a mini-Glastonbury with all the little nuances and incredible attention to detail, but most of all it is has that distinctive and peaceful vibe – and that makes Beat-Herder the best.”

• Beat-Herder festival runs from Thursday to Sunday, July 17th to -20th and the many acts include Armand Van Helden, Congo Natty, K Klass, The Lancashire Hotpots, Paul Taylor and Fabio and Grooverider. Tickets are available from www.tickets.beatherder.co.uk