Synth-pop five-piece Chapel Club will headline The Georgian Theatre stage at this year’s Stockton Calling, taking place on Saturday 30 March. 

The London act came to prominence in 2010 with a dark post-punk sound, captured perfectly in track Surfacing which sampled The Mamas and Papas Dream a Little Dream of Me. 

Championed by the likes of Radio 1’s Zane Lowe and NME, Chapel Club have toured with acts such as Two Door Cinema Club and Joy Formidable and played major UK festivals Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds and numerous European festivals too. 

The band parted ways with their record label in March 2012 after ditching their previous indie rock sound, which had seen the band described as "moody, majestic and magnificent". 

The quintets forthcoming record Good Together marks a significant change in both instrumentation and attitude, exchanging indie guitars for analog synths and a more playful and optimistic tone.  

Touches of melancholia remain, but they're framed by a sense of possibility and adventure, NME labeled the new sound as ‘an eerie, funky and rather irresistible sex jam’. 

The bands appearance at Stockton Calling will see them play new and old material. Lead vocalist Lewis Bowman said of the bands new direction, “The record has touches of the old romance and melancholia, of course, but much more colour and energy and fizz and sparkle besides.” 

Also confirmed to play The Georgian Theatre stage is another NME favourite The Family Rain, who the music magazine has tipped for success in 2013. 

The brotherly trio combines fuzzed up blues guitar and scorched vocals, creating a distinctly late 60s feel that has recently been thrust into the public’s consciousness by acts such as The Black Keys. 

Brooding Darlington foursome Goy Boy McIlroy and indie pop maestros Collecters Club will also perform at the Georgian, returning to the festival after blowing crowds away in 2012.  

These announcements follow that of Nine Black Alps and Jon Windle headlining at KU Bar and The Vault, respectively, and Fossil Collective will top the bill at new stage The Storytellers. 

More announcements are set for the other stages at ARC, The Sun Inn, and The Green Room. 

Tickets are priced £14.50 in advance and £17.50 on the day, and on sale now. Book online or call 01642 525199/01642 674115 or buy them in person at ARC or Green Dragon Studios.