The countdown is on for the biggest rock festival of the year. The Carling Weekend: Reading Festival gets underway on August 24 - and sees the best line-up ever, with more than 150 bands playing on six stages.

The bill reads like a Who's Who of indie-rock and pop, with the likes of Kings of Leon, Interpol, Maximo Park, Gogol Bordello, Ash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arcade Fire, Razorlight, Smashing Pumpkins, Klaxons and CSS taking to the stages over the August Bank Holiday.

But, as any self-respecting festival-goer knows, the secret of a good festie is the opportunity to discover the talent of tomorrow.

One such act is New Young Pony Club - one of the most talked-about, must-see, must-hear bands of the year.

"The thing with us, is we're not 15-year-old boys singing in a garage with leather jackets and a manifesto," says frontwoman Tahita Bulmer - Ty' to her fans and friends.

Ty says the band's aim has always been to "put the fun back into music". And with tunes like Ice Cream and The Bomb, and album Fantastic Playground, they have certainly succeeded.

The band met while playing in other groups - and couldn't wait to make the jump into something they actually believed in. Explains Ty: "We were really mingingly unhappy!

"I was in a band were I was being made to stand on stage and sing like Sarah Cracknell. I wanted to do an Iggy Pop thing. I always have."

Ty gets to try out her Iggy' thing, along with production guru Andy Spence, drummer Sarah Jones, bassist Igor Volk and keyboardist Lou Hayter at the Carling Weekend: Leeds on the Friday, and at Reading Festival on the Sunday. And being the adrenaline freaks they are, they are fitting in a cheeky appearance at Creamfields in Liverpool in between - and rounding off the weekend with a Sunday set at Get Loaded in London.

The sets are among the first since the band picked up a coveted Mercury Music Prize nomination, along with fellow Reading guests, Oxford's The Young Knives.

The Carling Weekend: Reading Festival runs from August 24-26. For festival updates and information, go to www.readingfestival.com