Size doesn't matter as Feeder put out feelers for new fans

Rockit may still be a fledgling festival, but the organisers have managed to nab a stadium-filling act to headline the closing day in Victoria Park: British post-grunge rockers Feeder.

Feeder should be on top form when they play: they've had a year packed with gigs and new releases. In the past 12 months, the group have played 70,000-capacity stadiums supporting U2 and REM, released a fifth studio album, Pushing the Senses - which reached No2 in the British album charts - and opened the three-day British Download Festival in June.

Their gig in Hong Kong comes on the back of a series of festival dates across Europe, a British and European tour and three gigs in Japan, where they have a sizeable fan base after playing the Fuji Rock Festival three times. Despite managing to hold their own against stadium rockers, Feeder frontman Grant Nicholas says small gigs such as Rockit are just as important to the band.

'The fact that it's a small festival is partly why we're coming,' Nicholas says from a London studio where he's working on new material. 'It can be more of a challenge because we're used to crowds that know us. Maybe we can win some new fans and come back next year.'

Nicholas formed Feeder with former drummer Jon Lee 13 years ago. Japanese bass player Taka Hirose joined two years later. After steady touring Feeder's big break came in 2001 with the release of their third album, Echo Park, on which they moved from heavy rock to pop. The top-five hit Buck Rogers became the festival song of that summer and it seemed Feeder had the world at their feet. At which point Lee committed suicide.

'I always thought he was a strong person,' Nicholas says of the man with whom he grew up. 'He had a great personality. He was always very popular. Were there any signs? No. I'm still in shock.'