ONE of the main stage bands set for this month’s Slam Dunk Festival 2013 has had to pull out of the southern leg in Hatfield as they have been asked to play BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend.

Welwyn Hatfield Times: The crowd inside the Forum Hertfordshire at the 2012 Slam Dunk Festival in Hatfield [Picture: marianneharris.co.uk]The crowd inside the Forum Hertfordshire at the 2012 Slam Dunk Festival in Hatfield [Picture: marianneharris.co.uk] (Image: Archant)

We Are The Ocean will no longer be playing the rock, pop-punk, ska and metal festival at the University of Hertfordshire on Sunday, May 26.

Welwyn Hatfield Times: We Are The Ocean playing the Jagermeister outdoor stage at a previous Slam Dunk Festival held at the University of Hertfordshire's Forum in Hatfield [Picture: Jordan Klugman]We Are The Ocean playing the Jagermeister outdoor stage at a previous Slam Dunk Festival held at the University of Hertfordshire's Forum in Hatfield [Picture: Jordan Klugman] (Image: Archant)

They were due to play the main outdoor stage at the Forum Hertfordshire on a line-up also including headliners All Time Low, Sleeping With Sirens, Deaf Havana, Kids in Glass Houses, The Summer Set, Mallory Knox and Tonight Alive.

Welwyn Hatfield Times: Slam Dunk Festival 2013Slam Dunk Festival 2013 (Image: Archant)

However, the four-piece rock band from Essex have been invited to play the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Londonderry and will no longer be performing in Hatfield.

A replacement band will be added to the bill.

We Are The Ocean will still be playing Slam Dunk North in Leeds on Saturday, May 25 and the new Slam Dunk Midlands festival at the Wolverhampton Civic on Monday, May 27.

A statement from festival organisers on the official Slam Dunk Facebook page said: “We are sorry to announce We Are The Ocean are no longer able to play Slam Dunk Festival South, as they have been invited to play Radio 1 Big Weekend.

“I’m sure you will all agree with us, that they couldn’t turn this big opportunity down, and we wish them all the best. They will still play Slam Dunk Festival North and Midlands and there will be a replacement announced shortly.”

A statement from WATO band members Liam, Alfie, Jack and Tom said: “We just wanted to write something to say how sorry we are that we are unable to play this year’s Slam Dunk South in Hatfield.

“The Slam Dunk weekend is one of our favorites of the year, Ben Ray has always been a big supporter of ours and Hatfield has been a great venue for us whenever we’ve played there.

“However, when something as huge as Radio 1’s Big Weekend comes calling, we felt as a band we could not say no to it. Radio 1 have been massively supportive to us over the last couple of years, and we felt this was an invitation we really couldn’t turn down.

“To everyone at Slam Dunk North and Midlands, we will be still be representing in Leeds and Wolverhampton (with the help of some hefty overnight ferries) and we hope all WATO fans that were hoping to see us at Slam Dunk South don’t hold it against us!

“Once again we sincerely apologise, and hope you all have a great day in Hatfield nonetheless!”

We Are The Ocean will play the 1Xtra Arena / In New Music We Trust Stage at the Big Weekend in Ireland on the Sunday, along with Vampire Weekend, Disclosure, Bastille, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Everything Everything, Jessie Ware, Miles Kane and HAIM.

The Radio 1 main stage that day will feature Bruno Mars, Paramore, Thirty Seconds to Mars, The Script, Olly Murs, Jake Bugg, Wretch 32 and Little Mix.