BURY St Edmunds trio The Soft are going from visiting Latitude to playing it.

They are one of three bands from the region who have been picked by BBC Introducing in Suffolk to open the festival’s Lake Stage this year.

“Latitude is a major festival and this is definitely an amazing opportunity. It’s a huge thing to do,” said singer, guitarist and programmer Henry Morris.

“We’ve got new material and have been redeveloping our old material for bigger settings - lots more bass and drums. It’s going to be a huge step from just going to Latitude a couple of years ago to playing it.”

They will open the stage on the Friday with their unique brand of electronica and shoegaze sure to appeal to fans of Animal Collective, Four Tet and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Nine-piece indie act Dingus Khan, from Manningtree, will open it the Saturday. Releasing their debut single Knifey Spoony on Club Fandango earlier this year, they recently performed a BBC Radio 6 Music session for Steve Lamacq. With three drummers, three bassists and an electric ukulele thrown in for good measure, you’ve never seen rock ‘n’ roll played this way before.

Singer and guitarist Benjamin Brown said: “I’ve never been to a festival in my life; it’s going to be an eye-opener. I haven’t even got a tent.”

Eccentric Ipswich singer-songwriter Benjamin Bloom and his band will ease revellers into Sunday’s festivities with tracks from their recent Weird & Wonderful EP.

“I’m delighted, overwhelmed. It’s a struggle for us unsigned guys to get up a level and get into good venues. You trawl around and wait for somebody to give you an opportunity. We’ll deliver big style. They’re going to get a stupid ridiculous over the top show with anthemic songs,” promised Bloom.

BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens, who curates the stage, said: “The artists BBC Introducing in Suffolk support and help nurture will get to play to a large audience at one of the finest festivals I’ve ever been to, so it’s a great chance for Suffolk artists to get their music heard.”

Latitude 2012 takes place at Henham Park, Suffolk, from July 12-15.