Fancy running an activity workshop at Indietracks?

Fortuna Pop! supremo Sean Price enthralls a tent full of people keen to learn how (not) to run a record label!

(Photo: Underexposed)

One of the many, many things we love about Indietracks is the wonderful workshops run by talented volunteers each year. There is always a range of brilliant activities for both children and adults, and in previous years we have made jewellery with Tatty Devine, got crafty with Craft Guerilla, learned how (not) to run a record label with Fortuna POP!, made stop motion animation films and even played indie pop Guess Who!

We're really keen to run workshops again this year, so please do get in touch if you're interested in getting involved. You will be able to run your workshop in a designated tent and - of course - you will have a free ticket to the festival.

The deadline for workshop applications is April 29, and we will contact successful applicants shortly after that.

If you would like to submit an application please read the small print below and send an email to indietracksalice@gmail.com containing the following information:

- Who you are - and website if applicable

- Have you run a workshop before?

- What your workshop will be about

- Will you charge for your workshop?

- Have you been to Indietracks before? Any interesting stories to divulge?

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Small print

Please be creative with your application as we are looking for new and exciting workshops at the festival. We are particularly looking for new workshops, but will accept applications from previous workshop co-ordinators too.

You must provide all materials to run the workshop with - Indietracks has nothing!

You can charge for people to participate in the workshop but it must be cheap (less than £5) and the money should only be used to cover materials and not be your beer or travel money!

There are two weekend festival passes per workshop.

You will be able to sell your stuff on a stall at the festival over the weekend. We charge a standard merchant fee for a stall. Details on costs and the application process are available on request.

Please note we are keen to keep the workshops child-friendly and we are open to suggestions for workshops specifically aimed at children too.

There have been increasing requests for non-craft based workshops, so we are hoping to vary the schedule more this year.

First bands and early bird tickets for Indietracks 2011!

We’re very excited to announce that international indiepop favourites Jeffrey Lewis and The Hidden Cameras will be among the headliners of this year’s Indietracks Festival.

Early bird tickets are now on sale for the festival, which takes place on the weekend of 29-31 July 2011 at a steam railway in Derbyshire.

Jeffrey Lewis has become one of the front-runners of the anti-folk movementsince releasing his official debut album on Rough Trade in 2001. The New Yorker has been described as “the best lyricist working in the US today” by Jarvis Cocker, and as “the Big Apple’s best-kept secret” by the NME.

The Hidden Cameras, hailing from Toronto, have released seven albums, including three albums and an EP on Rough Trade, and are the brainchild of Joel Gibb. Their live performances are often elaborate, high-energy shows, featuring go-go dancers in balaclavas and choirs. The BBC described their most recent album, Origin:Orphan, as “a serious and sophisticated musical force to be reckoned with”.

We’ve also announced seven further artists from across the globe: Math and Physics Club (US), The Wendy Darlings (France), The Sweet Nothings (UK), Next Time Passions (Greece), Very Truly Yours (US), The Garlands (Sweden) and Zipper (Spain). Further headliners and day bands will be announced very soon!

Early bird tickets

Weekend tickets are now available at an early bird discount price of £60, and day tickets are available for £32.50. This price is available until Friday 6 May. After this date, weekend tickets will be £65 and day tickets £35.

Tickets for children aged 5-14 are £6 for a day ticket and £10 for the weekend. Under-5s get in free!

Tickets are available now from www.instantticketseller.com/midlandrailwaycentre or by calling 01773 747 674 during the daytime.

We hope to see you at this year’s festival!

xxx

Coming soon...

Just a quick message to let you know that we're planning to make an announcement at 7.00pm today!

Please pop back here or visit our website later this evening. Or alternatively, for the very latest news follow us on Twitter or Facebook or sign up to our email newsletter mailing list.

Popfests in 2011!

Hello, it’s been a while! As we at Indietracks HQ sift through the hundreds of band applications that have already flooded in for the 2011 festival, we find ourselves getting a bit impatient for some pop action and a chance to get together with our friends from all over the world. But we can’t wait until July – it’s aaages away!

Thankfully we don’t have to wait that long at all, because next month brings the first of 2011’s Popfests! These festivals happen all over the world and it seems like more spring up every year – last year saw the very first Copenhagen Popfest, and this year the Madrid Popfest will be making its debut. These events are lovingly organised by friends and indiepop fans, many of whom we have come to know well through our own festival, and some of whom are even involved in Indietracks themselves. If you’ve never been, we can’t recommend enough that you do! Below are the details we have so far:

London Popfest, 24 – 27 February

Thursday @ Bush Hall, Shepherds Bush
The Pooh Sticks, Tender Trap, The Understudies + 1 more tba

Friday @ Brixton Windmill, Brixton
The Andersen Tapes, Sourpatch, Town Bike, The X-ing School

Saturday @ 100 Club, Oxford Street (now sold out)
Bearsuit, Evans The Death, Eux Autres, The Felt Tips, Help Stamp Out Loneliness, The History of Apple Pie, Humousexual, The Monochrome Set

Sunday @ The Lexington, Islington
14 Iced Bears, The Notes, Youngfuck + 1 more tba

Tickets are selling FAST for this, so be quick! You can find out about tickets, schedules, news and loads more at www.londonpopfest.com

Madrid Popfest, 11 – 12 March

Bands confirmed so far are Tender Trap, Cola Jet Set, The Blanche Hudson Weekend, Papa Topo, Aias, Zipper, and Horowitz.

Visit the website for tickets, and to sign up for news and updates! www.madridpopfest.com

Other Popfests!

Rome Popfest is usually in March, but no details have been released for this year’s event as yet. You can visit the website for updates!

Last April’s Copenhagen Popfest was somewhat hampered by pesky volcano action, but people were so determined to get there that they travelled for days on whichever mode of transport they could find still operating! Sadly we were among those stranded due to cancelled flights (we ate a lot of cake that weekend to console ourselves), but received glowing reports from those who had made it. Let’s hope they announce a 2011 version soon – keep up to date here.

Next up is New York Popfest, which is taking place in May. We’ve been hearing the first whispers about this in the last couple of days, and although the website isn’t operating at the mo there is a Facebook group which you can follow. We’ll be there, so come and say hello!

Also in May, the San Francisco Popfest have not yet released details of this year’s event, but having visited ourselves in 2009 we can guarantee it’s worth going! Visit their website to get the news as it happens.

If you still haven't had enough pop after Indietracks in July, then head to Athens (US) Popfest which takes place in August! Visit their website to read about last year's event, download the excellent free compilation of bands who played, and get the 2011 details as they're announced!

Finally, New England Popfest takes place in November. It’s a bit early for details of the 2011 version just yet, but you can visit their website or join them on Facebook to get the first details.

So there you go – the pop never stops!

Band submissions for Indietracks now open!

Applications are now open for bands interested in playing at Indietracks next year. To apply, please send your email address, a short biography and a link to your music to indietracksbands@gmail.com We prefer to receive links rather than mp3s where possible.

The deadline for applications is midnight on February 13, 2011. Thanks to everyone who has applied so far - we're now looking at your emails and we'll respond to successful applicants after the submission deadline has closed. Best of luck!

Next year's Indietracks takes place on July 29-31. For further information about the festival, visit http://www.indietracks.co.uk/

Midland Railway in the snow

Hopefully the recent snow has had you feeling all excited and festive! Of course, it's made running a steam railway an interesting challenge, as these photos demonstrate. They were taken on 1 December, at the height of the snow, so it's possibly all melted by now. Still, it all looks very Christmassy! 

The railway has sent us a quick update following the recent appeal we held to help finish the Swanwick station building. Work is continuing at the station, with some more internal work done to the station office and wood panelling put up around the booking hall. The railway have told us it looks great, so we can't wait to see it next year! They're hoping to be able use the booking office as part office/part shop in the spring, which will be a great addition to the part of the site where we hold the festival.

If you've come along to Indietracks over the last few years, you'll have seen this station building growing gradually, and it'll be fantastic when it's finished. Thanks again for your contributions!

Have a great Christmas, and we look forward to seeing you next year!

xxx

UK Festival Awards:

 (Photo: matteb83)

7/10/10 - UPDATE:  Sadly Indietracks didn't reach the shortlists for the UK Festival Awards, but a big "thank" you anyway to everyone who voted!

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Thanks once again for your amazing generosity in donating to our appeal for the Midland Railway centre. If you haven't seen it already, you raised nearly £2,000 which will help the charity finish the station building at Swanwick.

We're just posting to ask you for another favour, which doesn't involve donations this time, but instead just a minute of your internet time. Indietracks has once again been nominated in the UK Festival awards, and it would be fantastic if you would like to vote for the festival again this year.

Indietracks has been nominated in the following categories:
* Best small festival
* Best grassroots festival
* Best family festival
* Best toilets

To vote, you just need to visit http://www.festivalawards.com/, fill in the quick sign-up form and tick the boxes. It literally just takes two minutes and is dead easy. Voting stays open until 6 October.

Thanks to everyone's votes, Indietracks has been shortlisted as best small festival for the last two years. La Casa Azul even won an award last year for their Indietracks 2009 headline slot, seeing off competition from the likes of The Prodigy, ZZ Top and The Specials.

We think getting nominated or winning can help the festival in a few ways: it's a cost-free way to help new people find out about the festival; and it's a useful thing for us to be able to say to potential bands, the local council, the Midland Railway trustees etc. to help show that the festival is a good thing.

Hope you can help!

Thank you!

(Photo: camano10)

We'd like to say a massive 'thank you' to everyone who contributed to our recent appeal to help the Midland Railway Centre!

You raised an amazing £1,942.92 (including Gift Aid) for the charity, which will really help them finish the Swanwick station building.

The appeal is now closed. However, if you missed out and would like to help the railway, you can make a general donation on the Midland Railway Charity Giving page.

Or for just £16 a year you can become a member of the Midland Railway. Members are able to travel on Midland Railway Centre trains at reduced fares and can become involved in the development of the Centre. They also receive a regular magazine, `The Wyvern'.

Thanks so much again for your help! It's brilliant that the railway supports this festival and we're delighted that you've been able to help them out in such a generous way.

xxx

Last chance to help our Midland Railway appeal!

(Photo: Dave W Clarke)

There's just three days left to help our charity appeal to raise money to finish the Swanwick station building at the Indietracks festival site. The appeal finishes on Friday 10 September.

We'd like to say a massive thanks so much to everyone who's contributed so far. The appeal has raised well over £1,300 for the Midland Railway charity. If you haven't had a chance to contribute yet, it would be fantastic if you could help us push the total a bit higher before Friday.

We've launched this appeal to help the charity finish their Swanwick station building (pictured here). If you came along to the festival in 2007 you'll have seen the foundations were already laid for the station building (pictured above). Four years later, it's progressing gradually, and the shell of the station is virtually complete. We'd love to help them finish it completely!

If you'd like to contribute something, please visit www.charitygiving.co.uk/indietracks2010 by Friday 10 September.

Thanks again to everyone who's contributed!!

xxx

Radio Nowhere at Indietracks!

Those lovely folks over at Radio Nowhere have now put up their special Indietracks edition of the Christopher Laird show. Featuring interviews with and music from the likes of The Primitives, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Slow Club, Eddie Argos, Allo Darlin' and Slow Club, the show provides a fantastic round-up of the festival and has made us go a bit misty-eyed and nostalgic all over again.

You can download the show as a free MP3 from Radio Nowhere's website (August 9 show) or from iTunes.

As well as reading Indietracks reviews over the past few weeks, we've also been busy fundraising to help complete the new Swanwick station building at the festival site. The Midland Railway have been building the station gradually since 2007, and while it's nearly complete they still need a bit more money to finish the internal and external building. So far, the campaign has already raised over £1,200! We've been absolutely staggered by your generosity and want to say a massive "thank you" to everyone who has donated so far.

If you would like to donate, please visit our Charity Giving page - the campaign runs until September 10!