Vote for Indietracks in the UK Festival Awards!

"And the winner is..."

We woke up this morning to discover that Indietracks has been nominated in five categories in the 2008 UK Festival Awards! Hurray!
If you enjoyed the festival and fancy helping us out, it would be great if you’d like to pop over and cast us a vote or two. Maybe we have a fair chance of coming away with Best Small Festival, Best Family Festival or Best Grassroots Festival. Just imagine how much fun it would be to see our festival pick up an award!
And just think what a brilliant thing it might be if we could subtly drop a festival award into the conversation when we’re asking some of the bigger indiepop names if they want to play at the festival next year!

We’ve just tried it (yes we voted for ourselves…), and it only takes 20 seconds to vote. You can also win a pair of tickets to every winning festival next year!

If you’d like to help us out, please visit the Indietracks Nomination Page before 13 October. Thank you!

Christmas Twee bands announced!

Hello there Indietrackers! It’s that time of year again - the shops are starting to stock Christmas goodies, you’re daydreaming about gift wish-lists, winter coats are demanding to be worn and – most importantly – it’s time for us to announce the bands playing this year’s Christmas Twee event! (Saturday 6th December, 2008). We know you’ve all been eagerly waiting to see which top indie-poppers will be tickling your festive fancy this year and now (fanfare here please) we can finally announce that the headliners will be God-like C86 legends Mighty Mighty. We’re doubly excited about this over at Indietracks Towers because this is the first gig the band have announced since their split in the late 1980s – and on a steam train too!

Mighty Mighty were formed in the early 1980s by Mick Geoghegan and Hugh Harkin out of their shared love of soul music, Postcard Records, The Velvet Underground and Socialist Worker Party politics. Birmingham-based, they built up a small but devoted following playing local venues and came to prominence when featured on the NME's C86 compilation, and at around the same time they released their debut single "Everybody Knows The Monkey". This was soon followed by a 12" single - "Is There Anyone Out There?" - before the band signed to Chapter 22 Records, releasing a string of well-received singles and the album "Sharks" in 1988. Continuing interest in the band then saw the reissue of "Sharks" in 2000 and the release of a compilation of BBC session tracks in 2001, which seems far too long ago for us, so we just can’t wait to see them play all our favourite songs at our favourite ever railway site!

Mighty Mighty will also be joined by former June Brides singer and founder Phil Wilson. Phil has been playing a number of gigs across the country this year with bands such as Pocketbooks and MJ Hibbett, all of which have been fantastically received. We loved his "Industrial Strength" EP released in August this year, and we’re looking forward to seeing him in action on the fabulously retro Butterley platform. Phil is the founder of indiepop gods The June Brides, formed in London in 1983. Also influenced by Postcard-label bands, their mix of guitar pop with viola and trumpet formed a blueprint for many of the C86 bands that would follow. In 1986 they opened for The Smiths on their Irish tour dates and were honoured in 2006 by tribute album "Still Unravished", which featured covers by bands such as Manic Street Preachers and the Television Personalities.

The third band to join the bill are Derby popsters Mascot Fight. This four-piece indiepop/ alternative band formed in 2004 and have released one EP so far, If Cooks Could Kill. The band have received airplay on BBC Radio 1 and BBC6 Music, and an album called Pantomime Hearse is planned for late 2008/early 2009.

And, of course, Christmas Twee wouldn’t be Christmas Twee without some bopping along on the disco carriage and railway platform. We're just finalising details of our DJs, but we’ll be revealing disco details very soon!

Sooo….that’s your lot for now pop kids but we’ll be back soon with details of the timetable and Secret Santa CD swap, as well as interviews with the bands and much more besides! Don’t forget, Christmas Twee takes place on Saturday 6th December 2008 at Butterley Station in Derbyshire, between 6.30pm and midnight.

Tickets cost £15 (+£1 booking fee) and can be bought from We Got Tickets or by phoning 01773 747 674. Details of how to get there and where to stay can also be found on our website: http://www.indietracks.co.uk/

Christmas Twee - Saturday 6th December 2008

It's September, which means all the decorations go up in Woolworths, so it must be Christmas, right?

Well OK, perhaps we at Indietracks HQ are getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but how can we not when we've got Christmas Twee to look forward to?

It's all happening on Saturday 6th December at Butterley Station. There will be three fantastic bands (details of which will follow in a further announcement), indiepop DJs, steam train discos, and loads more festive fun besides!

Tickets are £15 (+ £1 booking fee) and are available now! To book, just phone 01773 747 674. You'll be given a booking number which you should bring with you to the event.

If you're not sure how to get there or where to stay, then just head on over to our newly launched website for all the travel and accommodation information: http://www.indietracks.co.uk/

Watch out for more details coming soon!