Volunteer at Indietracks 2013

Edit - 14 July: we're looking for a couple more volunteers. If you're interested, please read the following details and send us your form, ideally by Wednesday 17 July. Thank you! 

We're once again looking for volunteers for the Indietracks festival weekend. It's a great way to gain experience of working at a festival, it can be really fun and it means you can get in for free! We're looking for volunteers for the following positions:

Stewards
All stewards will work shifts and, where required, will be directing festival goers to the site, assisting with ticketing and wristbanding and stewarding the site. Some festival experience is an asset but not necessary.

Stage Assistants
We are looking for enthusiastic individuals with some experience of stage management, either at festival or gig level. This would be an ideal position for an events management student looking for some work experience, or someone with experience who wants to assist in the running of the festival. Each volunteer will work in pairs, managing each stage. This will involve meeting the bands from arrival to the site, helping them find their way around, making sure the bands are ready on time, and collecting their PRS forms.

For both positions, you must be able to arrive on site by midday Friday 26 July for induction and site preparation and be available to work shifts throughout the days on 27 and 28 July. In return you will receive:

* The chance to get involved with a unique festival
* Experience of working at a festival for your CV
* Free entry into the festival
* Free camping if required
* Food and drink vouchers (only for use in the railway buffet)

Please note you will have to make your own way to and from the festival site. A deposit in the form of your camping fee will be payable which will be refunded on successful completion of your duties.

If you'd like to apply, please download an application form from the following link and, once you've completed it, send it to indietracksvolunteers@gmail.com before Friday 26 April 2013.

Indietracks 2013 - Volunteers application form

If you would like to apply to work with a friend, mention this in the comments and we’ll do our best to make it happen. Please also let us know if you have volunteered in previous years.

If you have any questions, also e-mail us at the above address and we’ll do our best to answer them.

(Photo: Sunset dancing at Indietracks: rainonthelens)

Video: Salle Pierre Lamy Indietracks special

As we're busily preparing for this year's festival, we realised that we completely failed to blog about this great video from last year.

It's a 45 minute video (get your cups of tea ready!) with Salle Pierre Lamy puppets Edgar and Bryce chatting to Allo Darlin', Tigercats, Tender Trap, Cosines, The Smittens and Velodrome 2000 at Indietracks 2012. It includes some live footage and some lovely shots of the railway. Enjoy!

Fancy running a craft workshop at Indietracks 2013?

Every year at Indietracks we run a selection of art and crafts workshops. In previous years, we've had opportunity to knit bracelets, create animations, design album covers, make superhero outfits and learn lindy-hop dancing!

Workshops will again be happening again this year at Indietracks, and we are hoping for a new, creative mix of sessions. If you would like to submit an application please read the small print below and send an email to indietracksalice@gmail.com by Friday 19 April 2013 containing the following information:

- Who you are - and website if applicable
- What your experience is of providing workshops
- What your workshop will be about
- Will you charge for your workshop? If so, how much?
- Have you been to Indietracks before? Any interesting stories to divulge?
- Have you run a workshop at Indietracks before?

Small print

Be creative with your application as we are looking for new and exciting workshops at the festival. We like to mix it up, so we're encouraging new workshop co-ordinators to apply, but we will also accept applications from previous workshop co-ordinators too.

You must provide all materials and equipment to run the workshop with, Indietracks have 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 provided per workshop.

You will be able to sell your stuff on a stall at the festival over the weekend. We charge a standard merchants 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 very open to suggestions for workshops specifically aimed at children as these are generally very popular.

Workshops sessions are one hour long including clear-up time. We also may have space for longer interactive workshops in a new space in the festival site, so please get in touch if you have any different ideas.

The application submission deadline is 19 April 2013. We will let the successful applicants know shortly after that. Feel free to email Alice with any questions before you submit your application.

Travelling to Indietracks via Nottingham?

East Midlands Trains have announced that Nottingham station will be closed between 20 July and 26 August 2013, including during the Indietracks weekend.

There’s some limited information on the East Midlands Trains website, and some more detailed information on the Anorak messageboard.

If you’re travelling  by train to Indietracks from most major UK cities, we’d suggest either travelling directly to Derby or Alfreton rail stations and catching one of the following buses:

• The H1 Trent Barton bus from Derby to the Golden Valley campsite. The main festival site at Swanwick Junction is 10 minutes walk from the campsite.
• The 9.1, 9.2 or 9.3 Trent Barton buses from Derby or Alfreton to the main Midland Railway entrance in Butterley (or to Ripley if you’re staying there, eg at the Premier Inn). You can catch a stream train from the Midland Railway main entrance  in Butterley to the main festival site.
• The Trent Barton / Red Arrow runs between Derby and Alfreton (if you’re travelling to Derby and staying in Alfreton (eg at the Travelodge)).

There will also be a rail replacement bus service running between East Midland Parkway and Nottingham. Trent Barton Rainbow Bus No.1 links Nottingham train station to Ripley Marketplace about every 20 minutes, Monday to Saturday, and you can walk from there to the Midland Railway entrance in Butterley.

Otherwise, bus services such as National Express and Megabus will be running to Nottingham as usual from across the UK. (Derby might be slightly better for the campsite though, as above.)

If you’re travelling by public transport, please use Transport Direct or thetrainline.com to plan your journey. These sites provide information three months in advance, so should be able to help from the end of April onwards.  

Any questions, please feel free to send us an email and we’ll try and help: indietracksfestival@gmail.com

(Photo: _differentclass) 

Camera Obscura and Bis to play Indietracks 2013

Scottish indiepop favourites Camera Obscura and Bis are among the headliners for this year’s Indietracks Festival, held on the weekend of 26-28 July 2013 at the Midland Railway in Derbyshire.

Also playing Indietracks this year will be The Ballet (Canada), Martha, Flowers, Fever Dream, The Understudies, and American band The Secret History, who will be visiting the UK for the first time. We'll announce lots more bands shortly!

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Early bird tickets! Tickets are now available at an early bird discount price of £65 (weekend) and £35 (day). These cheaper prices are available until 5.00pm on Saturday 11 May. After this date, prices will be £72 (weekend) and £38 (day). So adult weekend tickets are £7 cheaper if you buy them early!

Weekend tickets for children aged 5-15 are £10, or £6 for a day ticket. Children under 5 get in free.

Tickets are available by calling the railway direct on 01773 747 674 or visiting: www.indietracks.co.uk/tickets.html
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Camera Obscura are bringing their refined cinematic indiepop to Indietracks, marking the release of their forthcoming album, "Desire Lines" in June 2013. The Glasgow band released albums "Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi" (2001) and "Underachievers Please Try Harder" (2003), before enlisting Swedish producer Jari Haapalainen in 2006. The resulting album, "Let’s Get Out Of This Country", featured entrancing pop gems such as "Lloyd I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken", alongside more downbeat yet melodic offerings. The band signed to the legendary 4AD label in 2009, and their fourth album "My Maudlin Career" again showcased the band’s  sophisticated pop, including "French Navy" and "Honey In The Sun". 2010 saw the band tour Europe, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Indonesia.

Bis are a Scottish indiepop band composed of John Disco, Manda Rin and Sci-fi Steven. In 1996, they famously appeared on BBC’s Top of the Pops, performing "Kandy Pop", and released a series of EPs, three of which entered the UK Singles Chart. Bis quickly won fans with The Delgados and The Beastie Boys, who signed them to the Chemikal Underground and Grand Royal labels respectively. They released three studio albums; "The New Transistor Heroes" (1997), "Social Dancing" (1999) and "Return to Central" (2001), gradually moving from frenetic punk pop towards a more electropop sound.  The band reformed in 2010 to play at the Primavera festival, and will perform on the Friday night at this year’s Indietracks.

Around 50 indiepop bands from across the globe will be playing across four stages: the outdoor stage; the indoor stage, the church and on the steam trains themselves. The festival will also host a range of art and craft  workshops and a selection of discos after the bands finish.

This is the seventh annual Indietracks festival, which takes place at the Midland Railway in Ripley, in the heart of the Derbyshire countryside. The site houses a whole range of lovingly restored steam diesels and locomotives. Festival goers are allowed to have unlimited rides on the steam railway over the weekend and full access to other railway attractions and museums.

For further information about the festival, please visit: www.indietracks.co.uk

Hope to see you in July!

Indietracks 2013 announcement coming soon

Hiya, just to let you know that we're expecting to announce a few Indietracks bands and put tickets on sale at 7.00pm on Thursday 7 March.

Please pop back here then, or visit our official website, to find out all the news. You can also follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook group

Alternatively, if you'd like the latest news delivered straight to your inbox, please sign up to our e-newsletter mailing list by writing to: indietracksmailinglist2@gmail.com (or to join our press mailing list, please visit our press page).

Thanks so much to all the bands who applied to play at Indietracks. The deadline is now closed. We've been enjoying your applications and will be in touch with some of you very shortly.

Band applications 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 Please send a link rather than mp3s where possible, preferably Soundcloud or Bandcamp.

The deadline for applications is February 1, 2013. 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 26 to 28. For further information about the festival, visit http://www.indietracks.co.uk

Arson attack on the Midland Railway - Your help needed!

 

(Photo: BBC News)

We're very sad to report that the Midland Railway has again been attacked by arsonists, with two wooden buildings owned by the Swanwick Junction Club being set alight at the Midland Railway Centre in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Both buildings were destroyed, as well as a selection of model trains, controllers and tracks built up over the past 20 years, which were one of the railway's top attractions for tourists. The nearby Allports shop also caught alight, but the fire was put out quickly before too much damage was caused.

The Midland Railway Centre has now offered the Swanwick Junction Club a temporary home while it raises money to build a new brick base for them. Alan Calladine, Midland Railway Trust Development Officer, has also said that security will be stepped up at the site while investigations continue. Police are treating the fire as suspicious, although no-one has been arrested as of yet.

As you know, Indietracks couldn't happen without the Midland Railway and the hard work all of its amazing volunteers, so we are now making an appeal for donations from anyone wishing to help repair the damage and build a new home for the Swanwick Junction Club.

If you would like to donate money towards the railway, please visit their railway donation page at https://midlandrailway-butterley.co.uk/donationsform.html to make a contribution, using the "general donation" button.

Or, as an alternative way of donating, why not become a member of the Midland Railway or even give a gift of annual membership to a friend or family member for Christmas?  It costs just £19 for adults, or £8.50 for children, and as part of your membership you receive the regular Wyvern magazine. You are also able to travel on the Midland Railway - Butterley trains at reduced fares, as well as being involved in the future development of the railway.

Visit http://www.midlandrailway-butterley.co.uk/membershipform.html to apply for your membership now, and help raise money for the railway!

Indietracks dates for 2013

Next year's Indietracks festival will take place on the weekend of 26-28 July 2013.

We're returning to our usual slot of the last weekend in July, following a slight bump forward this year due to the Olympics.

If you're an artist looking to play next year, or interested in volunteering at the festival, we'll let you know all the details for applications shortly. To stay in touch with all the latest news, please subscribe to this blog, follow us on Twitter @indietracksfest, join our Facebook group or join our mailing list by emailing: indietracksmailinglist2@gmail.com

Finally, congratulations and thanks very much to the winning bidders for the signed Indietracks 2012 canvas bags (as mentioned in the previous post). You raised an amazing £224 for the Midland Railway charity. Enjoy the goodies!

See you next year!

(Photo: Georgina Rodgers)

Official Indietracks 2012 goodie bags - signed by the artists!

While everyone was going about their stuff at this year's festival, the staff at The Midland Railway were sneakily rounding up pop stars and getting them to sign/draw pretty pictures on two fabulous Indietracks 2012 cotton canvas bags, stuffed full of goodies generously donated by the bands themselves, the festival, and the Midland Railway! 

The goodie bags have just gone up for auction on eBay, here and here.

What better way to recreate the festival in the comfort of your own home, AND feel good in the knowledge that all the proceeds go to the railway and will help to keep it and the festival running!

The bags themselves were limited edition this year and sold out quickly, so here's your chance to own one if you didn't manage to snap one up. They boast the lovely artwork drawn for us by the very talented Claire Goldthorp.

Happy bidding!