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!

Please help the Midland Railway!

(Photo: Martin Arrand)

We're launching an appeal to raise money to finish the Swanwick station building at the festival site.

We're amazed and really grateful that the Midland Railway makes it possible for an indiepop festival to take place on their steam railway each year. It's a beautiful, perfect location for our festival and the railway staff and volunteers have always been incredibly welcoming, friendly and supportive.

As you can imagine, it takes a lot to keep the railway going each year, so we'd like to try and help out. We asked the charity how we might help and they said they'd love some help in raising money to finish their Swanwick station building (pictured above).

They've been building the station gradually since 2007 and while it's nearly complete they need a bit more money to finish the internal and external building and furnishing.

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

Thanks so much, and hopefully see you next year!

xxx

Indietracks reviews!

We've been keeping an eye on all you busy bees writing for fanzines, blogs and magazines, and have rounded up a selection of our favourite Indietracks reviews for you to check out. We've picked out some of our fave quotes and provided links to the full reviews where possible. We know there's still more reviews and podcasts to be posted, so we'll keep updating this as the coverage is put online. Happy reading!

“Indietracks' relaxed atmosphere and unique choice of stages - a church, a steam train, indoor barn stage and an outdoor one that literally did fall off the back of a lorry - as well as a wide selection of affordable real ales make it one of the most prominent events on the summer's music calendar”
Drowned in Sound

“Once again Indietracks festival provided a warm, friendly, entertaining event, where the bands and punters all mingle together without the over inflated egos that you get at some other bigger festivals....Indietracks will always be a special festival that is worth making the effort to come to, it is one of the few festivals where you know that regardless of who is playing you are guaranteed to have a great weekend.”
Efestivals

"Now in its fourth year Indietracks is indie-pop’s mecca, its Nirvana – a festival borne from all things C86 it is the place to be for indie music with heart."
The National Student

"With its tiny capacity and eccentric setting, Indietracks is a one-of-a-kind festival where you can spend as much time hanging out with bands as watching them perform."
The Fly

“You should really get yourself along to Indietracks for a truly unique festival experience.... Although it threatened to rain for much of the weekend it thankfully stayed away. Not that it mattered to the legions of indie fans who had fallen upon the Midlands Railway - there wasn't a single person without a smile to be seen.”
BBC Derby

"It is difficult to pinpoint one single thing that made the Indietracks Festival such tremendous fun....Derbyshire should be very proud of its own, little-known, but ever-expanding festival. Roll on next year."
Derby Evening Telegraph

“It was very friendly and everyone was helpful. I was chatting away to people in queues and it felt very safe and very friendly. I would definitely recommend it and I’ll be going again hopefully next year.” BBC6 Music (Steve Lamacq’s Festival Spy)

"Drawing on the same wellspring of C86 pop that fuels most of the bands and all of the fans at the festival, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart take down that wall between performers and fans, summing up the sense of common purpose and shared belief you feel everywhere you walk around this weekend."
Sounds XP

"Set in the glorious countryside of rural Derbyshire, Indietracks is a unique festival that showcases the best of new and upcoming indie music talent.....Indietracks is that rarity of a festival, a trailblazer that is something different and isn’t afraid to come out of the box."
Winkball

"[POBPAH’s] set is the perfect send-off, and as the last steam trains leave the site and the last cries of "We will never die" echo out into nothingness, they confirm unequivocally both their status as one of the planets most exciting bands and the weekend’s status as one of the friendliest, most enjoyable, nay best, independent festivals."
Contact Music

"Indietracks is such a perfect festival that I almost want to keep it a secret. But as the profits go to keeping the wonderful Midland Railway Centre running, I guess I ought to start forcing everyone I know to come and join in the indie fun."
247 magazine

"Back from a fine weekend among like minded people amid the glorious infrastructure of Indietracks.....In summary: wonderful weekend by the abandoned stock, once again.”
Sweeping the Nation

“Indietracks still remains my favourite festival on the musical calendar. I’ve mostly written about the bands in these posts, but there’s so much more that makes it what it is. Primarily how friendly just about every single person you meet is. Bands wander the site and mingle with everyone else...and even the volunteers who work on the railway. Of course, discussions about just who should play next year are already in full swing, but honestly, it doesn’t really matter. If the Indietracks team came up with a list of 50 bands I’d never heard of before, I’d still go, perfectly trusting in their abilities to select ideal bands and put on a perfect weekend.”
Another Form of Relief

“....words can’t really relay how I feel about this precious festival.....I don’t go to any other festivals any more....mainly because nothing will compare to Indietracks, alright?”
A Layer of Chips

"It's so hard to write succinctly about Indietracks when it's so much that makes it special, the bands, the venue, the fantastic food, the organisers and volunteers who do such a great job and the trains. But, and it's a cliche, I guess what really makes the festival each year is the people...It's a moment where turning around to see someone dancing behind you can lift your heart 'til you're feeling giddy or someone you haven't seen in forever gives you a hug, and suddenly you remember that, yes, this is what Indietracks is all about. Roll on next year."
Beer and Bands

"There are trains to drink on, indie discos to dance at, new friends to meet ... Indietracks is like being a member of the best social club you'll ever find. And yes, there are badges.
Morning Star

"The location is stunning, the campsite clean, and the festival-goers (on the whole) loved-up and well-behaved. And where else can you see your favourite band members looking rough in the shower queue, mere hours before they go onstage?"
For Folk's Sake

"Indietracks 2010 proved to be the most successful Indietracks festival to date, and by successfully drawing together the older generation of indie bands with more recently established acts and truly up and coming groups, it has reaffirmed its status as one of, if not the best of the UK’s smaller festivals."
God Is In The TV


We'll be adding to this list over the next few weeks, so please drop us a line if we've missed anything interesting!

More Indietracks on film

Following yesterday's quick video round-up, here's another amazing Indietracks video, this time from Lucy Dawkins, who's making the Story of Sarah Records documentary.

The video has bundles of interviews with bands and festival-goers about the festival, including Kip and Peggy from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Orchids, Pete, Marianthi, Ian and, of course, Fortuna Pop!'s Sean Price! There's also some great footage of the railway and the festival site, as well as music from the Pooh Sticks and Betty and The Werewolves. It's a really lovely video and comes highly recommended!



Link: Story of Sarah Records: Indietracks interviews 2010

Also, if you're looking for a video of your favourite band from the festival, Ill and Ancient is compiling an easy-to-use alphabetised list of all the clips on Youtube from this year's festival. There's dozens and dozens of videos there - from Allo Darlin' to Veronica Falls and everyone inbetween, so make a cup of tea and then  pop over and have a look: Indietracks 2010 videos

There's been lots of lovely reviews of the festival so far, and we'll post links to some of them soon. If you've done a review, write up or blog about the festival, please let us know and we'll include it.

Indietracks on film!

Wow, so many of you were out and about with your video cameras at Indietracks this weekend - we've had a fine old time sifting through all of your offerings!

First up is a short film by the super-friendly Winkball team, who spent most of the festival interviewing bands and festival-goers about their Indietracks experiences and favourite music. Here's their short video round-up, featuring an interview with our very own Emma from Team Indietracks!



They've also uploaded four pages of individual interviews with you lot to their website. We haven't had time to watch them all but, out of the ones we did watch, we discovered that Stefan from Northern Portrait had to be treated by the Red Cross last year after suffering a tambourine-based injury! What a star! Type "indietracks" into the search box in the Entertainment section of their website - have a look and see if you can spot yourself in the talking heads videos!

Next up, we're particularly loving this video of All Darlin's Polaroid Song....the sun was starting to set so perfectly behind the outdoor stage at this point:



And this next film of Ballboy's Weekend Adventure is taken from a pretty strange angle, but we love it just the same:



But...(drum roll) our overall favourite video today is the wonderful Indietracks animation video made by enthusiastic workshoppers Stop Motion Commotion, and soundtracked by Allo Darlin'. We were lucky enough to see the little plasticine version of Indietracks that they made, complete with blue dinosaurs! I'm sure if they'd had more time they would have made a full-on Indietracks epic....

Thanks for coming!

(Photo: Photojonny)

Wow! Wasn't the weekend FANTASTIC? We can't believe another year has come and gone already - it seems like only a couple of minutes since we were sipping Crabbies' ginger ale and getting ready to watch Friday's excellent line-up... how did it go so quickly?

First off, we want to say thank you to all the bands, DJs, workshoppers and merchandise tent volunteers who worked over the weekend - you did such a brilliant job! Secondly, we want to say a huge, huge thank you to all the Midland Railway volunteers who worked so tirelessly over the weekend to make the festival so fantastic. We really can't thank you enough for all of your work - you're amazing! And, most of all, we want to say a massive thanks to YOU for coming. We really appreciate all the support that you continue to give us year after year, and also for all the helpful suggestions and feedback that you continue to give us. We couldn't do it without you!

We're currently sifting through the huge amount of photos, videos and reviews currenntly being uploaded, and we'll bring you a selection of some of our favourites over the next few days. Do keep popping back here over the next week or so.

In the meantime, do share your Indietracks photos with the Indietracks Flickr pool. And if you'd like discuss your thoughts and memories, why not visit the Anorak forum and tell everyone about your personal highlights?

We really hope you enjoyed the weekend!  If you would like to keep up-to-date with future news about thew festival, please follow us on Twitter or MySpace or join our Facebook page. Alternatively, please sign up to our newsletter by e-mailing indietracksmailinglist2@gmail.com

Hopefully see you next year!

Last minute reminders!

(Photo: tasteinclothes)

It’s finally here! We’re hope you’re looking forward to the festival this weekend! Here's our top ten last-minute pieces of information:


1. Tickets: weekend tickets and day tickets (Saturday or Sunday) will be available on the gates. They’ll also be on sale online until at least Friday lunchtime from the Indietracks ticket page.

2. Line-up changes: We’re sad to say that Love Is All and Burning Hearts have had to withdraw from the festival for personal reasons. However, we’re delighted that Tender Trap and The Parallelograms have stepped in to take their respective places on the bill.

3. Schedule: the timeslots for the bands, DJs and workshops will be printed in the festival programme and are also listed on the Indietracks schedule page. For iPhone users, there's also now an exciting, free-to-download Indietracks iPhone App with a full guide to the festival.

4. Weather: the BBC five day forecast currently says ‘sunny intervals’ on Friday and Sunday and ‘white cloud’ on Saturday. So we guess it could rain or shine - please come prepared for sunshine on a rainy day or vice versa.

5. Getting to the site: You’ve hopefully sussed out how to get there by now, but just in case, there’s some advice on bus, rail, taxi and car-sharing options on our travel page.

6. Mixtape swap: don't forget to bring your mix CDs for the Pic’n’mixx mixtape swap.

7. Cash: There isn’t a cash machine on site, so please stock up on money beforehand. There will be real ale, fine foods and the Indietracks 2010 compilation CD all available and we wouldn’t want you to miss out!

8. Sunday quiz: If you’d like to take part in the ‘Never Mind The Pooh Sticks’ quiz at 1pm on Sunday in the workshop tent, start swotting up now, get a team together and remember to sign up in the merchandise tent before it starts.

9. Follow the festival on Twitter: we'll be tweeting during the festival @indietracksfest, so please come and follow us! If you're also tweeting from the festival, put '#indietracks' at the end of your tweet so everyone can see what you’re chatting about!

10. Enjoy yourselves and have fun! Choo choo!

xxx

Indietracks interview #27: Antarctica Takes It!

Today’s interview is with Antarctica Takes It! who are coming over to Indietracks all the way from California.

Before that however, we’d just like to tell you quickly about one last Indietracks podcast, put together again by Josh from Radio Cardiff. It features an exclusive live track from Gordon from Ballboy, as well as interviews with Be Like Pablo and Indietracks maestro Stuart Mackay. You can download it from the following link: Indietracks podcast #3 

Josh will be interviewing people at the festival this weekend so if there's anything you'd like to contribute, do let Josh know: josh dot owen dot morris at gmail dot com.

Okay, let’s kick on with today’s interview!

Antarctica Takes It! write romantic, magical songs in the vein of Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists and Belle & Sebastian. Dylan McKeever recorded the debut album ‘The Penguin League’, directly into the internal mic of his laptop, creating a clattering, charming lo-fi masterpiece in the process.

With his second album, ‘Constellations’ – released in August on How Does It Feel To Be Loved? (but they’re sending mail copies out now) – he has now taken the lo-fi spirit of the first record and introduces it to all the clarity and beauty and sparkling perfection that the modern recording process can offer. The indie folk of the debut is now joined by soaring Aislers Set-style pop, gorgeous Beach Boys-esque harmonising, the kind of stumbling, good-hearted folk that Bright Eyes might have produced in recent years, and a joyous, wild-eyed, creatively-ablaze energy.

This week, the band are playing their first ever UK shows at two Indietracks warm-ups in London:
Wednesday 21 July @ The Luminaire, with Allo Darlin' and The Smittens.
Thursday 22 July @ Jamm, Brixton, with Tender Trap, Shrag, Betty And The Werewolves and Pocketbooks.

Hi, tell us a little bit about yourselves

Hello, this is Dylan from "Antarctica Takes It!" We're an indie pop band from Oakland, CA.

What music are you enjoying at the moment?

Laura Nyro, 'It's Gonna Take a Miracle' Dirty Projectors, 'Bitte Orca', The Dream, 'Love King', Lou Reed's 'Street Hassle'

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past

In Santa Cruz, we played at the Veteran's Hall in Santa Cruz. Maria and Vanessa couldn't make it to the gig, so Tyler and I played several instruments at the same time, BLINDFOLDED, for the entire set.

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?

Maybe I'm going to move to New York. Writing new songs, thinking about a new album.

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?

Maria is an artist, Tyler is in a band called James Rabbit, Brian is in a band called Winnie Byrd.

What's going to be on your compilation tapes as you travel down to Indietracks?

Maria will be listening to Joanna Newsom, 'Have One on me', and the Fruit Bats, 'The Ruminant Band', Kurt Vile, 'Childish Prodigy'

What do you most look forward to seeing in England?

The Eye of London!

Great – see you this weekend!

Indietracks 2010 quiz!

(Sunset dancing at Indietracks 2009. Photo: rainonthelens)

Okay, so we're all sitting and waiting patiently for the festival to arrive. It’s only a couple of days away but it feels like forever! So to fill the gaping void, here’s a quick Indietracks 2010 quiz!

This year we have a series of prizes, as follows:

a) the fact that if you win you will be the Indietracks 2010 Quiz Winner. Forever. Impress your friends. Find love. Join the immortals.

b) A copy of the Indietracks 2010 compilation CD. A double CD in fact, with 44 sizzling indiepop tunes.

c) A couple of Indietracks-related promos which we have lying around. (And by a couple we mean literally two.)

d) Um… we’ll try and find something else good, we promise. Some chocolate, maybe. Look it’s not really about the prizes, it’s the taking part. Plus we’ve been busy the last few weeks - 26 band interviews!

Anyway, if you’d like to take part, please email your answers by 2pm on Thursday 22 July to indietrackspress@gmail.com with the word ‘Quiz!’ in the subject title. We’ll stick the answers up sometime next week. Okay, here goes...

1. Which band claims to have a copy of Falling and Laughing (the original Postcard version) on tape?

a) The Pooh Sticks
b) Lime Chalks
c) Veronica Falls

2. Name three Indietracks 2010 bands with animals in their name

3. Match these four bands – The Loves, Standard Fare, Allo Darlin, MJ Hibbett and the Validators - to their lyrics

a) “Global warming is getting me down”
b) “It’s not a star, it’s a satellite!”
c) “My friend the dentist tells me time after time, water’s better for me”
d) “I was heading down to Balham when someone said let’s go to Clapham”

4. What’s the name of the refreshment buffet on the site (you know, the one just opposite the railway shop near the outdoor stage)?

a) Corrigan’s buffet
b) Jeremy’s buffet
c) Johnson’s buffet

5. Which of these songs is a hit song for Slow Club?

a) Giving Up On Love
b) Baby, Don’t You know?
c) Virgin Lips

6. Which indiepop legend did Darren Hayman compare to a “heartfelt, streamlined and robust” Diesel Multiple Unit steam train on the Indietracks blog?

a) Amelia Fletcher (Tender Trap)
b) Gordon McIntyre (Ballboy)
c) Tracy Tracy (The Primitives)

7. The documentary for the legendary Sarah Records label will be filming YOU! at Indietracks this year. But in which year did the label announce it was coming to an end?

a) 1991
b) 1993
c) 1995

8. How many pairs of shorts does Kip from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart own?

a) Two
b) Twelve
c) None

9. Name this Indietracks 2010 band


10. This year, Indietracks will welcome two artists with songs that have reached the top five in the UK singles chart – who are they?

11. Where’s the best place to park if you’re driving to Indietracks?

a) Butterley Station, where there is ample free parking
b) Alfreton town centre, a brisk hour walk away!
c) In front of the outdoor stage, for a true drive-in experience!

12. Which one of the following events will not take place at the Midland Railway Centre this year?

a) All Aboard With Ivor The Engine - visiting from the Merioneth and Llantisili Railway
b) Halloween Fright Night – haunted stations, ghostly train rides and a real ale bar
c) Whooverville 2 – a Doctor Who fan convention
d) Do The Locomotion! – an evening of dancing to 80s pop hits
d) Shunters – a celebration of diesel shunting locomotives

13. Which band won a UK Festival Award for their set at Indietracks last year, seeing off competition from The Prodigy, ZZ Top and The Specials?

a) Emmy The Great
b) La Casa Azul
c) Art Brut

14. Based on our minimal research and geography knowledge, which band are based the furthest distance away from Indietracks?

a) The Smittens
b) Red Shoe Diaries
c) Urbantramper

15. When's the last train from the festival site back to Butterley Station each night?

a) 8.30pm, meaning you’ll have to miss all the headliners
b) 12.15am, shortly after the last disco finishes at midnight
c) 3.00am, several hours after the site closes and we switch all the lights off.

16. Which Indietracks band wanted their recently-released album to sound “a bit like a tea party with a mad aunt who serves teacups of gin in her loveliest china set whilst surrounded by cats, books and cakes”

a) Betty and The Werewolves
b) Paisley and Charlie
c) Stars in Coma

17. What name were Antarctica Takes It! called before they decided to call themselves Antarctica Takes It!?

a) The Forestry Commission
b) Rhode Island
c) Penguin League

18. Caroline and Darren from The Blanche Hudson Weekend used to be in which band?

a) The Brooklyn Hate Massacre
b) The Manhattan Love Suicides
c) The Staten Island Apathy Wake

19. What’s the name of the tin church on the festival site where some of the bands play?

a) St Martin’s Church
b) St Saviours Church
c) St Peter’s Church

20. What’s the name of the pop quiz taking place on the Sunday afternoon in the workshop tent?

a) Who Wants Be A Millipede?
b) Never Mind the Pooh Sticks
c) A Question of Sportique
d) Kim Deal Or No Kim Deal
e) Don’t Try This Mexican Kids At Home
f) Wheel of Fortuna Pop!
g) Sean Price Is Right
h) They Think It’s Pullover
i) Fifteen-(nothing happened)-to-one

Tiebreaker: please come up with your own fun name for the pop quiz in question 20 – in the unlikely event that two or more people enter this quiz and score the same, we’ll pick the person with the best unique name as the winner!

Remember, entries to indietrackspress@gmail.com by 2pm on Thursday 22 July please.

Good luck!!

-------------------------------------------------------
Update - 2 August: This competition is now closed - thanks so much to everyone that entered! We received about a dozen entrants - okay, eight - all of whom scored an impressive 17/20 or above. Two people got 20/20 and the winning tiebreaker answer was 'Shooting Stars Of Track And Field'. Congratulations to the winner David Forbes - prizes are on their way!

The answers are available here: http://www.box.net/shared/a93k4d59m6

xxx

Tender Trap added, Love Is All cancel

We’re sad to say that Love Is All have withdrawn from the Indietracks festival this weekend for person reasons.

However, we’re pleased to announce that the fantastic Tender Trap (pictured above) have kindly agreed at the last minute to fill their slot on the indoor stage on the Saturday night.

Tender Trap are, of course, familiar faces at Indietracks having wowed our outdoor stage last year, and we’re really pleased to welcome them back. The band have just released their third album, ‘Dansette Dansette’, which includes the BBC 6music smash single ‘Do You Want A Boyfriend?’

Before Tender Trap, Rob, Amelia and John all played in Marine Research, and before that, Rob and Amelia played in Heavenly. And even before that, Amelia (and for a very short period also Rob) were in Talulah Gosh. So we’ll be in the company of some true indiepop legends!