New videos

To celebrate the fact that it's 100 days until Indietracks, we thought we'd post up a few videos that some of our 2012 bands have made recently. It was either this or building a big countdown clock in Trafalgar Square!

First up, here's the video for 051107 by Standard Fare, which is set rather appropriately on a train!




Next up, here's the fabulous animated video for Full Moon Reggae Party by Tigercats:




Slightly less recent, but still just as fantastic, here's Capricornia from Allo Darlin':




And finally for today, here's the video for My Heart Beats, the new single from Veronica Falls:



Hope you enjoy these - see you in 100 days!

Go Sailor, Standard Fare and Gordon McIntyre join Indietracks 2012

Go Sailor, Standard Fare and Gordon McIntyre of Ballboy have been added to the line-up for this year’s Indietracks Festival, which takes place on July 6-8 at the Midland Railway in Ripley, Derbyshire.

Go Sailor are the early indiepop supergroup of Rose Melberg (The Softies, Tiger Trap, Gaze) and Amy Linton (The Aislers Set, Henry’s Dress) and this will be their first ever appearance in the UK. They recorded three 7" singles and a full-length album in 1996 but, after the band broke up, their songs "Ray of Sunshine" and "Together Forever in Love" were made famous when they were included on the soundtrack to the film “But I’m A Cheerleader”. The band reformed in 2010 to critical acclaim and released a compilation album on Slumberland Records in 2011. Singer Rose Melberg will also be giving a solo performance at Indietracks.

Indiepop trio Standard Fare released their second album “Out of Sight, Out of Town” in January this year. They have been described as having the “The best and most loveable aspects of indie guitar music” by The Guardian, and were voted Sound XP’s Live Act of the Year in 2010. Gordon McIntyre is singer with John Peel favourites Ballboy, and co-author and composer for the widely praised play Midsummer.

Indietracks are partnering with American indiepop label Slumberland Records for this year’s festival, and Girls Names and Liechtenstein have also been added as part of this collaboration. Also announced today is White Town, whose song “Your Woman” reached number one in the UK charts in 1997. Other bands added to the bill include The Rosie Taylor Project, Joanna Gruesome, Proper Ornaments, Velodrome 2000 (a one-off reunion show for the John Peel darlings), September Girls, Mikrofisch, The Silver Factory and The Making Of.

Artists already announced include Allo Darlin’, Veronica Falls, The June Brides, Tender Trap, Evans the Death and Tigercats. For the full line-up announced so far, please visit the artists page on the Indietracks website.

Early bird tickets
Weekend tickets are now available at an early bird discount price of £60 (standard price £67). Single day (Saturday or Sunday) early bird tickets are available for £32.50 (standard price £35). The early bird prices are only available until 5pm on Saturday 14 April.

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

To pick up tickets, please visit: www.indietracks.co.uk/tickets.html 

Indietracks interview #2: The Sunbathers

Formed in 2007, The Sunbathers are Paul and Julie, an acoustic duo who write short, simple and sometimes wistful songs about love, life and staring longingly out to sea. The pair are influenced by early 80s pop, indiepop and The Marine Girls. Their debut release, a split CD with Los Lagos de Hinault on Cloudberry Records, was followed up by their new EP 'January, February, March, Ely, Cambridge' on Dufflecoat Records.

How do you know each other?

Paul: We go back a long way. When I was playing in The Artisans I got to know Mark from the Fat Tulips. This one time we needed another band for this gig we were doing so I contacted Mark who suggested his other band Confetti (of which Julie was the vocalist) – and we’ve been friends ever since.

How do you write the songs? Does Paul provide the music and Julie write the lyrics? If so, how does that process come together?

Paul: Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Once I’ve got a few chord sequences together that I think will make a good song, I’ll make a rough recording so Julie can fit some lyrics to it. We’ll then combine our efforts and structure a song from it all.

You’ve listed the Marine Girls as your biggest influence. How would you describe The Marine Girls to a newcomer?

Julie: The reality, which is they were three schoolgirls playing dodgy instruments in a shed probably doesn’t do them justice! It was their DIY spirit coupled with fantasic pop songs that made them so important. They were also from a landlocked County (Hertfordshire) and wrote many a song about the sea so we feel a particular affinity with them. Maybe if we came from somewhere with a coastline we’d find the seaside really boring and write songs about industrial wastelands!!

Do you have a favourite seaside place?
Paul: Probably Scarborough or Whitby – classic British seaside resorts!
Julie: Bacton in Norfolk. – It has a gas works so nobody goes there!!

What’s the music scene like in Northamptonshire?
Paul: It’s never really had a great music tradition, certainly not indiepop. Apart from Anguish Sandwich there aren’t many bands around here.
Julie: I’m from Leicester which is slightly better – there are some good promoters like Twesta and Sweeping The Nation both of which we’ve played gigs for.

Tell us about the new EP on Dufflecoat Records?
Julie: Indirectly it came about through Indietracks! A couple of years ago we bumped into Paul from The Werewandas who reintroduced me to the infamous Clare from  Ripley. She recommended us to Gary from Dufflecoat who came and chatted to us after we supported Allo Darlin’ in Cambridge and we stayed in touch. We sent him some of our new recordings and the rest is history.

There’s about 20 songs listed on your website. Do you have plans for further releases after the EP?
Paul: There’s nothing in the pipeline at present, but we are of course open to offers!

Do you have any other exciting plans for 2012?
Julie: As well as the EP and Indietracks we’re playing at the inaugural Leicester Indiepop Alldayer (24th March). On a personal level completing my PhD. Paul is busy doing up his kitchen – a job he wishes he hadn’t started especially when the ceiling fell down!!

Have you been to Indietracks before? What are you most looking forward to?
Yes, we’ve been every year since 2009. Highlights will be meeting up with old friends and hopefully making some new ones. Everyone is so lovely  – Oh and drinking lots of beer – and of course the music!

Brilliant, thanks guys, see you at the real ale bar! 

Indietracks interview #1: The Birthday Kiss

Today we're kicking off our series of 2012 Indietracks interviews! Between now and the end of July we'll be chatting with as many of this year's line-up as possible. We're starting with The Birthday Kiss, a brand new band from Leeds featuring a couple of familiar faces; Ben from The Lodger and Sarah from The Research. Their single Choking was recently released as a free download, and they're currently working on their debut album. Here's our chat with Ben from the band...

Hi Ben, how did you come to form a band together?

We're a bit of an “indie supergroup” for want of a better phrase – we're made up of bits of West Yorkshire based groups The Research and The Lodger. Those two bands toured together quite a bit and friendships were born and ultimately this new band emerged from the ashes. I'm trying to make sure we sound like neither.

Please tell us a bit about Choking, your first single? 

This song was borne out of my love of the arpeggiated synth bass line and the disco beat. The kind that appears in songs like I Feel Love by Donna Summer and Like A Motorway by Saint Etienne to name but two. I just looped the bassline and wrote a song over it.  I wanted that inhuman and robotic feel alongside emotive and pure Karen Carpenter-like vocals. I also wanted to rip off Blondie. I did OK I think!



How is the album coming along, and what can we expect to hear when it arrives?  

I have written several songs for the band so far, demos of which are on the Soundcloud, but I am currently unsure which ones will make the album. I'm hoping that the album will be finished by the end of the summer but I don't want to rush it. Musically at the minute I'm really inspired by repetitive electronic music like Italian Disco of the early 80s, early House and also Kraftwerk. I also love the clever pop songs of XTC, The Magnetic Fields and The Cure and I'm listening to a lot of Bach at bedtime, like Goldberg Variations.

You're self-producing your records, and you've previously produced several bands including Just Handshakes. Does your experience of producing records change the way you now approach the songwriting? 

I think producing your own records changes everything, hopefully for the better. It gives songwriting some extra new layers and the possibilities become endless. Thankfully I've got friends who can be critical and tell me what's good and what's bad so I know where to draw the line. You have to know when to stop, when you've finished. Opening my studio and working with lots of ace bands such as Just Handshakes and also This Many Boyfriends has been great fun. I've recently started playing guitar for This Many Boyfriends live too, we just did a UK tour with The Cribs and Allo Darlin too.

Which do you enjoy most: writing and recording or playing live shows? Would you enjoy going out on another long tour again? 

I enjoy all aspects of it really but I really do like writing and recording. They're both tied in together for me. As it's getting so cheap to make your own records I can have all the equipment I need at home to produce an album from scratch without worrying about spending £hundreds a day on studio time.  It's ace. I do want The Birthday Kiss to do a proper tour when our album comes out though.

What became of The Lodger and The Research, and would you consider reviving them?

The Research broke up in late 2008 after two albums. No acrimony, it just came to a natural end really. With The Lodger I've put that on hold for a bit because I felt like I'd done three albums I was proud of but wanted to try something else with a different singer singing the songs instead of myself. So I nicked Sarah and so far so good.

Is The Birthday Kiss a natural continuation from those two previous bands, or a complete fresh start musically? 

The Birthday Kiss is totally a fresh start for me. I really needed to reformat my creative brain and think of this as a new blank page. I hate talking about songwriting, makes you sound incredibly pretentious! But I did want to try something different. The Lodger was all about the music I'd loved as a teenager and in my early 20s like The Jam and Buzzcocks and the Housemartins, and while I still love those bands my tastes have changed a lot in the last few years. I think as you get older you become more open and patient with different styles of music. I do anyway, and I don't understand people who exclusively listen to what they liked as a teenager for the rest of their lives in some kind of weird nostalgic bubble. I want The Birthday Kiss to be able to do a northern soul style stomper one minute, a disco pop song the next and a punky garage song the next. I want it to be like all your favourites rolled into one.

The Lodger played at Indietracks in 2008. Do you have any happy memories from that weekend? 

I have a stressful recollection of realising I'd forgotten the capo for my guitar mere moments before we went on so I had to run around the site asking people if they happen to be carrying a capo. Every single song by The Lodger uses one.  Luckily I found a chap from Leeds called Owen. If you're reading Owen – thanks. All of the live band apart from Sarah went to the festival last year actually and camped. Had a great time! Favourite moment was Edwyn Collins' set I think.

You're apparently an obsessive of Sherlock Holmes and detective stories. Any thoughts on the recent Sherlock revival, and the Stephen Moffat and Guy Richie interpretations?

I've warmed to the BBC1 version, it is definitely good telly but my personal favourite is the ITV adaptation from the 1980s with Jeremy Brett. I also like the Basil Rathbone film versions from the 1930s, apart from the daft ones where is relocated to America in the Second World War and such nonsense. There's also a really good BBC Radio series from the 50s with John Gielgud playing Holmes. I basically like it when it's faithful to the original stories because they're faultless. The less said about Guy Richie the better. Hateful.

We're teaming up with Slumberland for this year's festival. Do you have any particular favourites from the Slumberland back catalogue?  

There's a bunch of reprobates from Leeds you might have heard of called The Lodger – Slumberland released all three of our albums on 12” vinyl. Mike organised and drove us around the East Coast of America in 2007 while we did a tour too. We're good friends. It's the coolest label around isn't it really? Looking forward to hanging out with the Slumberland massive at this year's fest!

Thanks Ben, see you in July! 

Indiepop bands wanted for live video sessions

Fancy recording live footage of your indiepop band in a professional studio? Well look no further, because we know the perfect place!

A&M TV is part of the online magazine Art & Music, which features live music sessions by up-and-coming bands alongside established names. It's very indiepop friendly: Allo Darlin’, Fanfarlo,  The Lovely Eggs, Darren Hayman, Owl & Mouse and Pocketbooks have all recorded video sessions there. You'd also be following in the footsteps of some pretty famous names, including Edwyn Collins, Silver Apples, The Charlatans, The High Llamas, Scroobious Pip and Steve Mason.

The live sessions are researched and produced entirely by media students at Blackburn Art College, and directed by Jamie Holman. In addition to live sessions and interviews, A&M TV also produce short documentaries and profiles of artists and musicians. If that’s not enough, once the footage has been edited, you get to keep it to use as you wish!

We think it’s a brilliant opportunity, so if you’d like to take part just drop Jamie an email on j.holman@blackburn.ac.uk, and if you still need convincing, take a look at their promotional video, visit the Facebook page, or have a look at some of the sessions!

Calling all gig promoters!

Each year, once we begin announcing bands, we like to help bands who are playing the festival to get in touch with gig promoters so they can set up other shows around the time of the festival. It makes it all the more worthwhile for many bands to play a few gigs, especially for those visiting from abroad. It also means promoters have access to bands who wouldn't normally be in the country or playing very regularly!

Those speedy folk at A Layer Of Chips have already announced that Orca Team (pictured above) will be playing an Indietracks warm-up in Nottingham on Thursday 5 July.  Hopefully we can help arrange lots of gigs like that across the country for this year’s crop of Indietracks bands.

If you would like to be listed on our website as a promoter interested in putting on one of more of the bands, just email Emma at indietracksonline@gmail.com with the name of the event you promote, your town or city, and your email address. It would also be useful to know if you have any existing slots to fill near the time of the festival, which takes place on 6-8 July.

We’ll be listing all the interested promoters and available bands on this page as we go along. You can find all the info here: www.indietracks.co.uk/shows.html 

Slumberland Records to curate stage at Indietracks 2012

Indietracks is to collaborate with American indiepop label Slumberland Records for this year’s festival, which will take place on 6-8 July.

Allo Darlin and Veronica Falls are amongst the first bands to be announced as part of the partnership with Slumberland Records, who will help curate the outdoor stage. Other Slumberland artists confirmed so far include The June Brides, Tender Trap, Evans the Death, Gold-Bears and Sea Lions.

Other bands announced today are Bart Cummings (of The Cat's Miaow) with Pam Berry of Black Tambourine, Tigercats, The Hobbes Fanclub, Language of Flowers, Colour Me Wednesday, Orca Team, Doggy, The Sunbathers, and The Birthday Kiss. You can read more about all the bands on our website's Artists page. Around 50 bands will play at the festival in total, and we'll announce lots more shortly.

Mike Schulman, founder of Slumberland Records, says: "When we were asked to help curate this year's Indietracks festival we were delighted! Indietracks has a global reputation for supporting a diverse range of top-notch indiepop bands, and their aesthetics are right in line with ours. We've long looked forward to bringing some Slumberland flavour over to the UK, and Indietracks is the perfect opportunity."

Allo Darlin began as a vehicle for the solo songwriting exploits of Australian Elizabeth Morris, who moved to London in 2005 and began performing and recording as The Darlings. The band extended their line-up in 2009, became Allo Darlin, and released their self-titled debut in 2010. Regularly championed by BBC DJ Steve Lamacq, they have variously been described as “classic indie pop” and “fully formed talent at the first attempt”. Their second album Europe is due to be released on Fortuna Pop! and Slumberland Records
later this year.

Veronica Falls are a four-piece indiepop band comprised of former members of The Royal We and Sexy Kids, formed in 2009 in London. Their self-titled album, released in 2011, was met with widespread critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic from the likes of BBC6 Music, Clash, The Guardian and Pitchfork.

Early Bird Tickets: Weekend tickets are now available at an early bird discount price of £60 (standard price £67). Single day (Saturday or Sunday) early bird tickets are available for £32.50 (standard price £35). The early bird prices are only available until 5pm on Saturday 14 April.

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 by calling the railway direct on 01773 747 674 or visiting:
www.instantticketseller.com/midlandrailwaycentre

See you in July!

Announcement coming soon

Just a quick message to let you know that we're planning to make an announcement about bands soon, hopefully in the next week or so!

If you'd like to find out the latest Indietracks news as soon as it's available, please subscribe to this blog, follow us on Twitter or Facebook or sign up to our email newsletter mailing list.

Thank you!

Just writing to say a very big thank you to everyone who donated to help repair the vandalised church at the Midland Railway!

You raised an amazing £935.38 for the railway (including Gift Aid) which we hope will go a long way towards meeting the repair costs. The railway have said that they really appreciate the donations and we can now look forward to seeing lots more fantastic bands on the church stage this year.

The Derby Telegraph have pubished a nice article about the fundraising, including some lovely comments from Alan Calladine at the Midland Railway and further information about how the money is being used: Derby Telegraph article.

Thanks very much again! We'll have some news about this year's festival shortly.

(Photo: Betty and the Werewolves playing the Church Stage in 2010. www.underexposed.org.uk)

Fancy running a workshop at Indietracks?



Photo: eFestivals

One of the great things about Indietracks is the selection of workshops which run alongside the band program each year. In previous years we’ve had sparkling workshops where you could make rosette badges with Eithne Farry, get crafty with the likes of Craft Guerilla and Owl Knit You, have a tea party with Fika Recordings, get cupcake decorating and be encouraged to create Bad Art with the Peg Powler crew.

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 March 31, 2012 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 the 31st March 2012. We will let the lucky applicants know shortly after that. Feel free to email Alice with any questions before you submit your application.