MJ Hibbett, everyone's favourite acoustic troubador, is previewing his "My Exciting Life in Rock!" show at Indietracks this year ahead of showcasing it at the Edinburgh Festival - proper posh, like! All those who snapped up the first 100 Indietracks tickets will be able to see the show on the Friday night before the festival. We literally can't wait, so we begged Mr H to give us a little glimpse of what he's got in store, as well as some of his favourite moments from last year's festival....

Indietracks is having pretty much all new bands playing this year - a WORTHY endeavour, one might think. It gives a chance for a whole slew of different people to play and rewards return visitors with a completely different set of bands to enjoy. Yes, it's all very worthy, except for one vital and, I would say, much more important consideration.

We played last year, and we want to play again!

Now, at first glance you might think this is slightly selfish, but I can find plenty of other people who feel (roughly) the same way - about 38 other bands, in fact, who all consider it a completely valid music booking policy with perhaps room for just one exception to be made. Only the exception differs.

Now, when Sir Stuart Mackay (it can't be long) and the Indietracks Team were inundated with bands making this (almost entirely) selfless point they decided to do something about it and open up three slots for returning bands, to be decided by a popular vote. This probably seemed like a lovely thing to do, at the time, but little did they realise that actually they were about to make life much much worse for 35 bands - not only would they not be coming back to play this year, they would know that the REASON was that not enough people like them.

INEXPLICABLY one of the bands not to be chosen was MY band - I can only assume everybody assumed that everybody ELSE would be voting for us, so wanted to give someone else a chance, right? Now, we're not exactly unfamiliar with the sensation of not getting asked to play at festivals, in fact as experts in the area go we are one exam away from Chartered Status, and normally we shrug our shoulders, have a bit of a cry, and start sending begging emails to someone else instead, but with Indietracks it was different.

Indietracks was BRILLIANT! It was, in all honestly one of the Best Weekends in ROCK I have EVER had - INDEED, over the course of the weekend, several of us old-timers were heard to mumble, gathered over our halves of mild, "It's the best thing since Bowlie!" It was THAT good, so good that in retrospect even the camping seemed delightful and I still hanker for those Cheese And Fried Onion Baps that were the main Vegetarian Alternative at the barbecue. Trains, Real Ale, Indie Discos and pretty much ALL of the loveliest people that I've met in the past ten years On The Road, all in one place? How could it BE any better? Oh yeah, BANDS!

So yes, the realisation that we WEREN'T going to be playing was too awful to bear, so we did the honourable thing: we CHEATED. Technically speaking me and The Validators AREN'T playing Indietracks this year...but we ARE doing a special pre-Indietracks show. The night before Indietracks, on the Indietracks site, for the first 100 people who bought tickets for Indietracks. I make no bones about it, it IS cheating, but it's going to be GRATE! We're so excited about it we're even going to have a PRACTICE, and as anyone who's ever seen us live will know, this is a BIG DEAL! We're going to have to, because the show, "My Exciting Life In ROCK!" is going to be a full band version of the solo show I'm going to be doing at the Edinburgh Festival, which features LOADS of songs that we've NEVER done as Validators before. We're also doing it Totally Acoustically, another thing we've never done before, and I realised that once we've paid for space for rehearsals, train fares to GET to rehearsals, and BEER to drink before, during and AFTER rehearsals, well, we'd have been better off financially PAYING for tickets and camping for the weekend and just turning up. But then, well, we wouldn't have been playing at Indietracks, and that would have been awful!

Don't forget to check out the fantabulous video for MJ Hibbett and The Validators' latest single- Do The Indie Kid. It's already more than 30,000 views!

We're delighted to announce that Los Campesinos! will be the Sunday night headliners for this year’s Indietracks festival. 



Los Campesinos! have received widespread acclaim for their joyful pop brilliance since their first shows in Cardiff in 2006. By January 2007, they’d been snapped up by Wichita Recordings, and went on to release a string of exhilarating singles, including the modern classic You! Me! Dancing!. Their debut album, Hold On Now, Youngster… was released in February 2008, and the band have released the second single from the album today (May 12). My Year in Lists is 1 minute 49 seconds of pure, unadulterated, pop-flecked brilliance, which mulls over the process of living out a relationship via Royal Mail! 

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 Hello everyone,

Just a little note to let you know that we'll be officially announcing the Sunday night Indietracks headliners at midday on Monday (May 12), on both the official Indietracks website and here too.

Don't forget to keep checking the blog for the latest news - we've got lots coming up in the next few weeks, including articles from MJ Hibbett and Pete Green, and interviews with Darren Hayman and The Wave Pictures!

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Appearing at Indietracks by popular demand, we're delighted to introduce Liverpudlian power-punk-pop heros Town Bike.

The four-piece recently became deserving winners of a recent Anorak forum vote to play at the festival, charming internet indiepoppers with their simple philosophy of 'having fun'! Their single single ‘When Good Kids Go Bad’ was released on Keith Records in 2007 and during this year they were played by Steve Lamacq on his Radio One show. Here's Sarah, Jane, Morgan and Charlie to answer a few questions.

Hi there Town Bike, tell us a little bit about yourselves
We are a band from Merseyside. We are Sarah (vocals), Jane (Bass), Morgan (Guitar) and Charlie (Drums). We play indie-pop-punk with a kiss on the cheek and a kick in the shin. We have smashing uniforms. We demand that you dance!

How do you feel about music at the moment and the new crop of indiepop bands?
As always, the current music scene is a source of some hope and some despair! Daytime Radio 1 corporate "indie" makes us want to kill, but it's been cool to travel the country and meet real bands playing exciting music.

Tell us about an unusual place you've played a gig in the past
Well, our EP launch was in a club which looked like it was dressed in a toga! It had deeply unreliable electrical wiring which frequently cut out, and often threatened to catch fire...

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?
We just want to do the same, but more so! Write more songs, play more, travel further, make more records - that kind o' thing!

Do any band members have any particular skills, hobbies or claims to fame you wish to share?
Sarah is a star of stage and sgreen, and knows the entire dance routine to B*Witched's classic "C'est La Vie". Jane has a side project called Metal Beryl, which recorded the worlds greatest ever Death Metal christmas album. Charlie's widespread infamy is perfectly summed up by his nicknames - "Guns" and "Five Times". I'll leave it to your imagination! Morgan was the subject of a regular column in Mother And Baby magazine circa 1979/80. Really.

What's going to be on your compilation tapes as you travel down to Indietracks?
Helen Love, Andrew WK, Girls Aloud, Ramones, Josie And The Pussycats, Go-gos, High School Musical OST... All the classics!

Do you have any surprises planned for the Indietracks festival?
We're considering numerous possibilities: elaborate stage sets? High-wire stunts? Experimental new jazz-funk direction? We don't want to give too much away - you'll just have to watch us to find out!

What attracted you to play the Indietracks festival?
Loads of awesome bands in a great setting. Plus everyone we met on tour told us we should play there, which was encouraging!

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Indietracks festival, and why?
We're particularly looking forward to seeing Airport Girl and Comet Gain, and dancing to the Bubblegum Killers, but to be honest, there's so much splendid stuff happening, it's hard to single anything out.

Ah, couldn't have put it better ourselves! Thanks guys. And here's a free MP3, taken from their EP 'When Good Kids Go Bad'...

Free MP3 Download: Town Bike - Bad Girls

Next up: The Rosie Taylor Project praise gigs in churches and shame some pesky posturing indie bands!

Indietracks faves Darren Hayman and The Wave Pictures are both releasing long-awaited albums this week, and over at Indietracks Towers we can't wait to get our greasy mitts on them! 

The musicians are long-standing friends who often collaborate and play gigs together, so it seems only natural that they're releasing records in the same week. Darren's album is from his new bluegrass band, Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee, which features - who else - Dave Tattersall from The Wave Pictures. The self-titled record, released on Fortuna Pop tomorrow (May 6th), includes covers of songs by Townes Van Zandt and The Mountain Goat, as well seven of the band's own songs - ukeletastic! For the unitiated among you, Darren formed the band with Dave Watkins back in 2005, as an antidote to their "career bands", with the idea that this would be a band with as little ego as possible, with everybody taking vocals and submitting material.The album was recorded in two days at Darren's house, and on a diet of fruit and teacake. Judging by their recent live performances, it looks set to be a stormer of a record - so get it while you can!

Instant Coffee Baby, the new album from The Wave Pictures, is released on Moshi Moshi records today (May 5th). We're mightily excited about seeing this Loughborough three-piece at Indietracks, and we'll be listening hard to the new record to ensure we're prepared for the inevitable festival sing-along! Although the Wave Pictures have only recently released their first proper single, they're not really a new band, having been playing together in various incarnations since 1998.  This forthcoming album, ostensibly their debut, is in fact their sixth or so record, the others having previously been recorded on CD-R and sold at gigs. Combining the lyrical nouse of Jonathan Richman with the melody sensibilities of Herman Dune (who various WP members have also played with), they have already built up a devoted cult fanbase and are nothing short of fantastic - we heartily recommend you snap up this record asap! 

You can catch Hayman, Trout, Watkins and Lee playing live at the What's Cooking night on May 23 at The Sheep Walk in Leytonstone on May 23 and at the Buffalo Bar on May 28. The Wave Pictures are playing around 20 dates between now and September, so check their Myspace for details.

In the meantime, you can download a track from the new Hayman, Trout, Watkins and Lee album completely free from the following link: Sly And The Family Stone (right click to download).

    

Congratulations to Craig Podd, Tom Hartney, John Quarmby, Kyle Soo and Scott Knowles for being first out of the hat in the draw for our Kabeedies competition. We've sent you all emails and the CDs will be in the post shortly. 

We had quite a few entries and everyone successfully named Cherryade as the name of the indie record label which The Kabeedies are on.
 
We'll have another competition soon, and in the meantime, here's a free Kabeedies song to download. Hurray!

Free MP3 download: The Kabeedies - Adhesive Stick 

Today we're celebrating the one-year anniversary of the first-ever Indietracks event!

    

 On April 28 2007, indiepop kids from far-flung locations were transported back in time to the innocence of the 1950s, where trains chuff along on steam, girls dance about in flouncy swing skirts and boys grease their hair back with Brylcream. There were bands playing on the platform, discos in the train carriages, a fleet of merry mini-buses and much dithering between judiciously sipping hot chocolate and merrily glugging cider.

 To mark the occasion, here's Emma from Pocketbooks looking back at where the Indietracks magic all began...

We'd known about Indietracks for months, but somehow it hadn't seemed real. A gig on the platform of a heritage railway, and an indie disco provided by Tasty Fanzine, Spiral Scratch and Offbeat DJs in the carriages of a moving 1950s steam train, in the middle of Derbyshire? Surely we dreamt that up! I certainly wasn't going to believe it until I saw it, however much I wanted it to be true.

Even our bus driver didn't believe that this gang of indie types wanted to go to the Midland Railway Centre, and tried in vain to steer us in a completely different direction as we drove through Ripley. Due to an earlier altercation between him and a Nottingham double-decker driver, plus half of the Pocketbooks clan still sitting in a restaurant at the time the bus was supposed to be leaving, we were already running late, but as we approached the Railway Centre and spotted a few familiar faces milling about, including Stuart - Mr Indietracks himself - standing in the doorway looking worried, at least we knew we were in the right place.

As we were led through the ticket office to the platform and the steam train came into view, it gradually dawned on us that it was definitely not a dream. I'm pretty sure many a Pocketbooks stomach flipped over with excitement at that moment. It was as if we'd stepped back fifty years or so. In my mind, everything went sepia.

The stage itself was in what would have been a passenger waiting area in front of an indoor buffet area that wouldn't have looked wrong with a pretty girl in a swing skirt drinking milkshake through a straw. The train comprised of two fully stocked bars and a disco carriage, where the DJs had set up. The rest of the train was seating around tables, with the music piped through each carriage.

It must have been a little surreal for Tottie at first, playing in such an unusual setting as the sun set over the platform. Add to this the model railway opening at precisely the same time as their set, and the general feeling that people wanted to GET ON THAT THERE TRAIN, and they must've had the hardest job out of all three acts, but they definitely pulled it off with a nice set of acoustic pop, even throwing in some confectionary for the crowd.

As a hundred or so indie kids scurried towards the train at departure time, I could feel the excitement like static electricity. As the train started pulling out of the station and 'Hey Lloyd…' came over the PA at the most impossibly perfect moment, a mass of heads, arms and assorted limbs were poked straight out the windows to wave to friends in other carriages, take pictures. Everywhere you looked, people were grinning from ear to ear. It was only about 8pm, and already people were dancing to the Tasty fanzine DJs in the disco carriage, drinks in hand and surrounded by disco lights.

We found out later that some of the assembled indie kids had blagged their way into the train cabin to sound the whistle – "choo choo"! I'm so jealous! Stuart had even made an 'Indietracks' sign to go on the front of the train, that's how much attention and care he'd put into everything.

The first train journey seemed way too brief. By that point it seemed like everyone there knew each other and had been friends for ages. When we got back, Slow Down Tallahassee were waiting on the platform, ready to play. Oh, the harmonies! Just the sort of perfect pop you'd want to warm people up on a slightly chilly platform now the sun had set. Some of the kids were drinking hot chocolate by this point! How often do you see lots of people dancing on a railway platform drinking hot chocolate?

After they'd finished, everyone piled back on the train, which whisked them away in a cloud of steam, smiling, waving and dancing into the sunset. It was spookily quiet as we set up our equipment. One minute the platform was full of over-excited indie kids, and the next we were all alone, save for my favourite sound guy we've ever had. There was a brief moment of panic when Ben, having dragged a heavy keyboard stand on public transport all the way from London, announced that he'd left it in the hotel. Thank goodness there was another band with keyboards on the bill! (Sorry, we would have asked to borrow it, but you were away merrily dancing on a steam train at that point!)

I can't remember much of our show. It's all a bit of a blur and seemed to be over in seconds. I remember it was easily the most friendly, dancing, hysterical and happy audience we'd ever played to. Everyone was clearly loved up from the uniqueness of the venue, slightly tipsy and possibly dancing around to keep warm, and we enjoyed every second. All we could see was rows of smiling faces at the front, and then people dancing at the sides of the crowd. Actual proper dancing like you'd see in a club! And there was a smoke machine! We even got away with an encore, even though it was freezing at that point. We'd have happily played all night, although by that point we'd actually played every song we know!

It's even more blurry after that point. I remember me and Natalie discovering some tinsel and started decorating people as they danced to the Spiral Scratch DJs. (And I remember the lovely railway volunteer who politely but firmly told us to put them back!) I remember people dancing and screaming along to the records on the platform outside the disco carriage. I remember hearing "Hey Lloyd..." for at least the third time round about midnight. I remember meeting loads of people I'd not seen for a while, or just knew vaguely from posting on websites. I remember seeing the organiser Stuart in a state of tired and blissful happiness, partly not quite believing that this was really happening, but also cool as anything, as if he arranges amazing events like this every day.

Thanks Emma! And finally, here's a Youtube clip from the Pocketbooks set:

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Barely a year since forming in Leicester, and already The Mai 68s have wowed crowds across the country with their pop-filled noise, stand-up-drums and sugar-coated chaos. And all this without owning a working stereo between them! We're joined by their guitarist Jon to find out about ninja hair straightening, 13th century churches and how to get a free lift to the festival...

Hiya Jon, please tell us a little bit about The Mai 68s?

We’ve only been around for about a year as a band, but so far it’s been a bit of a whirlwind one, meeting loads of really nice people/bands and working with people who have inspired us to be in a band.  We are a four piece band, formed out of a shared love of the Jesus and Mary Chain, MBV, Shop Assistants, Boo Radleys, Postcard Records and similar.

The band is comprised of  Julie – Vocals, Jeremy – Stand Up Drums and Ninja Hair straightening skills, Zac – Bass, and me (Jon) - Guitars. Our first single will be out shortly on Cloudberry Records called ‘Froth on the Daydream’; produced by Joe Foster of creation fame, soon to be followed by a 7” single and our album.

Two singles and an album - sounds like you're keeping yourselves pretty busy?

Yes, the next stage in our plan of world domination is to finish recording the album in Glasgow with ‘Slaughter’ Joe Foster and release it to world wide acclaim and Beatlemania style devotion….. Well that’s the plan at least….  I guess the idea is to tour, including Berlin; Norway and a gig in a 13th Century Church; so we can meet new people, so they can hear us and make up their own minds and to continue writing new material for the album.

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

Compilation tape??? That would mean we had a working stereo between us…. Usually we rely on whatever is lying around, so it varies quite considerably…. In fact thinking about it the last time we travelled to Sheffield we were listening to the Wu Tang Clan as it was the only CD my mate had that wasn’t hard house….

In and ideal world it would be a combination of all our tastes, so indiepop, 60s psych/garage/pop, classic era indie (the Fanclub, MBV, early Ride) or new wave/punk like the Ramones, Suzy and Los Quattro, the Clash or the Stooges. Realistically as my mate Matt is gonna drive us down it will be wall to wall Wedding Present as he is a massive fan and has only agreed to drive us so he gets in free……

Do you have any surprises planned for the festival?

Seeing as how we are one of the newest bands on the bill and will have only released one/two singles  by the time of the festival then I guess the whole set will be a surprise to the majority of people there, particularly if they have not seen us live and have only heard the mp3s.

It would be nice to try and do something with some of the other bands on the bill, such as the Bobby McGees (who I have known for years) or perhaps bring along some friends to add to the sound. That said we are already incredibly noisy on stage anyway and incredibly un-organised so we’ll probably cause enough chaos on our own…

Sounds great! Thanks very much Jon.

Before the festival, you can also catch The Mai 68s playing numerous Leicester dates, including a show with Indietracks star and Youtube legend MJ Hibbett on 22 May.  And in the meantime, the band have also left us with a free MP3 to download.

Free MP3 Download: The Mai 68s - I am Javanese

Next up: Indie-pop-punk with a kiss on the cheek and a kick in the shin - it's Town Bike!

Next in the indiepop veteran line-up is Tortoise Shout!, who are named after a DH Lawrence poem. They began life in the eighties. playing melancholic, moody and melodic sounds mixed with an upbeat girl-pop style.  They built up a devoted following, but university education led to a split which lasted until 2006, when their unfulfilled desire to show off and downright refusal to grow up led to a reformation.  

       


Determined to reclaim their past glories, original members singer/songwriter Dawn, Wendy and Chris dug out their guitars and trombone and found a new drummer, Rob.  Citing their influences as, ‘The Smiths, Strongbow and Butlins,’ they have recently put together a new EP and are looking forward to a clutch of live appearnces over the summer.

Hello Tortoise Shout, tell us a little litle bit about yourselves.

We are an intriguing female fronted indie 3 piece with a sound all of our own. Our songs are a blend of melodic and haunting tunes and witty and bitter lyrics that will strike a chord with indie popsters of all ages.  We girls spend a considerable amount of what should be rehearsal time coordinating dresses and shoes. Rob the drummer refuses to engage in this activity, so apologies in advance if his t shirt clashes with our frocks.

Have you played any unusual places in the past?

We have played at a swimming pool. Not in it - that would have resulted in legendary, very rock'n'roll deaths by electrocution and, what's more, would have wreaked havoc with our complex hairdos. Instead we performed on a platform above the pool. The acoustics were other-worldly and we felt like mermaids, enchanting our captive audience who splashed around joyfully in the turquoise water below. We later found out that the vocals had been played through the pool pa system into the changing rooms. No instruments, just vocals. Lots of lost property and slipping over that day with people hurrying off in a fluster without drying themselves properly.

Do any of your band member have interesting hobbies or claims to fame?

Dawn is a yogi guru who can put both legs behind her neck and still manage to dance on her bum cheeks to 'What Difference.... ?' without so much as a wobble. Wendy has touched Bobby Gillespie's bum on more than one occasion. It is quite bony.

I see! Erm...who are you most looking forward to seeing at Indietracks?

Well, obviously the Wedding Present. We saw them for the first time at the ICA in 1986 (one of the NME's C86 gigs) with Primal Scream - we were blown away. Those were the days when we could wear flowery dresses and DM's and look cute. If we tried it now we would be sectioned and ridiculed. Girls with asymetric haircuts wearing our mum's worst cocktail dresses would faint with the shame of it... Dave Gedge wore a Hawaiian shirt and growled at the audience, it was sublime. We even followed them through their Ukrainian period which just shows how love knows no bounds. To share a bill with them is an honour.

Free MP3 download: Tortoise Shout! - Shanti 

Next up: The Mai 68s tell us about their plans for world domination and touring 13th century churches!

Sam Metcalf, writer of Nottingham-based fanzine A Layer Of Chips and lifelong indiepopper, gives us his thoughts on indiepop and the recent explosion of new bands:

One of the greatest things about the new indiepop explosion is hearing a new record or song for the first time. I write this is as the amazing debut release from Northern Portrait plays in the background. It's been a few years since I felt as excited about music as I am right now.

Living in the provinces of England, it's never been easy to find indiepop gigs or records, despite the best efforts of a small band or artisans in Stoke, Sheffield, Leeds and Nottingham. But, after simmering for a couple of years, I think our new 'scene' (and I use that word because I'm lazy) all kicked off when a then unknown person (to me, I mean) sent me a copy of the Horowitz album. 

Suddenly a whole new world of music opened up, both locally, and from all over the globe.
In the Midlands,The Deirdres appeared out of nowhere to steal our hearts, Lardpony became the band they always promised to be, and bands like Mascot Fight and Mexican Kids at Home all charmed us at one time or another. Jyoti Mishra must be a very proud man sat there in Derby. Down in London, Spiral Scratch and Lost Music emerged around the same time, and started putting on great shows with alarming regularity and apparent ease.
The Autumn Store people in Birmingham have managed to poke their heads above the city's stagnant pool of creative indolence, and Stoke is now, wonderfully, home to a regular series of pop gigs. 



What's so special – to me at least – about the new indiepop revolution is that it's ours. It's not populated by fashionistas, or sponsored by the NME. Or a mobile phone company. Turn up to an indiepop gig and you'll just find warm, enthusiastic, friendly people for whom a day job is something that must be endured in order to go out and stand with 20 other people to see a support act on a Tuesday night. Oh, and the bands are pretty ace, too.

I don't think any of who go to the gigs, buy the music, put the gigs on, and write the fanzines and blogs think this is going to last forever – but that doesn't matter. Indiepop right now has brought together a group of like-minded people who just might be friends for life. You might see some of them at this year's Indietracks.

So, from A Smile and a Ribbon in Sweden, to Pocketbooks in London, over to The Besties in the US, pop music right now has rarely been better. Enjoy it whilst it burns brightest.

Thanks Sam! Copies of the special Indietracks issue of A Layer Of Chips will be available at the festival, but in the meantime, you can obtain the latest issue by emailing alayerofchips@gmail.com
  
Next up: Tortoise Shout let us in on the secrets of stylish dressing, playing at swimming pools and touching Bobby Gillespie's bum - magic!