Ice, Sea, Dead People To Support Future Of The Left

More Bands For Truck 13

Some great bands join the line-up for STA's favourite farm-based festival:

Attention, TRUCKERS! we are ready to tell you about the first 13 Artists announced to play TRUCK 13. So, in register order (all favourites here), this bakers' dirty dozen - joining the already-announced MEW - consists of:

BATS + ESBEN AND THE WITCH + EGYPTIAN HIP HOP + FONDA 500 + FUTURE OF THE LEFT + GOOD SHOES + ISLET + LAU + LITTLE FISH + LOS CAMPESINOS! + STORNOWAY + THIS TOWN NEEDS GUNS + DJ ZINC with MS DYNAMITE

Having outgrown the village pub tent, recent 4AD signings Stornoway will be playing a triumphant homecomeing set on the main stage (still on the back of a Truck, of course).

The rest are spread across our five stages – The Beat Hive, the new Last.fm stage (taking over our beloved village pub - the leg test still applies), the Market stage (hosted on the Sunday by Steventon local Whispering Bob Harris), and the Barn, where YMD! Presents take the reigns on Saturday followed by the Cowshed Rave, taking us through to the wee hours in the company of DJ Zinc and Ms Dynamite! That's without mentioning the fabulous Boxford Tune-iversity and our new spoken word/comedy stage...

You already know that The 13th TRUCK FESTIVAL takes place at Hill Farm, Steventon on July 24th & 25th 2010. To celebrate TRUCK becoming a teenager we have actually REDUCED the price for actual human teenagers; a TEEN TRUCKER ticket for those aged 13-17 is now £60. TRUCK is still free for those 12 and under (14-and-unders must be accompanied by a parent or guardian) so it's also great value for families. We are also introducing a £15 Friday ticket for those who want to camp a night early - there will be some bands and DJs as well as food and drink on the Friday evening. All tickets can be found HERE or in local shops- see our website.

Now might also be the time to bite the bullet and buy a ticket for WOOD: it's headlined by that Frank Turner fella, Tunng, Fionn Regan, Martin Simpson, The Unthanks, oh and (breathe) Peggy Sue and Cate Le Bon. Wow! Britain's greenest festival – it even has its own pub, the Hippy Arms.

Secure your place now at both TRUCK and WOOD Festivals in 2010 by purchasing a Supertrucker ticket, saving £30 in the process. You can get your Supertrucker, TRUCK 13 and WOOD tickets online from Gigantic.com, or visit the ticket page of our website to find your local shop outlet.

We have new shops in Reading (Hexagon theatre), Didcot (Cornerstone arts centre) and, for you London types, Rough Trade Shops (East and West) are selling tickets. If you reside in The People's Republic of East Oxford, head to Reign or Music Box on the Cowley Road.

TRUCK 13 is dedicated to Alex Chilton (the singer of Big Star and composer of '13', who died last week); if you'd like to join us in appreciating his music, and live in Oxford, come and join Dusty & the Dreaming Spires tonight at the Rusty Bicycle pub on Magdalen Road where will be playing a selection of Big Star numbers (if I finish this mailout in time to learn them...)
so on that note, see you at the bar!

love from Robin, Joe & all the family TRUCK

The Night Before The Picnic

A great poster has hit the interwebs for the Future Of The Left/LaFaro show at Auntie Annies on Friday 28th August, the day before both bands take their rock to This Ain't No Picnic Derry the following night.

Future Of The Left to Headline This Ain't No Picnic - Derry Version

The last time I saw FOTL was in a Mexican restaurant in Texas - even more oblique will seeing them play at St. Columb's Hall in Orchard Street in Derry at the end of the month (August 29th to be precise) - regional press release here. St. Columb's Hall is where little kids go to perform Irish Dances and sing Gregorian Chants in a competion called The Feis every Easter in Derry. The irony of FOTL ripping seven shades of shit out of such a pastoral setting is not lost on me.

Kudos to Brian and Charlene for pulling this lineup together - it's so good that I told them that I wanted to play as well. I can do things like that because I'M IN CHARGE. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Spectator, Black Bear Saloon and LaFaro - who are leading the current NIHXC revival. This really is a cheap ticket and it would be great if you could all buy in advance from WeGotTickets - Kelson's rider alone is costing a bomb.

If you don't have 'Curses' or 'Travels With Myself And Another' yet - then you're missing something integral in your musical life. Records so strong in fact that Brian Magill bought real ACTUAL COPIES WITH PAPER INSERTS AND EVERYTHING. If MCPS got hold of this man's computer they'd take him to the cleaners. Perhaps he's fearful of the wrath of Falco and rightly so, so irate was he over the leakage of the new record - "'Buy' such a dirty word...perhaps I should come to an arrangement with my landlord, through the musician-rent-waiver programme" - the man is a legend.

Full lineup is: LaFaro (Main Support), Panama Kings, Black Bear Saloon, Andrew Ferris, Dangerfields, Stereo War Favourites, Spectator, AER and The Beat Poets.

Our show kicks of at 3pm on Saturday August 29th at St Columb's Hall in Derry and admission is a bargain £8.

Tickets are available in advance from We Got Tickets - Right Now!

Public Service Blogcast Episode 43

The first of the final 10 sort-of weekly shows before the caterpillar-like blogcast mutates into a beautiful audio butterfly – so get your submissions into the electromail in-tray quick - including forthcoming headliners of the This Ain't No Picnic August Bank Holiday all-dayer in Derry (St Columbs Hall to be exact) Future Of The Left. Follow this blog for the latest on the full line-up and tickets.

Public Service Blogcast Episode 43
33 minutes 12 seconds
Recorded 02/08/09
Tracklisting
00.01 Future Of The Left - Stand By Your Manatee (from Travels With Myself And Another album - Too Pure)
02.37 Apple iiis - Lost Between The Lines
06.07 Arcs - Surprises In Different Sizes (from Surprises EP - self-released)
10.00 Super Extra Bonus Party - Comets (featuring Heathers) (from Night Horses album)
13.08 White Circle Crime Club - The Islanders (from Pictures Of Stares album - Crime Club Recordings)
17.16 The Yell - Party Lounge (from Down With The Yell album - Marquis Cha Cha)
20.48 Zoos Of Berlin - Below The Old House (from Zoos Of Berlin EP - self-released)
24.17 Sports - Vegetables (from I'm Hungry mix album - self-released)

If you have any suggestions for future takeovers or want to get a track played on a regular show, get in touch - email blogcast@smalltownamerica.co.uk

Wednesday links

Dear STA Blog. Wednesdays are rubbish, right? Not quite the end of the week, ages since the weekend... just about the only thing you can thank it for is not being Tuesday. So, have some fun readings to help you pass the time:

Conversing with myself and another: DiS meets Future Of The Left - new interview with Falco, where he talks about many things in such a way that it makes me wish all musicians people were as eloquent and funny as he is.

PWL blogs his new album for The Independent - STA fav Pagan Wanderer Lu's new album, the wonderful Fight My Battles For Me, was released this week via Brainlove Records. PWL is blogging for The Independent all this week, and it's well worth a read. Also worth a read: his regular blog.

I might start doing this regularly.

Friiiiiiiiiday

It's Friday night, and I'm sitting at home so I can save money to spend at SXSW. FUN TIMES. On the plus side, I'm listening to an almost-finished version of the new Young Playthings album for the first time (if you want a sneak preview, check out the This Ain't No Picnic compilation, as 'Y Don't U Like Me' reappears here), so that's pretty nice.

Also, new Future of the Left video!



Where did Falco's hair go?!?

Public Service Blogcast Episode 13

The 3rd blogcast takeover comes courtesy of US math-rockers We Versus The Shark. They first caught our attention by blowing us away with thier debut album, from which a track appeared on the PSB7 comp, so when we heard the demos of thier even better follow-up we snapped them up for the UK. That album is Dirty Versions which is out now on Smalltown America and once they got the obligatory bad English accents out of thier system Luke and Geoff plus friend/producer Joel Hatstat get all VH1 Behind The Music about the new record and the band’s influences.

Public Service Blogcast Episode 13
28 minutes 41 seconds
Recorded 13/12/08
Tracklisting
07.50 We Versus The Shark - Hello Blood (from Dirty Versions album - Smalltown America)
15.43 We Versus The Shark - Mountaineering (from Dirty Versions album - Smalltown America)
21.44 We Versus The Shark - Suddenly It's A Folk Song (Future Of The Left cover) (from Murmurmur album - free download from Quote Unquote Records)
24.36 We Versus The Shark - Right Away (Pattern Is Movement cover) (from Murmurmur album - free download from Quote Unquote Records)

All of the songs discussed can be heard on the STA jukebox but of course you want a Dirty Versions of your own to hold in your own hands – the album can be purchased right here.

WVtS strike Europe taking in the UK supporting Pulled Apart By Horses between 17th - 30th March before hooking up with Blakfish in France on April 1st for 3 weeks of European shows.

Keep it wolf, kids!

If you have any feedback or want to get a track played, get in touch - email blogcast@smalltownamerica.co.uk