With carefully tailored line-ups predicting future success, BOTF showcases some of the finest emerging artists in the UK music scene and today’s announcement is no exception. Inviting The Staves as Saturday night headliner the all sister trio have an inspiring seven acclaimed albums under their belt and are set to impress.
Headlining the the New Stage on Sunday will be Newcastle three piece Little Comets who have recently been touring with Catfish and Bottlemen, meanwhile YouTube sensation Lauren Aquilina will headline the Wooden Barn Stage Sunday.
Also unveiled today is Scottish syth-pop three piece Prides, who closed last years commonwealth games, old blues and soul fusion Rag 'N' Bone Man, UK and Australian Sunset Suns plus, Seafret who's minimal production alongside their natural songwriting have gained attention from Radio One's Annie Mac.
Elsewhere champinioning the best of emerging talent today’s line up see's some of the hottest tipped new music emerging in the music scene. Revealed today is beautifully soulful voiced Samm Henshaw, dark pop Chloe Black, Alt-J's support Nathan Ball, indie alternative six piece HAUS and Martin Luke Brown who had recently been touring with Jess Glynn.
The announcement joins the already impressive line up including James Bay's only UK festival headline, Jack Garratt, Rhodes, Amber Run, JP Cooper, Port Isla and many more. This year will see an addtional third stage for a weekend full of supreme performances in the stunning Gloucestershire countryside.
Full Second Artist Additions The Staves / Prides / Little Comets / Lauren Aquilina / Sunset Sons / Rag 'N' Bone Man / Seafret
Fickle Friends / The Intermission Project / Meadowlark / Racing Glaciers / Jake Isaac / Kimberly Anne / Ruen Brothers / Model Aeroplanes / Dan Owen / Martin Luke Brown / Chloe Black / Billie Marten / Hannah Grace / Samm Henshaw / Matt Woods / Nathan Ball / The Amazons / Prose / HAUS / Declan Mckenna / Rothwell / George Cobsy / Amy Yon
Emergent in 2009, LITTLE COMETS have nurtured an upward trajectory with a debut album 'In Search Of…', an ever-growing rabid following that has seen the band sell out shows across the UK and on the eve of this year's festival are due to release their second album 'Life Is Elsewhere'.
VARIOUS CRUELTIES burst into life in 2010 with a couple of well received singles and plenty of hyperbole. The band is essentially the musical vehicle of the prodigiously talented Liam O'Donnell and earlier this year saw the release of their self-titled debut on the small but perfectly formed Hideout Recordings.
Bradford band SCARS ON 45 have found success in the US where one of their tracks was picked to be used on ‘CSI New York’. They’ve recently performed on the ‘Jay Leno show’ and their debut eponymous album was picked as one of the top ten albums of 2012 by Amazon. Welcome them back to Yorkshire at Leeds.
CHINA RATS are a rock ‘n’ roll band from Leeds who are inspired by a love of punk, 50’s pop and the best British guitar bands. Having already got the attention of BBC DJ’s such as Huw Stephens and Tom Robinson, their pop-punk charm is sure to win you over.
LIKELY LADS are a four-piece rock band from York. With over 400,000 YouTube views and counting on their demos, the band has taken great strides towards becoming the most promising outfit to emerge from the North of England in some time.
These new acts join Main Stage headliners Foo Fighters, The Cure, Kasabian plus The Black Keys, Paramore, Florence + the Machine, Kaiser Chiefs, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Vaccines, Justice, The Maccabees, At The Drive-In and many many more.
Hard to believe that this is the 15th installment of Truck Festival – some of its founders were barely more than 15 years old themselves when it started back in 1998! This year sees a return to the classic format, under the new management of the team from the award-winning Y-Not Festival, with the main Truck stage back where it always was and the legendary barn stage re-opened for business, only now with a new roof decked with solar panels to provide green energy to power the stage within. The team have put together a splendid line-up for you at Hill Farm, with a mix of returning favourites,including The Mystery Jets, British Sea Power, 65 Days of Static and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, and exciting acts new to the festival: The Temper Trap, Villagers, The Low Anthem, Guillemots, Little Comets, Three Trapped Tigers and many more. And perhaps the biggest coup of all: we've got Matilda-soundtracking, Jesus-Christ/A-List-Superstar TIM MINCHIN!
This being Truck, local acts and labels are heavily involved with the event, from established names like Fixers, Spring Offensive, and This Town Needs Guns to those playing Truck for the first time, including Old Grinding Young, the Black Hats and Kill Murray. The Big Scary Monsters & Alcopop labels present an afternoon of bands in the barn and BBC Introducing in Oxford will also be on-site once more. And the stars of last year’s Rumours performance will be back – Michele Stodart, Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou, and The Dreaming Spires. In breaking news, Fresh Out The Box DJs return to close things off in the Barn both nights for the traditional ‘cowshed rave’!
There's also a large Big Top stage and the Ladybird tent providing kids' activities by day and entertainment by night. There are two distinct camping areas: one for families in one end of the market field, and the larger main campsite in its usual spot. The Didcot Rotary Club and friends are here once more, serving hearty food, smoothies (and of course donuts) and raising substantial funds for good causes. Keep an eye out for some new flavours this year, we hear rumours they'll be trying their hand at pizzas this year!
For the first time this year the festival takes place on Friday and Saturday, giving you Sunday afternoon to head home and recover before work on Monday- we've expanded the bar to provide a splendid range of ales, beers and ciders, as well as the addition of some of your favourite top-shelf drinks, and even a few cocktails: we hope this 15th anniversary event provides plenty of opportunity to celebrate! Saturday is also the first fancy-dress day, and after a public vote Truckers chose wild animals as the theme: we'll look on with interest to see what they come up with! speaking of wild animals, keep an eye out for the legendary and elusive Truck Monster: He (or she?) will be appearing around town in the run-up to the event and on the official Truck T-Shirts and Hoodies, of course, available from the Truck Store on-site – which will also be selling merchandise and albums by most of the acts appearing at the festival.
In a year with no Glastonbury and a summer royal and sporting overload, it’s down to the likes of Truck to keep the flag flying for the true spirit of festivals. Truckers have responded well to what is being called Truck’s best line-up ever, and we’re cautiously confident of an advance sell-out for the 4,500-capacity event. Tickets are available for the astonishingly reasonable price of £69 for a weekend ticket, with under-12s free (with a responsible adult), making it a great destination whether you’ve just finished your exams and are attending your first festival or you’re a family with young kids looking for a good value weekend in the country. It’s often forgotten how lovely it is down at Hill Farm and you can’t beat walking down the Causeway in Steventon to get there.
THE TEMPER TRAP, BRITISH SEA POWER, THE LOW ANTHEM, GUILLEMOTS, KING CHARLES, THREE TRAPPED TIGERS, LITTLE COMETS and more will join the already-announced MYSTERY JETS, VILLAGERS, 65 DAYS OF STATIC and GET CAPE. WEAR CAPE. FLY! amongst many more on the bill for this year's Truck Festival!
Here's new Truck organiser Ralph Broadbent: "I think this line-up captures the spirit of Truck over the last 15 years – everything that's great about music all in one place, with some of the most creative and independent acts out there, and at £69 for the weekend, it's really affordable!"
We hope you'll agree, this is as good a selection as you'll see anywhere trooping in for Truck's 15th Anniversary on July 20th & 21st at Hill Farm, Steventon. Early Bird tickets have sold out but Weekend tickets are indeed still only £69; they are available now at www.truckfestival.com.
THE TEMPER TRAP
Closing the main stage on the Saturday will be The Temper Trap; these Australians sport an international Top 10 hit single, Sweet Disposition, and a 2011 BRIT Award nomination for 'Best International Breakthrough Artist'; this year they're following up that breakthrough with a much-anticipated new album, ‘The Temper Trap’. The new album was recorded at the famed Sound Factory in Los Angeles, with producer Tony Hoffer (Beck, M83,Phoenix) and we look forward to seeing their ambitious live show on the back of a truck…
BRITISH SEA POWER
It's an amazingly long time since BSP graced Hill Farm, which is surprising because they are almost the perfect band for the festival. In an unrelated comment, frontman Yan recently claimed: “I was a big fan of World’s Toughest Trucker on UK Channel 5, which finished a couple weeks ago – especially old dog Rookie who came third. You can probably still see it via the Watch It Again M8! function?” Perhaps he's cryptically expressing his excitement to be back playing at Truck Festival. We'd better do a risk assessment for use of twigs and branches on the stage…
Oh my God, THE LOW ANTHEM!
We are delighted to add this talented and creative band; they embody the DIY spirit of Truck Festival, self-releasing their break-out 3rd album "Oh, My God, Charlie Darwin", screen-printing the covers themselves and heading out on the road to promote it. Last year, as well as following up with "Smart Flesh", produced by Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, they dished out a free album for fans under the alter-ego "Snake Wagon". The epic sweep and rustic roots of their music will sound great on the back of a truck at Hill Farm, that is for sure!
GUILLEMOTS
Fyfe Dangerfield & co recently played instore at Truck Store and mentioned that they had somehow never played Truck Festival, and the new organisers instantly moved to correct that! As well as having mass appeal and hit albums, the band are constantly evolving and putting out interesting music, which makes them a perfect band for Truck too. Drummer Greig Stewart has close links with the Oxford area so we're glad to welcome him along to Truck to play – finally!
And that’s not all:
KING CHARLES has toured with Mumford & Sons, Noah & the Whale and Laura Marling, but has a style and bohemian panache all of his own, "part of that tradition of uniquely English, psych-inflected pastoral whimsy", and our scouts saw it for themselves at a recent Oxford show. His debut album comes out in May. We also welcome VADOINMESSICO, an elusive collective from London with accordions, harmonies, and even a remix by Crystal Fighters. Mysterious! and FEDERATION OF THE DISCO PIMP: Maybe you've listened to ex-Red Dwarf man Craig Charles' funk show on 6 Music, in which case you'll have heard these guys: Scotland’s premier exponents of modern funk, alright! and this just in: LITTLE COMETS will be bringing their hard-touring guerilla-gigging bandwagon all the way from Tyneside, for one night in July!
The much-requested London noise-rockers THREE TRAPPED TIGERS will be closing the Barn on Saturday which will doubtless be a very special occasion. Before them, just in case you missed it, we have announced the line up for the Alcopop Records and Big Scary Monsters takeover (4-9pm Saturday, The Barn). They will be bringing with them: JOHNNY FOREIGNER, TALL SHIPS, BRONTIDE, TALONS, GUNNING FOR TAMAR & MY FIRST TOOTH. Sweeeeet! These labels, and bands, represent what the Barn stage is all about and no doubt the famous cowshed will be heaving throughout!
Of course, there are many more artists still to be added, including many local acts; we are accepting BAND SUBMISSIONS until 1st April 2012. After this date, no further submissions will be considered. To apply, bands can send an email with links to 2-3 recordings on Soundcloud or Youtube to: [email protected]. We ask them not to send MP3s or other audio files or large photos as attachments (these clog the inbox), and please don’t try to send us physical packages- we haven’t got anywhere to put them!
We've also launched a new website with all kinds of information about the festival at www.truckfestival.com. Tickets can be purchased there for this year's 15th Anniversary back-to-basics truckstravaganza! Tickets are also on sale at Truck Store, Oxford and will soon also be available at Remade Guitars, Abingdon.
