Pop to www.irregularchoice.com for more info.

This 3 day festival of far-out fuzz and fun is happening over August bank holiday at the Firebug in Leicester, perfect for getting hot and bothered to a host of unruly and rulin’ bands and rowdy record wranglers. With the guys from Biff Bang Pow bringing the left-field indie and garage, and the girls from The Lava Lounge bringing the rock’n’roll and trash, this festival is an exciting mix of the finest vintage and new sounds!

Friday 27th (8pm-4am) sees the folks from the Biff Bang Pow club spinning up the soul, psyche, 60s garage, funk and left field indie, whilst the stage will be swinging to the hip sounds of:
THE SEE SEE / WE THREE & THE DEATH RATTLE / JAMIE SAYS / KICK IN THE EYE
Saturday 28th (8pm-4am) is helmed by the Lava Lounge who’ll be twistin’ and shakin’ ‘till late to wild R&B, sloppy soul, Rock n roll, garage, punk, surf, beat & other choice tunes, with four riotous live bands:
KING SALAMI and the CUMBERLAND THREE / THE HANDSOME DICKS /
THE DESPONDENTS / THE NO-BRAINERS
Sunday 29th (1pm-6pm) is a child-friendly affair with a record fair & retro market, fantastic fete with foolish games, beer garden BBQ & bands:
THE LONELY TOURIST / PLAYER PIANO / CHRIS OLLEY / CHARLES RANDOLPH RIVERS SLIM RYTHM REVUE
As well as the superb:
DJ WHEELIEBAG
Sunday 29th (7pm-3am) will be an adult aural blowout including:
DAVID PETER AND THE WILDE SECT / THEE VICARS / THEE LUDDS / DAYLIGHT FREQUENCIES / THE VITAMIN SEES
With DJs across 2 rooms, more fun, drinking, merriment, stupidity, thrills and wild dancing! A real blow-out finale…you’ll be stirred, shaken and stimulated! NOT TO BE MISSED!!! And remember, you’re not at work on Monday so it’s going to be a real party! Come down and LOSE YOUR COOL!

And even though Englebert will NOT be playing, It’s the hippest, hottest happening Leicester has ever seen!
Advance price for each day is £5 or £10 for a weekend pass, available from We Got Tickets: Lose Your Cool!
All festival profits go to Macmillan Cancer Support and Alzheimer’s Society.

Emma has appeared with Ocean Colour Scene and features on their new album, Saturday, with track “Village life” a calm and thought provoking tale which like all songs on the album entices me to see their next live performance.  In the last year Emma has also toured with The Enemy and is now launching into the production phases of her first solo album with Vertigo Slide.

Vertigo Slide recently performed at Wizzafest, a three day festival on Saturday 24th July, which was launched on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Relief and in memory of a loving father who passed from the Wizza family in May 2006. 

Peter Butler, also part of Vertigo Slide along with Emma are also boldly putting on their very first one day festival, “Live on the A435″ located in Kings Coughton nr Alcester. They have been working extremely hard to fill an action packed programme of Birmingham bands with lots of music, art, fun in the sun to spread the word about rising talent in the Midlands.

Drawing the summer to a close the band will be performing in Stratford on Friday 20th August at The Chapel in Stratford Upon Avon.  A five piece stripped down version of the band will be supporting Ocean Colour Scene’s Simon and Oscar in a special acoustic performance. Emma will then be singing alongside the dynamic duo for a night to remember. Emma has been setting stages alight over the last few months and I’m excited to hear the results of her forthcoming album with Vertigo Slide later in 2010/11.

Alex Evans

www.emmaskipp.com

With headline live acts confirmed as FAITHLESS, DIZZEE RASCAL, 2MANYDJS, CHASE & STATUS amongst others alongside superstar DJ names such as ARMIN VAN BUUREN, CARL COX, ABOVE & BEYOND, ERIC PRYDZ, STEVE ANGELLO, JOHN DIGWEED and PAUL OAKENFOLD to name a few, this year’s festival is set to be bigger than ever.

To celebrate the milestone achievement of 10 years, GlobalGathering are releasing a 3CD and download package of festival anthems providing you with the ultimate soundtrack to your summer.

CD1 kicks off proceedings with 2010’s biggest festival anthems, including WILEY ‘ELECTRIC BOOGALOO’, TENSNAKE ‘COMA CAT’, FAKE BLOOD ‘I THINK I LIKE IT’ and AXWELL’S epic remix of TV ROCK ‘IN THE AIR’. CD2 takes us on a trip down memory lane with festival classics such as FAITHLESS ‘INSOMNIA’, NALIN & KANE ‘BEACHBALL’, TIESTO ‘ADAGIO FOR STRINGS’ and the massive anthem from GURU JOSH PROJECT ‘INFINITY 2008’. CD3 continues to fly the festival classics flag with the likes of GROOVE ARMADA ‘SUPERSTYLIN’, FAKE BLOOD ‘MARS’, PRODIGY ‘WARRIORS DANCE’ and the ultimate festival classic ‘ROCKAFELLER SKANK’ from FATBOY SLIM.

So there you have it, 3 CDs and download package rammed to the rafters with festival classics past, present and future! Whether you’re reminiscing those fun-filled festival memories or recreating the big sounds of the festival in your own back garden, this is the only festival album you’ll need this summer!

Win!
We’ve got three copies of the album to give away to lucky 69 readers. To be in with a chance, fill in your details below:

From time to time we may send you information about fabulous products, services and brands that may interest you. If you mind terribly, email claire@69-247.com otherwise keep your eyes peeled.

The show will see Professor Green take to the stage for his first non-festival appearance of the year, with his full live band and an energetic set following hit collaboration with Lily Allen on ‘Just Be Good To Green’ and dancefloor smash ‘Need You Tonight’ with Ed Drewett.

First signed to Mike Skinner’s record label, ‘The Beats’, Professor Green has grown from an underground hero to mainstream star. He has just released his debut album (Monday 19^th July) ‘Alive Till I’m Dead’ on Virgin Records to mass critical acclaim, reaching #2 in the UK album charts.

“It is a real honour to be asked to perform at the opening of O₂ Academy Leicester. No doubt it will have the great energy and vibe that all O₂ Academy venues have and I look forward to being the first headline act to grace the stage.” – Professor Green

His performance marks the beginning of an exciting diary of shows at the brand new O₂ Academy Leicester, including new and established artists from The Magic Numbers, Corinne Bailey Rae and Plan B, to Frank Turner and dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip already on sale.

O₂ customers can purchase tickets for Professor Green at O₂ Academy Leicester from Wednesday 28^th July. To register for Priority Tickets text PRIORITY to 2020 from an O₂ mobile or visit o2blueroom.co.uk

Tickets will be on general sale Friday 30^th July at 9am from ticketweb.co.uk or 0844 477 2000 (24hrs). You’d better get in there quick mind, as we foresee this being huge!

Tickets are £12 (adv)

www.o2academyleicester.co.uk

Khan has assembled a cast of exceptional performers from across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. With a specially commissioned score by long-term collaborator composer, Nitin Sawhney, Vertical Road draws inspiration from universal myths of angels that symbolise ‘ascension’.

In his first ensemble work since the critically-acclaimed ‘Bahok’ which premiered in 2008, Vertical Road sees Akram Khan returning to pure movement in his choreography, eliminating the text and dialogue which has featured in recent works such as In-I and Zero Degrees. Rooted in his classical kathak training, but informed by his experience  in contemporary dance, Vertical Road will also have strong Middle Eastern influences, and continues Khan’s interest in exploring the interface between different cultures and creative disciplines.

Win!

To celebrate the World Premiere of Vertical Road, the lovelies at Curve in Leicester have given us three pairs of tickets to give to three lucky winners. Each winner will also receive a free programme- hurrah!

To enter, fill in your details below:

Tickets and information: www.curveonline.co.uk / 0116 242 3595.  Tickets £12.25 – £26.50, concessionary discounts available.

www.akramkhancompany.net

From time to time we may send you information about fabulous products, services and brands that may interest you. If you mind terribly, email claire@69-247.com otherwise keep your eyes peeled.

We haven’t hung out in a park clutching a can of Bow since Lady GaGa was simply Stefani Germanotta and Pete Doherty was a talented musician.  But, before you try to get us on some type of register, we’re park-loitering in north London to talk to the latest hot new band from the US of A, Surfer Blood. We caught up with guitarist Thomas Fekete, drummer TJ Schwarz and percussionist Marcos Marchesani to find out about their debut album, Astro Coast, getting back to basics, and thieving from small children.

Surfer Blood first got together in their native hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida in 2008, as TJ explains: “JP (Pitts, vocalist and guitarist) started writing the songs about two years ago, about when I met him, and about a year ago we met the rest of guys and that’s when we started playing together and we haven’t stopped since then.”  The band’s unusual name comes from an equally obscure place: “It comes from a backpack”, explains TJ, “ You know when kids write stuff like ‘listen to Bob Marley’ and I saw one that said, ‘Surfer Blood’, on it and I stole it from a kid.”

The band’s sonically rich debut album is a swirl of Beach Boys melodies, Animal Collective psych with the songmanship of Weezer’s, Rivers Cumo. The album was recorded largely by JP in a University Of Florida dorm, although it wasn’t down to any die hard commitment to lo-fi recording. As Thomas explains:  “It was basically a budget thing, we just didn’t have any money…. so, JP said ‘why rush this?’ when we can just take it into our own hands and he took his sweet time on it.”

The DIY recording paid off as the band has created a deafening blog buzz; with US hipster bible, Pitchfork, declaring their first single, ‘Swim’, 34th in websites’ influential 100 Best Tracks of 2009. But, despite the hype the band’s aspirations are charmingly modest: “We don’t wanna necessarily be the next Green Day. We’ll never been the next Motley Crue”, Thomas jokes, “We just want to play music to whoever wants to hear it and, hopefully, people will continue to support it. We’re not going to change what we do. Feel it, don’t force, is what we like to say.”

The band is set to play this year’s Reading and Leeds Festival; a first and welcome surprise for them: “We’ve never played a festival” TJ confesses “We played one festival in our hometown…like, a Halloween festival. It wasn’t a band type thing, it was like ‘bring your kids, dress them up’ type thing.” With a successful debut album, critical acclaim and top festival appearance, are there any meltdowns around the corner? “We’re definitely doing what we wanted to do; touring everywhere, seeing as much as we can and enjoying it”, Marcus reassures us with wide-eyed enthusiasm, “we’re all as young as hell and we’re having an incredible time – it’s so awesome.”

Astro Coast – Out Now

Oxford Road in Manchester to be specific is set to be at the heart of stylish tailoring, when A Suit That Fits opens its doors on August 2nd 2010. A Suit That Fits was developed to give customers full control of their own designs, allowing them to create individually hand tailored suits in branch or on-line. Customers can choose from over 40 billion different combinations of styles, colours and garments, coupled with a wide range of luxury fabrics and linings. A Suit That Fits currently has four permanent branches, and a further 21 pop-up TailorStops nationwide with their team of roving tailors and style advisors.

Founder and co-director, Warren Bennett, thought it was about time Manchester had permanent access to expert style advice and the A Suit That Fits experience: “Manchester is a buzzing metropolitan city with a history and hunger for arts, culture and fashion. Everyone deserves a tailor made suit and with our new branch opening they are no longer exclusive to those with deep pockets. We are incredibly excited to be located in Manchester on a permanent basis, and really hope we can engage with the rich tapestry of the city even further.”

To celebrate the launch of the new store, A Suit That Fits will be offering the initial measurement (normally £25) with a Style Advisor completely free for the first month*!

*This promotion is only available at the new Manchester branch and is only available for the first month.
To book an appointment with A Suit That Fits’ expert Style Advisors hop over to www.aSuitThatFits.com or call 020 3006 7999.

The band are part of the latest swell of acts from East London, like Fair Ohs, Pens and Colours to provide a welcome answer to the US dominated drone of buzzing from the likes of bezzie transatlantic mates Vivian Girls, Best Coast and Dum Dum Girls.

We sat down for a cup of tea on a beautifully sunny day in Dalston with Male Bonding’s bobble hatted drummer, Robin Silas Christian, to find out about their sublime debut album ‘Nothing Hurts’, love of the US of A and a scary lady called Martha.

You formed two years ago at a house party called Rage.  How did you all know each other?

We knew each other because we used to see each other at the same shows in London and then we kinda ended up working in the same record shop Wreckless,. That’s kinda how we met we talked about doing stuff, they were in another band and I was in another band, and we finally got around to doing it just for fun.

So, you poached each other?

John and Kevin were in another band and my old band used to play with them quite a lot. And I lived with John anyway, so it was inevitable that we’d do something.

Do you all still live together?

We live together It’s pretty crazy. Me and Kevin work together sometimes – it’s all a bit much.

Are there any house rules?

No, it’s alright it’s not like a student house; we all managed to look after each other. People think we’re crazy, but it really makes sense.. We know when to keep out of each other’s way.

You started off releasing songs on your own label, Paradise Vendor, as split 7” with other bands, such as Pens, Graffiti Island, Fair Ohs.  What made you sign to Sub Pop rather than keep self releasing records?

We never really put our own records out to be fiercely independent or anything, like no-one else had offered, and then when people did offer it seemed like they really could do a better job than we were doing already. We totally grew up with Sub Pop and really trust them… it was never a masterplan to get signed to a big label

What’s it like being signed to them?

Really cool, they’re really sweet people. Y’know like, they would never make us do anything that we wouldn’t want to do. I just really trust them….they’re really awesome.

You’ve released your debut album, Nothing Hurts. There’s 13 tracks coming in at 29 minutes all averaging under 3 minutes long. Did you set out to make a fast record?

It’s because our sets quite short when we play live and we didn’t want anyone to get bored of it and I’d get bored for more than like an hour of watching something. And, especially the type of music we do I think 29 minutes is plenty…there wasn’t anything added for the sake of it. We’re just trying to write pop songs.

Do you like pop?

I used to be in a hardcore band called Bullet Union and John used to be in this band called Pre, and both those bands are like really noisy, so doing something like this is a total experiment. We really like pop bands.

How do you go about writing the songs?

It’s different really every time. John often writes a whole song, and most of the songs we did it together. We write the songs really fast as well, so if it isn’t working we just ditch it and do something else.

The album takes in surf, punk, shoe gaze. What were you listening to whilst you were recording the album?

When we actually made that record we were staying with friends in New York, so we were listening to lots of friend’s bands from New York like Vivian Girls, German Measles and then lots of bands we’re friends with in London, like Veronica Falls, Spectrals and Pens. We did a compilation of London bands, so we were just listening to that, we didn’t really think about it much, really.

Who would you say your influences are?

We all really like My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, the Buzzcocks, Mudhoney. I think, we all really like really different things; like John really likes hip hop.

A lucky 300 people who pre-ordered the album got a limited edition a hand-numbered cassettes of your Daytrotter sessions from the US. What did you do for the session?

We recorded it in an old school by the Mississippi river and we were sharing a van with the Vivian Girls, so they sing on it …they did one as well and we play on it. It was just really cool, there was a loads old equipment in this room, so we didn’t use any of our own equipment we just used what was in the room. I’d say it was kinda acousticey, which people wouldn’t expect from us and there’s new songs on it. I think it’s my favourite thing that we’ve done – it just reminds me of having a good time and being away as well. It was a cool thing to do.

You create a lot of the artwork yourselves. Is it important for you to keep control in the group?

I just think you’ve only got yourself to blame if it doesn’t look that good. Sometimes, if you get someone else to do it, then it gets awkward.

You duet with the Vivian Girls on the last track, Worst To Come who you’ve also toured with. How did you two get to know each other?

We met them because they stayed at our house the first time they came to England and we became best friend with each other – they’re like our sisters.

You’re signed to a US label and you’ve toured with a lot of US bands in America, like Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast. Do you feel an affinity with the scene coming from there?

Some of them. We like all those bands, we’re quite happy to be lumped in with them if people want to do that. There’s a bunch of great bands in England as well. I like just how the internets broken down the barrier between England and America, you can kinda make friends easily with people in different countries and then go and stay with them.

Do you feel there’s a transatlantic community?

Yeah, totally. Because, people can promote themselves now they don’t need labels –  everyone’s got an equal platform, if they’re good. Because of mixtapes, and the internet, you end up meeting people.

You’re playing a few dates over the next few months including Offset Festival, what can people who’ve never seen you live expect?

It can be pretty terrible! We’ve played quite good recently as we went to America for seven weeks and we played nearly every day and we’ve got some new songs. We usually play for 25 minutes and anything can happen.

You did a long tour of the US earlier this year. What’s the best thing and the worst thing about being on tour?

The worst thing is missing friends; it’s good for reading I read nine books on that tour. There’s not many bad things. We’re pretty lucky to get to do it, we definitely don’t complain about it.

What was your favourite place to play?

New York, because we’ve got friends there. LA was really good – we got stuck, because of the volcano. It was cool, because stayed with our friends and we just had like a holiday. We made a music video, which was fun. And Mexico was really good as we played at the bottom of a mountain. We played Nashville in North Carolina – it was all really interesting.

What was the strangest thing that’s happened to you on tour?

Loads of weird stuff happened. We got interrogated at the border coming back from Canada because we had some t-shirts, that was pretty annoying. We got our van broken into, that was kinda annoying.

My favourite bit was when we went through this town called Dixon in Illinois, which I think is where Ronald Regan is from, and we had to stay in a hotel that night as we couldn’t find anywhere to sleep and the weirdest woman working there. It was kinda amazing. She was called Martha, yeah we talked about Martha a lot on the tour, she explained to us that the internet wasn’t working as it was blowing a wind outside! I think Martha was my favourite bit of the tour.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

We’re going to be pretty busy. We wanna go back to America, we want to go to Japan, UK tour, some shows in Europe. We’ve got lots of video ideas and we make lots of videos.

Have you go anymore releases planned on Paradise Vendor?

We’re gonna do some more stuff. The last thing we did was this compilation with 10 UK bands, which was the sixth thing we’ve done. I think there’s gonna be another 7” with probably two American bands and two English bands.

When are you starting work on the follow-up to Nothing Hurts?

We kinda already have. We’ve already got four or five songs. John’s writing all the time.

Nothing Hurts – Out Now

Years Not Long

American Football. Yes! Shooting hoops. Yes! Boy on boy hot french kissing.,,,erm, yes!  Watch some full on male bonding in the band’s new video, ‘Years Not Long’, directed by Vice Cooler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xQXFWxJ8fQ

13 August, Yes Way Too, London

4-5 September, Offset Festival, Hainault

4 October,  Audio, Brighton (*with No Age)

5 October, Barfly, Cardiff (*with No Age)

6 October,  Club Academy, Manchester (*with Blood Red Shoes)
7 October, Electric Ballroom, Manchester (*with Blood Red Shoes)

8 October, Rollerpalooza at the Skate Centre, Sheffield
9 October, Stereo, Glasgow (*with No Age)
12 October, Brudenell, Leeds (*with No Age)

13 October, Night and Day, Manchester
14 October, XYOYO, London

Marie Wood

Check out the line-up below!

SEPTEMBER:

Sunday 19th

Shadows Chasing Ghosts + Surrender The Coast

Tuesday 21st

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. NEW DATE!!

Philadelphia Grand Jury

Wednesday 29th

Jim Jones Revue

OCTOBER 2010

Monday 4th

The Magic Numbers 7pm

Friday 8th

Aynsley Lister: NEW DATE!!

Saturday 9th

Little Night Terrors NEW DATE!!

Friday 15th

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip

Monday 18th

The Birthday Massacre

Tuesday 19th

Corinne Bailey Rae   NEW DATE!!

Thursday 21st

Mr Scruff (5 Hour Set) Over 18s only

Saturday 23rd

Attack! Attack!

Thursday 28th

Plan B SOLD OUT

Thursday 28th

Southside Johnny & The Asbury
Jukes

NOVEMBER 2010

Saturday 6th

Midlake NEW DATE!!

Sunday 14th

The Doors Alive

Thursday 18th

The Complete Stone Roses + Kings Of Lyon (tribute acts)

Monday 22nd

The Wedding Present

Tuesday 23rd

65daysofstatic NEW DATE!!

DECEMBER 2010

Thursday 9th

China Crisis

Friday 10th

Frank Turner

O2 Academy Leicester
The University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH
o2academyleicester.co.uk
Box Office: 0844 477 2000 (24hrs) / ticketweb.co.uk
Customer Information Line: 0905 020 3999 (25p per minute)

For loads more information about O2 Academy Leicester as well as other O2 Academies around the country, pop over to academy-music-group.co.uk