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

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

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

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

Following on from a June weekend at Derby’s Déda and Baby Studios, The Lyric Lounge will be spreading the word in Leicester from 30 July -1 August, at New Walk Museum.  A mighty menu of activities will run all the way from 10am ‘til 10pm so there’s no excuse for not stopping by, In the day, chill out with coffee, books and films, sign up for poetry workshops, chat to The Book Doctor, or take to the mic yourself. In the evening, catch everything from WORD! with Mark Gwynne Jones and his band Psychicbread, to John Hegley’s brand new show ‘The Adventures of Monsieur Robinet’.

With a line up that includes performances from patron Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze, music and lyrics from the likes of Kenny Wilson and urban poetry from ILUVLYRICS, Lyric Lounge Leicester is all round family fun. The Lyric Lounge will also be visiting Nottingham and Loughborough this Autumn. All this follows the massive success of last year’s Leicester festival, which saw hundreds of people gather at The Y, as part of the cultural programme for the Special Olympics.

Visit www.lyriclounge.co.uk or www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk/lyric_lounge for more information and details of partners and funders, or join us on Facebook.

Leicester workshops, screenings, Book Doctor Surgeries and Lyrical Lunchtimes are FREE, but tickets for evening shows are available from The New Walk Museum Box Office: 0116 225 4900.

Tickets for John Hegley – £10/£5 (suitable for ages 7 plus with guidance), ILUVLYRICS – £5/£3 (suitable for ages 13 plus)
and WORD! -£4/£3 (suitable for ages 13 plus)

Brooklyn Bop

A blog buzz, backlash and three drummers all in the space of three years, Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls have had a rough ride on the wrong side of the indie tracks.

Cassie Ramone (vocals/guitar) and Kickball Katy (bass) released their self-titled debut back in 2007 – a chaotic mix of Phil Spector harmonies tumbling down the stairs with Replacement riffs. Selling out the initial press of the record, the band won overwhelming critical praise and support slot with Sonic Youth.

However, the girls’ overnight success lead to them falling victim to the build them up knock them down mentality as the blogs branded them, like they so often unfairly do with girl bands, all style no substance. But, they’ve bounced back to release their triumphant second album, Everything Must Go, a fierce kick in the shins of 3 minute fast and furious punk to their critics.

Currently out on a European tour, the girls are due to hit the London town this weekend with new drummer, Fiona Campbell. We caught up with Cassie to find more about their sophomore album, surviving being a buzz band, and where to grab a good Margarita in NYC.

You’ve released your second album, Everything Goes Wrong, last year. Who produced the album and where did you record it?

We recorded the album at the Distillery in Costa Mesa, California. The
studio is really special because it doesn’t have any new equipment -
it’s all analog and the only computer in there is a PC from ten years
ago or something. We co-produced the album ourselves with Mike McHugh,
the engineer at the Distillery. He’s been recording garage bands for
years, so it was right up our alley!

What were you listening to when you were recording the album?

Neil Young, Ariel Pink, America, the Wipers, Nodzzz, Steely Dan.

You sold out your debut single in 10 days, supported Sonic Youth and generally had the blogs buzzing about you and then there was reallynasty backlash. How did you handle that?
All of us were made fun of in school, so it wasn’t as shocking to us
as one might think since we’ve been used to dealing with people
talking shit on us our entire lives. However it obviously was a
terrible feeling watching your life’s work get totally demoralised. In
the end, it made us stronger people.

You toured the UK earlier this year and you’re coming back in July. How was the tour?
One of the best we’ve ever been on.  We met a lot of amazing people
and played with great bands. The crowd reaction was overwhelmingly
positive and I feel as though we were really in our element.

You seem to tour non-stop.  What’s your weirdest tour story?
One time we were driving back into America from Canada and the bridge
was closed and there was dead stop traffic on the highway for miles
and miles. It was taking people over 8 hours to get across the border;
they had to get on a ferry! But, we took all these back roads and
somehow we got to this other entrance to the bridge and they waved us
through, and we got over no problem and they didn’t even ask to see our
passports.

You’ve toured a lot with Male Bonding and you made a guest appearanceon their debut album. How did you two get to know each other?
On our first trip to England, we needed a place to stay, because we
knew we’d be in London for almost half the trip and we couldn’t afford
to stay in a hotel that many nights. Katy had been emailing with Simon
from the Rough Trade Shops and he told us we could stay with John
Webb (Male Bonding vocalist/guitarist), who worked there. As soon as we got to his house and met him we knew we’d be friends forever. And then we met the other guys in the band and we all fell in love (platonically). We had a great night
watching this Nirvana documentary and listening to the Wipers. It was
meant to be.

You also did a cover of ‘Perfect Day’ with Male Bonding. How
did that come about?
We just did a tour with Male Bonding – and we had this one day which
was hands down the best day of tour any of us have ever had. We saw
four juggalos fixing an overheated car, went to the Heidelberg art
project in Detroit, Ali got this ingrown toenail removed, and then we
played at the Magic Stick, which might be the best venue ever. It
might not sound all that incredible, but our spirits were all so high
all day that we decided it was a perfect day and then we decided to
cover ‘Perfect Day’ in commemoration. I figured out the guitar chords
during soundcheck and taught it to Katy real quick and that was that.
We didn’t even listen to the song or look up the chords to prepare,
all we looked up were the lyrics. After that we decided that every day
of that tour was a perfect day and we covered it every night.

If you could cover another song with another band, what would the song be and who would the band be?
‘Walk On By’ with Steely Dan.

You posted a clip on your facebook of the fourth member of
Vivian girls – Maru your tambourine playing cat. What other
instruments can Maru play?
Melodica, theremin, kazoo…

You’re from Brooklyn – how do you feel about the local music scene getting so much press attention lately?
It is what it is. It’s kinda funny to me, because the scene from which
Vivian Girls was born wasn’t really getting any attention at all in
the mid-2000s. Bands like Bent Outta Shape, the Good Good, Dynamite
Arrows, Meneguar, several others… they wove this cultural tapestry
which is completely ignored in the press’s perception of our band and
several of our friends’ bands. Matt and Kim are the one exception of a
band from this scene that broke out, but I bet no one would think that
Vivian Girls and Matt and Kim are related at all.

What new Brooklyn bands would you recommend?
Coasting, the Surprisers, Roman Candles.

We’ve got a day in Brooklyn and you’re our tour guide. Where would you take us?
Cho’s Variety Cafe for coffee, the taco truck on Bedford, Academy
Records, Turkey’s Nest Tavern to get margaritas to go, and then to
McCarren Park to drink them.

What was the last record you downloaded?
The new Ariel Pink album. It rules! ‘Bright Lit Blue Skies’ is the
best song ever.

Are you going to record a third album soon?
We’re working on it. We’ve already recorded a bunch of stuff for it
but we’re going to record more at some point in the future.

Who are you going to record it with?
We’ve already recorded songs with Jarvis Taveniere of Woods, and we
want to try recording with some other people as well.

What other plans do you have for the future?
Right now, we’re focusing more on other projects. I’m doing a solo
record and playing with the Babies and Katy has a new project called All
Saints Day.

- Marie Wood

Watch Vivian Girls ‘When I’m Gone’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8RHDgFYxY4

www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

Everything Goes Wrong – Out Now

24 July, 1234 Shoreditch Festival, London

25 July, Islington Academy, London

Birmingham Rep, Leon Burke aka LCB, The Decypher Collective

1. When you think of Latitude what 5 words spring to mind?

Firstly I would say Distance, Location, GPS, Travel and map – if it was in terms of the word-But as a festival I would say, Music, Camping, Theatre, Food and Networking.

2. If you could only see one performance at this year’s festival what would it be? (For a list of performers and stages check out the Latitude website)

The act which I am looking forward to seeing is, Florence and the Machine. But also a lot of other artists.

3. What 5 items will you be bringing to Latitude?

My phone, chewing gum, pen, baby wipes (lol) and business cards.

4. Do you have anything special planned for your performance at Latitude?

Although our performance is an amazing piece of Grime theatre, we will then showcase a few of our individual pieces, being rap, poetry or spoken word.

5. Latitude is 5 years old, how did you celebrate your fifth birthday?

It may not have been my 5th birthday but it must have been around those years. I think it was Weston-super-Mare with my family, I remember being upstairs at the back of an open top bus next to the sea side touring Weston, then had a picnic on the beach and went crazy on the pier with my older brother.

6. How does it feel to represent the Midlands at Latitude?

I’m very glad we are there representing and I know a lot of people are coming down to support us. We have worked hard over the years as a collective and feel it is time for us to take festivals by storm  :)

The Decypher Collective play the Theatre Arena at Latitude Festival- July 15-18.

They’ll be publishing your memories on the website and by sending them in you’ll be entered into a draw to win a pair of Summer Sundae 2011 tickets or a festival goodie bag. Hurrah! Not only that, but if you take yourself over to our Summer Sundae competition you can enter into our draw for one lucky 69′er to win a pair of tickets for the whole weekend!

So it’s time get those thinking caps on and submit your memories to competitions@demontforthall.co.uk. Please put “Top 10″ in the email subject line and get your entries in before the closing of Thursday 15 July.

If you’re looking for some inspiration you can read festival director Rob Challice’s top 10 moments here.

This year, for their 10th birthday, Summer Sundae has a fantastic line-up of more than 100 artists over five stages and there’s sure to be something to please everyone.

Ssome of the hottest new acts Local Natives, Frankie and The Heartstrings, The Low Anthem, Stornoway and Slow Club, the finest selection of folk from Mumford and Sons, Seasick Steve and Tunng, popstastic number-one selling artists Tinchy Stryder and Diana Vickers, outstanding DJs and MCs Roots Manuva, Skepta and Devlin, blissed-out electronica from Junip and Caribou, stone-wall legends in their own right The Fall and Teenage Fanclub and many, many more including The Futureheads, Los Campesinos!, The Invisible, Frightened Rabbit and Erland and The Carnival.

As well as the music, the chill-out zone The Garden will be transformed into a traditional seaside complete with its very own beach, as Summer Sundae number 10 goes Beside The Seaside. Relax on a deckchair, get creative with sandcastle building or just feel the sand between your toes. Relive all your favourite childhood beach holidays rolled into one, with Punch and Judy shows, knobbly knee competitions, giant games, seaside entertainers, knitting, face painting and seaside-themed crafts.

As well as all this there will be comedy from Leicester Comedy festival, films, after-hours silent disco, real ale and cocktails, craft and quality food stalls in The Village and leafy camping in the park.

Don’t delay, get your tickets now. Weekend and day tickets are available from the box office on 0116 233 3111 or online from www.summersundae.com.

Ticket prices:
Weekend adult £105
Weekend child (5 – 15) £35
Weekend family (2 adults, 2 children)  £275

Day tickets adult Fri £40, Sat £45, Sun £45
Day tickets child (5 -15) Fri £12, Sat £15, Sun £15
Children under five come free!

“Summer Sundae is hitting the musical spot better than ever.” NME.com