It is not yet known on which day the bands are scheduled to play, nor has there been an official announcement on the headliners.

The event this year will be a smaller festival, with only 1000 tickets being sold. It takes place on the weekend of the 2nd – 4th July. Visit http://www.makerfestival.co.uk for more information.

Current Line Up
Mad Dog McRea
Hillside Heroes
GoldMann
Daddy Teacher & The Rooticals
007
Melosa
Albenaza
Freshly Squeezed
Head Of Programmes
Julian Gaskell and the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Ruarri Joseph
Blue Orchid
Getto Fabuloso
Dynamo Rhythm Aces
Imperial Leasure
The Underbelly

The Wrong Hands’ sound is mainly acoustic, almost nursery rhyme like at times, with added Nintendo Gameboy-esque keys to give it a truly unique and enjoyable sound.

To listen to The Wrong Hands and to book them, visit their MySpace account.

Opening the show though, will also be The Bronx. Well, not quite. Mariachi El Bronx are The Bronx’s alter egos. So you will get to see the band twice in one night! Awesome.

The Bronx formed in 2002 and have since released 3 albums (all titled ‘The Bronx’) and the fourth album, ‘Mariachi el Bronx’ was released in September of last year. If you wanna check out more of The Bronx, head over to their MySpace profile.

Tickets cost £10 and you can get them from www.seetickets.com or from PMC.

DREADZONE
Dreadzone enjoyed a brief period of success between 1995 and 1997 which included 7 UK Chart entries. I remember seeing these at Maker Festival a few years ago and I remembered it being quite dull. I also dropped my mobile phone in my pint as I tried to answer it so that says a little about what kind of state I was in. I may not be a fan but at lot of people are, as they continue to tour the country and released their sixth album last year. Their biggest hit was ‘Little Britain’ which got to #20 in the UK Charts…

Dreadzone are one of many bands returning from last year’s festival, so they were obviously a hit last year. You can see them on the Main Stage on Friday just before Goldie Lookin Chain. To check out some more Dreadzone, go to THEIR MYSPACE PAGE

THE VAN DANIELS
Before the onslaught of irish jiggery on Saturday evening are The Van Daniels, a indie-pop quartet similar to The Seahorses or Supergrass. The Dads in attendance are bound to love them. This video isn’t the best of quality so you’re probably better off heading to their myspace page if you want to hear these guys properly: THE VAN DANIELS MYSPACE

VINCE LEE & THE BIG COMBO
I must admit that upon visiting Vince Lee’s myspace page I couldn’t finish listening to a single song. But then, I’ve never been big on the Blues. However, Vince Lee is known for his great live performances and his guitar playing is quite exceptional. Perfect for sitting in the Sunday afternoon sun (hopefully!) with a cool beer helping you to regenerate before one last night of mayhem.

Vince Lee & The Big Combo just released a new album in February so if you want to check it out visit VINCE LEE MySpace

STRANGLE KOJAK
I’m not going to pretend that I’m a fan of their music, although their live shows sound better than their recordings.

I will make up my mind when I see them on the Saturday afternoon.

JOSIE & THE LOVECATS
Upon first listening to Josie & The Lovecats, they are very reminscent of The Dresdon Dolls but a closer inspection reveals there is much more going on here than just a simple DD clone. Josie has a lovely voice that make my ears smile. They’re a perfect choice to open Sunday’s proceedings and their music is very kind on the hungover brain. I’m speaking from experience. To hear more go to their myspace: JOSIE & THE LOVECATS MySpace

And that’s it for this week. It’s the weekend now and the weather is terrible. Surprise surprise!! Still, it’s FA Cup final day tomorrow. At least that’s something. Have a good time whatever you do and we’ll be back on Monday with Part 4 of our mega Volksfest Preview. Bye!

- Dom Cruise

***A QUICK NOTE***
The views of the author do not represent musiccrate.co.uk as a whole.

NEVILLE STAPLE
Neville Staple is the singer of legendary 2-tone ska band ‘The Specials’ who had a UK number one hit with ‘Ghost Town’, a song many of us can relate to as it’s about unemployment, which is also why I have the time to do things like this. They also had another UK number one hit with ‘Too Much Too Young’ which goes a little bit like this…

The lead singer there obviously was not Neville Staple, but he was to the side of the singer jumping about with his tambourine. To be honest I’m not even sure if he does any of The Special’s songs live but I can’t seem to find out anymore information. Either way, he’s a bit of a legend and I’m sure it will be an awesome show.

RICHARD JAMES & THE REDOUBT
Richard James is a local chap who has been making music for a very long time, citing his influences as Bob Dylan & The White Stripes. He’s toured all over europe and has supported Jamiroquai & Radiohead but probably remains best known round these parts. He seems to play at pretty much every music event in and around the city, including Maker Festival. Here’s what he sounds like on his own…

He will be playing with his band at Volksfest. I will be back at the tent drinking cheap cider. But if you like this you can listen to more at http://www.myspace.com/richardjamesmaker

PUBLIC IMITATION LIMITED
Last year, ‘The Sex Pistols Experience’ were the headliners on the Friday night. After 2 songs I had had enough and went elsewhere to seek entertainment. It’s not that i dislike Sex Pistols, or that the Sex Pistols Experience were rubbish. Its just that i’m not the biggest fan of tribute bands and as I stated in my 2009 Volksfest review for MusicCrate, it just doesn’t seem very punk rock. This year they’re keeping with the theme of John Lydon cover bands with Public Imitation Limited, a clever little ploy on Lydon’s Public Image Limited. I would show you a video but there’s no real point.

KERNUYCK
A per usual around these parts, you can get all the irish folk / blues / reggae you like at the festivals but the heavier acts tend to get left out. Kernuyck are a metal band from Cornwall and appear to be the only metal band on the bill which is a damn shame as local metal acts tend to be amusing at the very least. However, these guys made it to the final of the Evening Herald / Hippo Battle Of The Bands and judging by this video, they look pretty sweet…

That’ll do for today. Check back on Friday for Part 3 of our MEGA Volksfest preview.

- Dom Cruise

***A QUICK NOTE***
The views of the author do not represent musiccrate.co.uk as a whole.

The Undertones

At festivals like this, very often you don’t know who to go and see, and you usually find yourself hearing something you like when you’re sat at your tent and then when you do go and see a band it’s usually one of the crap ones. So over the next 2 weeks, I will be having a good look at the line-up and writing about my discoveries on here to help you decide who you might want to see and who you might want to give a miss…

The Undertones
First we have The Undertones who are famous for their hit ‘Teenage Kicks’, apparently John Peel’s favourite ever song. I’m not really sure of anything else they ever did but a quick look on wikipedia tells us that their biggest hit (and also only top 10 single) is actually a song called ‘My Perfect Cousin’. Let’s give that a go…

Damn. Forgot how awesome Subbuteo was! If you liked that, have a look for ‘Wednesday Week’, ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ or ‘Its Going To Happen’. Those three songs were all top 20 hits for the band. Spotify or Youtube them!

The Mahones
Canadian celtic punk rockers The Mahones have been around since 1988, having their biggest success during the mid to late 90’s. Fans of drunken Irish singalongs will be enjoying themselves the most on Saturday night as just before The Mahones, the very similar Mad Dog McRea will also be playing. Check this out:

It’s not what I would personally classify as punk, but I guess after a few tipples it could be fun. Not really my kinda thing and having these straight after Mad Dog could provide an intensely irratating couple of hours.

Auction For The Promise Club
These guys are a local Plymouth band, and the first scheduled band on the main stage on Friday. They also have a pretty singer, which always help. They state PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth etc etc and all the usuals as their influences, but they don’t sound too bad. Perfect early afternoon opening of festival kind of stuff.

Obviously this isn’t the best recording but you can go to there OFFICIAL MYSPACE page to check them out properly.

So there’s 3 of the bands from this years festival. I’ll be back with 4 more bands on Wednesday. See you then.

Dom Cruise

***A QUICK NOTE***
The views of the author do not represent musiccrate.co.uk as a whole.

The event kicks off mid day with a Mountain Board free ride session before a competition featuring some of the best riders in the world kicks off at 3pm. An outdoor stage will host various live bands and DJs whilst a BBQ will also be taking place.

In the afternoon, the bar will open in the Energy Room, which will be the venue for the rest of the nights entertainment including live sets from local faves like Hillside Heroes, Richard James and Hexadeci. The party doesn’t stop there, however, as after the bands there will be DJ sets from the likes of DJ Coy who has recently played with DnB legends such as Grooverider, Mampi Swift and Nicky Blackmarket, as well as sets from DJ Polo and DJ Skank Maggot.

With a graffiti demo from Andy Knights also included, this event has a lot going on. If you’re not worn out by the Sunday, a wind down session will be taking place with more bands tbc. Check back here to get the latest news on Rooster Park Open Day.

- Dom Cruise

Foot stomping folk with punk sensibilities, Exeter band Eat the Rich have a reputation for their live set. We spoke to Matt Brown of the band about love, loss and standing up for what you believe in

Describe the band Eat The Rich.

Eat The Rich is a high energy blast of heart-thumping music – folk played with the sensibilities of punk! With a rhythm section tight as a gnat’s chuff, great fiddle playing and thrashing guitar and soaring vocals you might love it or you might hate it, but it’s impossible to ignore it. Our songs are about love, loss, drinking and standing up for what we believe in – or sometimes just a rant, like Bull Bars! But above all you can dance to it – and buy yourself a little bit of freedom in this world. The deeper stuff’s there for those that want it but at the end of the day it’s good time music.

You say you ‘mug traditional songs in a dark alleyway’, where do you find the songs and what makes a tune/song endure?

Well, the songs come from all over the place. We write quite a few ourselves but the reality of gigging is that you have to do some cover versions as well or you don’t get booked. Songs range from straight covers of the likes of The Levellers and The Pogues, to covers you wouldn’t normally expect from a band like us, Holiday by Green Day, Higher Ground or Word Up, for example. The traditional songs are things like old standards such as Black Velvet Band or The Fields of Athenry. These are definitely mugged and played like punk tracks, usually with heavily distorted guitars and pounding rhythms.

A song endures, I think, if retains relevance. Songs about love and loss fall into this category. But some songs are so woven into our culture (like Black Velvet Band, Dirty Old Town etc) that they are comfortable and can be sung along to. Boring if that’s for the whole evening, but variety is spice of life. The tunes endure if they lift off and you can retain relevance by adding interesting backing and melding tunes together – we do quite a lot of that!

How long have you been going and what’s the biggest challenge in being a band/musician in the South West?

We’ve been together for five years now, although this is the fourth incarnation of the band. And the best yet. The main challenges of playing in the South West are that you have to play down the original material in order to get gigs. If you’re playing your own stuff you don’t mention it til afterwards when everyone’s enjoyed it. Which is brilliant when it happens – there’s no feeling like watching everyone dance and jump around to something we’ve written.

Other challenges are the distances we have to travel and that it’s a fairly enclosed scene. Your chances of being “discovered” gigging are pretty thin although they would be anywhere to be honest. The other challenge is trying to break into the festival circuit – really difficult if you don’t have the contacts and no one ever responds to your emails or telephone calls. Grr!

But the best gigs we do are usually out in the villages. Everyone gets really into it and are generally there for the night, so you can really whip up the atmosphere. In the cities the crowd are usually more self-conscious and also are usually on their way to somewhere else. But overall it’s great!

In your influences you mention your ‘eyes and ears and the headlines’. What’s the sort of thing that will inspire you to write a song, and how does the writing process evolve.

Influences are indeed eyes, ears and headlines. Often songs emerge with a tune that’s good but needs something else to go with it. Lyrically they often evolve out of personal experience or just thinking about stuff in an Exeter coffee shop! How they evolve is weird. Apples, for example, was written in about 10 minutes flat yet Bull Bars went in and out of the lab several times before we got it right.

Often we can be a bit too clever with a song and they are often better when they get taken back to the lab and have the unnecessary bits removed – a tight song is usually much better and most songs of four minutes and over benefit from having a bit chopped off. Even a bit you’re really proud of sometimes has to go. Murder your darlings! To be melodramatic about it. If a song has stopped going somewhere and is just repeating itself then 99 times out of 100 it’s time to end the song!

You are choka-bloc with gigs, what is your live appeal and how to you keep up the energy to perform so frequently?

Gigs are indeed flying in thick and fast. We’ve kept most Saturdays in the summer free to try and book festivals and weddings. We love doing those. But the list is filling up. We’re popular because we’re a really tight live act that gets the crowd going, gets people dancing and because we’ve found the balance between maintaining our distinctive style and sound yet providing enough variety.

Pounding tunes all night would quickly get boring and some things really work because of their rarity value. We also like to engage with the crowd and get people involved. I like to think of our gigs as events rather than just four blokes playing in a pub. If people are enjoying it then the energy is no problem! You give a bit, and if the crowd gives it back then you give a bit more and so on and so on until you have glorious night! In other words – we love playing live!

Is there anything you’d like to add?

Only thing to add is that we’re planning an album release in 2010. We’re in talks with a producer about it and hopefully it will give us a platform to get onto the next stage and give our fans something to play again and again.

We won’t be able to translate our live sound to CD – if that were possible then that’s all anyone would do but a gig is an event and if you’re not there then you won’t get the atmosphere. So instead we have to concentrate on production and making sure our songs are as good as they can be. Oh, our website should also be up and running by the end of 2009.

Subvert & Survive

Eat the Rich, thank you.

• Listen to Eat the Rich, and music from throughout the South West, on Radio Free South West.

Eat the Rich were number three in the Radio Free South West people’s chart for September

This article first appeared on the People’s Republic of South Devon

Exeter-based band Sound of the Sirens harmonised their way to number two of the Radio Free South West people’s chart last month. We caught up with them to talk about their performances, influences and what makes a perfect song

Who are you and what do you do in the band?

We are Lisa Eyre, vocals and percussion, Abbe Martin vocals and guitar, and Hannah Wood vocals and guitar

We don’t look at any of us as separate, as it’s the combination of the three of us that makes the complete sound. A lot of our music relies on harmonies and so we all have to work together in order to achieve the sound we want. Our rehearsals are always good fun and there is always a lot of eye contact between us on stage prompting each other and supporting each other. We are a good team.

How did you get together and how long have you been performing?

Before this we were all involved in music and performing through college or university in one way or another, but we all came together when Hannah moved to Exeter in 2004 ish. Our nights out ended with us singing and harmonizing our way home.

We finally put it to good use in a local functions band. We sang with The Loose Cannons from 2007-2008 at weddings, parties and various different functions. This band was great for us because it gave us the chance to perform together and showed us how much fun we could be having.

We made a decision to leave and began singing covers and writing original songs in summer 2008. Our first gig was in September of that year.

How would you describe your music?

Sometimes our music can be very sweet and lighthearted and at other times quite edgy and dark. I like to think that we don’t have one particular style. It’s nice to be flexible and put your stamp on anything.

Our lyrics come from writing together. We jot down conversations as we talk or listen to other people’s and use what they say. Sometimes the lyrics will be connected to an event or a person around at the time. We always find it hard to describe the type of music we sing. Some of faster songs are very rock influenced others quite folky and some a bit poppy.

Your influences include Blondie, Fall Out Boy and Coldplay, how do they figure in your song writing and performing?

We all have different tastes in music and are very open to listening to anything.

Obviously, all of the music you listen to influences you to some degree, even if you don’t like it! We all introduce different bands to each other and enjoy watching live music, where you are always going to be inspired by someone.

I don’t think that there is one person or band in particular that we have based our music on. We all enjoy listening to harmonies, so I guess bands with the ability to exploit this would appeal to us.

Listening to popular music gives you ideas for lyrics, how to arrange songs and lets you know what works. Our live performances aren’t based on anyone else’s style; we just have fun when we’re performing!

What makes a perfect song?

We all know the sorts of songs that people can’t help but sing along to, songs with catchy hooks that stay in your head all day. Songs that build up and leave you in suspense for the end so you are singing along passionately when it reaches that part.

Memorable lyrics, interesting use of language, lines that people repeat when the song has ended. This is how we know that we like a song! A tune that is easy to remember – can you whistle it? – that’s a good test! We don’t think there is a perfect song, but some songs are perfect for specific moments.

Sound of the Sirens, thank you

This article first appeared on the People’s Republic of South Devon

Chris Woods topped September’s Radio Free South West people’s chart. We caught up with the guitarist to find out more about his style, the Exmouth festival and Blue Onion Music

Explain a little about your style.

I think my style is best described as acoustic contemporary instrumental. It’s a real blend of stuff but has a degree of continuity because of the instrument it’s played on. In a way it kind of demonstrates how the guitar seems to have a role in all genres.

What are your influences, and musically, how have you arrived where you are?

Influences are as wide as you can go. I obviously take influence from other acoustic instrumental guitarists, but it has been a really mixed journey. I tend to approach things as a composer and not so much as a guitarist. By doing this you tend to have to push your technique any way to be able to achieve the desired effect. E.g. ‘I want this to sound like a funk bass line, thus, best learn to play slap guitar!’

You’re one of the people behind Blue Onion Music. Can you explain what Blue Onion Music is all about?

BOM is a hub for all things music. It has functioned well as a means to get acts for the festival and BOM nights, as well as to meet other promoters and services needed to run events. Essentially, it’s a point of contact for all music lovers.

You also organise the Exmouth festival. What’s involved with that, and does it help to have an experienced performer putting a festival together?

Running the Exmouth Festival is hard work. The festival is a community festval, so it goes beyond just booking and promoting and involves a lot of working towards developing cultural activity in the town. This makes it a challenging role but also really exciting and rewarding. I think being an experienced performer helps me have an understanding of arts and festivals on a broader level, meaning the festival is very much a ‘real’ and ‘honest’ event.

At the moment, you’re performing, composing and teaching guitar, as well as your work with the Exmouth Fesival and BlueOnionMusic? Which is the most fulfilling and how do you see your career developing?

WOW! All these jobs feed each other, I think being a teacher, organiser/promoter and musician benefits each position.

For example, teaching is a two-way thing. I find I become a better musician the more I teach. It also helps me to understand the way people think about music. Promoting or organising helps me understand how hard it is to get people out to gigs! Playing and composing gives me more to teach and helps me meet other musicians who I might book, so it’s all symbiotic, as a result each roll is kinda fulfilling because of the other.

Being a musician is not just about playing or composing, it’s also about community and people.

The music career is certainly on the move, I have just started working with Log-jam music as an endorsee of their stomp box, and with them we have plans for a nationwide tour and some dates abroad! So things are getting really exciting! It’s just great to see people enjoy your music.

Chris Woods, thank you

This article first appeared on the People’s Republic of South Devon