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.

Singer / songwriter Nemo Jones provided a very chilled atmosphere on the Saturday afternoon, which was ideal for kicking off the day. His acoustic folk songs were very much in the vain of John Mayer but to the audience he mainly provided background music whilst they caught up with what they did the previous night, which was unfortunate.

Despite suffering to begin with due to the soundman not knowing they were playing, Lemanis were typically captivating. They played an acoustic set but were still accompanied by members of their Orchestra which helped make songs like ‘Colosseum’ and ‘A Witches Dog’ seem huge. A full Lemanis set at a festival is very much needed.

Plymouth Student Battle of the Bands winners Port Bandanas played to a fairly decent crowd (considering the early festival slot) but their brand of Rootjoose-esque funk rock was the perfect antidote to the Sunday hangover most of us were trying to fight off. Their infectious onstage presence kept the attention of the audience and despite a few techinical glitches, songs like ‘Highway’ kept people moving, albeit mostly in their seats.

Local favourites The Scribes did a fantastic job of working up the crowd and got most of the Main Stage jumping for much of their performance, getting them ready for headliners Stereo MCs. Despite being cautious about watching a bunch of men in their late 40’s playing songs as old as much of the audience, they were as energetic as the younger bands over the weekend, if not more, and they kept the crowd going right till the end although playing hit single ‘Connected’ at the end probably helped.

Dom Cruise

AC: Hey Adam. That was a lovely acoustic set there, but not without it’s problems?

AR: No there were a few sound issues but the poor sound guy didn’t know we were coming and a had a bit of a surprise..A 9 piece-band surprise! But after the problematic start, it started to gel quite nicely, especially at the end.

AC: The second album, ‘The Truth About Push Me Pull You’, has been out for a few months now, how has it been received?

AR: Amazingly well. All of the reviews have been positive and very complimentary, and we’ve been selling out of the CD’s at gigs too, so it obviously is striking a chord.

AC: Have you been writing any new material for a follow up yet, or just concentrating on promoting the album?

AR: Well we’ve all started writing new material already, and there seems to be a change in the approach. Whereas with the last record we wrote almost exclusively in the studio, this time everyone’s bringing their own contributions in to practice that they’ve already written. Don’t get me wrong, writing in the studio is a lot of fun, but it changes what you come up with, and can be quite expensive! So at the moment we’re just going through the ideas, and everyones got some which is nice.

AC: So will we see some appear in any of your forthcoming gigs?!

AR: At some point sure. We’ve been playing the songs from the album for a while now, almost 2 years for some of them, and it’s always nice to try something different out live.

AC: What gigs have you got coming up?

AR: The next one is back at the Hippo on the 12th June, and then we’re going to be in Wales in July at the Toucan club in Cardiff and the Bloom Festival in August which we’re really excited about.

AC: Excellent. Finally, are you doing anything with your side project Building Estoban?

AR: Well I’m always writing and have been working on my third LP for a while now. At some point I hope to do a show but only if I can get enough people to faithfully reproduce the vision that’s captured on the recordings. If I can do that then you can expect to see the Estoban show at some point later in the year.

Interview by Anthony Clifford

For more information on Lemanis and Building Estoban, visit:

www.myspace.com/lemanisband

www.myspace.com/buildingestoban

Anthony Clifford

Catching him twice in two days – supporting Lemanis at the B Bar on Friday, then in the Volksfest acoustic tent on Saturday afternoon – it is clear to see that Simon not only has a solid repetoire of solo numbers, but also a sound that has developed beyond his former group endeavours.

With an acoustic guitar, an array of carefully chosen effects, and a simple but well thought out looping system providing percussion (through guitar tapping and the legendary sound of the egg maracas), Si uses his confident vocals to drive his songs to the audience. The tunes themselves are partly reminiscent of Moses Gunn, but with a personal touch which removes them from his musical past and cements them as the basis for a solo expedition. Often adult in their theme, Si doesn’t mince words in his songs – lyric wise, what you hear is what you get.

Stand out numbers from Saturday’s set were an engaging and original version of Rihanna’s Umbrella, and a ’shut up and have sex’ ballad called ‘Tell Me With Your Body’, which had mothers ushering their young’uns out of the marquee when Si introduced it. They don’t know what they’re missing.

Si Holmes is planning a number of gigs in Plymouth and the South West in the near future, and I’d highly recommend catching him if you can. The man has a vision for the future, and it’s well worth a listen.