Villagers
Our Main Stage Saturday night headliner, Villagers. 2010 saw their debut album released on Domino Records - a Mercury
Prize nomination and Ivor Novello awards quickly followed. To say that their second album (due for a summer release) is
hotly anticipated is a big understatement. With very few live appearances scheduled for 2012 what better place to
hear the new album than at Deer Shed Festival? On both occasions we've seen them live the band have been absolutely
cooking despite the fragile nature of the record. Not to be missed.
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Track 1: Becoming A Jackal
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Track 2: The Pact - I'll Be Your Fever
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Saint Etienne
Friday night is party night and what better band to headline the main stage than Saint Etienne.
With their first album in seven years due for imminent release they are back on a self-proclaimed mission to save us
from landfill pop (although a more pressing need in our office is to be saved from landfill folk, but we'll let them off.)
The first single off the album 'Tonight' is a real piece of work, bouncing, cleverly capturing the feeling of getting
ready to see your favourite band apparently reducing Caitlin Moran to tears. The sound is breaking like a wave, top of the pop pile.
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Cherry Ghost
Cherry Ghost began in 2005, first as an alias for Simon Aldred as a solo artist, before morphing into a full band.
Simon's voice is outstanding. 'People Help The People' makes our top 20 songs ever, it won an Ivor Novello award, just listen to it
below. Just listen to it!!! We can't think of a better way to close the festival than an acoustic Cherry Ghost on our Main Stage
on Sunday afternoon. Part of the same Manchester scene that brought us Elbow, Doves and of course I Am Kloot.
We'll get round to them all eventually just you see if we don't.
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Los Campesinos!
Los Campesinos! (a Spanish name that roughly translates to 'the Peasants') unintentionally share
exclaimation marks and the same slot as last year's The Go Team! They also share some of their sound
we thinks, certainly the xylophones and big beats. But these seven young Cardiff hipsters have a much broader emotional base and
unmistakably indie roots. With hook laiden tunes spanning clumsy teenager years to inevitable heart
breaks expect an incendiary live show.
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Track 1: You! Me! Dancing!(long intro)
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Track 2: By Your Hand
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Field Music
Field Music are highbrow. Some would call them proggy - but this does them a huge disservice because
their complex sounds, songs and many musical hooks sound so effortlessly conceived. Not forced
or clever for clever's sake.
Perhaps this ease is due to the sibling musical connection between these two Sunderland brothers, who knows.
They are a band who you feel could enjoy a revival in twenty years, really stand the test of time,
because Field Music sound like Field Music and no-one else.
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School Of Seven Bells
Our last big act to confirm this year and we can't help but feel we have somehow arrived (whether we get to stay is another matter.)
Running an independent festival with a scary looking budget inevitably has downs as well as ups.
Today the downs don't matter because we've booked School Of Seven Bells.
From New York City, named after a fictional South American pickpocket training academy and sharing
DNA with My Bloody Valentine's Loveless.
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Beth Jeans Houghton
& The Hooves Of Destiny
We introduce one of the most self-assured new artists of the year. Utterly unlike anything else you're
likely to hear in 2012, an original one-off 'on the fast track to glory', one of The Independent's top ten
acts likely to make it big. You get the idea. Effortlessly mixing folk with glam pop (glamp?) we're not quite
sure how she does it. Beth and her band take our main stage on Saturday afternoon and they'll be dressed to impress.
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Dutch Uncles
When we went to see these guys recently we couldn't take our eyes off their singer Duncan Wallis such
was his intensity on stage. We love this band, taking much in terms of influences from many of our favourites
including Adrian Belew era King Crimson, Steve Reich and XTC. Such clever minimalist guitar noodling makes for a compelling
live show and before all you girls run off it's also pop and it's fun despite most songs having 'prime numbers above three'
beats per bar. Our Friday night In The Dock Stage headliner.
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Human Don't Be Angry
Big whoop in the office when this confirmed.
We are big, huge, big, huge fans of Malcolm Middleton and if you're not then you will be when you see him.
A good starting point is his 2009 album Waxing Gibbous. His more recent musical project is Human Don't Be Angry
which sees him stray into a more experimental minimalist guitar noodling world. We have a sneek copy of his new album which we
can't stop playing.
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Cashier No 9
Much like The Thrills, Cashier No 9 from Belfast have a west coast of America (wall of) sound that
belies their roots. The album, produced by David Holmes and out on Bella Union is always dreamy even in it's most upbeat moments.
There is a seemingly endless stream of 6 music worthy singles queuing up to be released. Sound of the 2012 summer?
'Make You Feel Better' is a sickening reminder that there is a certain sort of evening on the beach that is simply not
available in the UK, which paradoxically makes us feel worse. Never mind.
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The Staves
Beautiful, beautiful folk pop from these three Watford sisters who grew up in a house that echoed to the sounds
of Simon & Garfunkel. They are just off to tour with the über-cool The Civil Wars
in the states, who also manage to do folk without any of the novelty waistcoat quirks that infect even UK nu-folk.
With the same kind of sibling harmonies and understanding that also serves First Aid Kit so well The Staves
are hotly tipped by The Guardian and The Observer to be one of the acts of 2012.
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Janice Graham Band
Proof once again that the trumpet is the coolest instrument you can get your kids to play, good luck with that.
JGB ooze swagger. Violence is seemingly a recurring theme, which makes a change, bet they have a thing or
two to say about banjos. It's rare outside of
delta blues that you hear a tune about doing in the missus and getting away with it - we'll have a workshop on this.
Intelligent social comment à la Artic Monkeys over a reclaimed but authentic ska backdrop.
Liary and scary in equal measure. Ace.
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Ellen And The Escapades
Yorkshire is nowhere near as gloomy as it looks in this promo shot. Tinkering on the edge of the void
we present Ellen And The Escapades. Luckily the music is anything but, Ellen's voice is deliciously dusky (or is it husky)
leading a cooking band to create a sound with Yorkshire portions of meat on it, they all give it plenty of pasty
(as we say up here) - which is always preferable in any folky band of course. Glastonbury fest Emerging Talent Winners
and festival veterans will no doubt make for a great lake side show on Saturday night.
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Track 1: When The Tide Creeps In
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Track 2: Preying On Your Mind
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Paul Thomas Saunders
Hidden beneath an always impressive fringe we find the Prince-esque stature of Paul Thomas Saunders.
If you attended our first festival offering in 2010 at some point before the beer crisis you might have caught Paul.
Whilst we generally feel uncomfortable about having bands back without good reason, in the case of Paul, we have good
reason. Certainly fulfilling his early promise his latest material is sublime. What is more Paul and his fine band
seemingly effortlessly recreate the reverb sodden sound of his records live.
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Track 1: Appointment In Samarra
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Track 2: Good Time Rags and Requiems
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Laki Mera
Back by very popular public demand Laki Mera make a welcome return visit to
Topcliffe in 2012. Selling more CDs than any other band last year, Glaswegian band Laki Mera
mix up guitars and synths to produce a unique sound with Laura Donnelly's beautiful voice the
icing on the cake. If you missed them last year catch them in our dead atmospheric
mini big top on Saturday.
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Treetop Flyers
Winners of the Glastonbury Festival Emerging Talent Competition in 2011 before the toilets ran out. The Treetop Flyers are a finely tuned
festival machine - their music is a blend of folk and rock which mixes so well with beer and sunshine on a Saturday early afternoon
Main Stage. But there is much more to this band than just winning the ultimate battle of the festivals bands. They beautifully
capture the sound of 1970s America. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young or the Fleet Foxes, take your pick.
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Rachel Sermanni
Rachel is an immensely talented Scottish singer. One to watch in 2012 she has already collaborated with
Mumford & Sons and supported Michael Kiwanuka. As we type the Scottish leg of her tour is completely sold out,
not a bad start at the tender age of 19. A beautiful voice, a dextrous picker and music that evokes the Scottish
countryside and as we all know, North trumps South.
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The Lost Brothers
We had The Lost Brothers come do a show for us in Thirsk way back when, we had a great night and they were
some of the best eaters of cheese round the late night supper table we ever had. They also put on a super show.
Pitching their stylistic tent somewhere between Buddy Holly and The Everly Brothers
the Irish duo plough an often jaunty folk furrow with a homely and friendly quality to the vocals that point towards
a strong Simon and Garfunkel influence. Never plough a field that's got tents in it though.
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We Were Evergreen
Providing the perfect sound track to Sunday morning cake baking dressed head to toe in Cath Kidston
we present We Were Evergreen. Echoing Belle And Sebastian this handsome Parisian trio have a playground Joie De Vivre with songs about penguins, moonboots and
K.I.S.S.I.N.G. in trees. Lovely boy-girl harmonies, ukuleles, a dash of electro, an expresso and Sunday paper.
Perfect.
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Rae Morris
Rae is a teenage [sobs] piano playing singer songwriter from Blackpool. Why can we not stop thinking of Yvette Fielding in
old skool kids show Seaview? Such imaginings are likely to do nothing to endear her to us so we'll quickly state that she is an enormous
breath of sonic fresh air. A combination of a particularly distinctive voice (hints of Cindy Lauper?)
and great tunes written on piano (and therefore having that 'pushed away' rather than 'held close' quality) sets her way apart from
the current crop of debutantes.
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Tupelo
Tupelo are five young men who take the essence of deep south, dixie-style, fiddle-led acoustic and combine
it with gutsy Irish-folk in the vein of that country's great balladeers. Their music is a flurry of roots,
rockabilly, bluegrass, country, folk and rock 'n' roll… often displayed all in the same song. The band's front man
and songwriter James Cramer delivers a tough, honest take on bad times and good times, struggles and triumphs,
high spirits and solemn hopes - all in his own untainted accent, all in his own untainted words.
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Woodenbox
We caught these guys playing with Washington Irving at an always excellent
The Kids Are Solid Gold show.
Sporting at least three George Harrisons Woodenbox hale from all over Scotland. Formerly Woodenbox With A Fistful Of Fivers
(proving the even band names cannot escape these austere times) these guys have built a cracking reputation for raucous
live shows, 'fusing old school country rhythms with mariachi horns' and loads of other stuff besides we'd say.
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Washington Irving
Our friend Pete who runs The Northern Line put
Washington Irving at the top of their best band of 2011 poll (along with us as best northern festival, ah schuks.)
Indie folk pop that makes us feel warm inside. If you enjoyed Admiral Fallow last year these guys will be right up your
street, the accent melts us we will admit that. Taking just enough (but not too much) from traditional Scottish
arrangements these guys seem to instinctively create great drinking music with enough highs to dance and enough lows
to weep into your pint.
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Club Smith
Opening the Main Stage on Friday and setting the tone for the evening, we intend you to party make no mistake.
Club Smith seem to deliver their message very quickly with anthemic shouty choruses (but not in that
irritating North East oh-oh kinda way, why do bands do that?). From Leeds they are currently supporting the Kaiser
Chiefs on their tour which makes sense for that job requires a band with mucho confidence and Club Smith are sure
fire sonic kick up the arse.
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AKϟDK
AKϟDK, winning the prize for the best promo shot, could be improved if the SH-101 were one of the rarer
blue or red ones and had the hand grip attached, but we're spliting hairs. Yes there is a synth geek amongst us.
If only all bands that contacted us were as interesting as these guys, an electronic improv duo they are
by all accounts Brighton's best live band. Ticking even more of our boxes the band's recent EP was released
on multi-coloured cassettes. Nice. The very least we can do is to find a unicode lightening strike.
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The Glendale Family
I think we can now say The Glendales are our house band, returning for a third year. They are the
purveyors of good vibes and the perfect accompaniment to some late beers in our lounge bar.
We love them. We love them because they are well and truely up for it
and are likely to be the last men and women standing after everyone else has turned in.
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Moody Gowns
Out of the ashes of one of our fave bands from last year (Yonderboy) we have Moody Gowns.
A band name often tells you a lot, and it'll be hard to write this biog without mentioning that they are,
at first glance at least, quite mental. Digging deeper their 'soon to be sectioned' sound
is surprisingly contagious and bears many repeated listens just to get to the bottom of what's going on. This much we
know, they will make for a great live show.
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Track 1: I Wish That We Weren't Mammals
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Track 2: Now I See what's Wrong With School
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Sam Airey
A return visit to the festival for Sam after lots of radio play in recent weeks.
Sam is a 23 year old folk artist originally from the Isle of Anglesey but he managed to escape to Leeds.
Drawing influence from contemporary and traditional folk music along with country and Americana.
Gaining an increasing amount of plaudits, including Steve Lamacq, his live performances have
garnered comparisons to such notable songsmiths as Nick Drake, Conor Oberst and Fionn Regan.
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Pale Seas
Pale Seas are a Southampton five piece with the ability to craft stunningly beautiful pop songs.
Tinged with Americana folk, yet jarred with English self-depreciation, if there were to be a hallowed union
of Beach House and Galaxy 500, then Pale Seas would surely be that love child - the bands intimate and
nocturnal sound is potent enough to melt even the iciest of hearts.
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R M Hubbert
Hubby to his friends (so we're gonna be very presumptous) is a guitarist from Glasgow.
Hubby was suggested to us by Malcolm Middleton's label Chemikal Underground. They say,
'he writes music about love, death, friendship, mental illness and occasionally a dog called D Bone.'
We know dogs and this promo shot suggests their relationship needs some urgent work.
Hubby's technical prowess, combined with the initmacy of his shows has secured his reputation as an
unmissable live performer. Really nice stuff.
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Monument Valley
One Monument Valley is a cluster of vast sandstone 'buttes' on the Colorado Plateau where they shot
that loony Dr Who episode. The other is Ned Younger - who's surname only underlines yet again how
sickeningly talented (and young) the latest crop of singer-songwriters are. With so many solo singer-songwriters
about it must be hard to stand out with only one's inner depths to differentiate you.
Round and Round draws you in with a lovely little subtle hook on the chorus. Dear John Letters is
Frank Turner quality.
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Boat To Row
Grass Market, the title of Boat To Row's recent EP has started an office argument spanning the generations.
Is it just the best place to get steaming in Edinburgh and/or an old fashioned livestock market.
Boat To Row are a modern folk band. Willy Mason, Johnny Flynn and Slow Club have all been supported by
these guys. In a world of iPads, telly on demand and evenings spent trying to sync your kid's frigging mp3 player
we feel there is a simpler life to be had somewhere, probably on that there grass market.
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Arthur Rigby & The Baskervylles
Arthur Rigby & the Baskervylles are an 8-piece Orchestral Pop band, based in Leeds. The sound the band creates is a
genuinely beautiful mixing pot of lush orchestrations, poetic lyrics, romantic melodies and powerful energy.The music is
the invention of front man and guitarist Benjamin, scoring songs for violins, piano, bass, trumpet, trombone, saxophone
and flute. Strongly influenced by Neil Hannon I'm sure you'll agree.
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Serious Sam Barrett
Serious Sam is an old friend of the festival and was one of quite a few people's highlights in 2010.
With his old Stella guitar (a brand famously used by bluesman Robert Johnson) and white vests Sam
is more swampside than seaside with his own blend of bluegrass mixed up with traditional US folk and
English folk influences. He plays a mixture of his own and traditional tunes, so good are his own tunes it's hard
to know which is which.
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Gary Stewart
We've lost count of the number of times we've seen Gary support other folks at The Brudenell Social Club in Leeds
(surely the UK's best venue with the UK's worst car park.) He is a safe pair of hands, a Scottish singer/songwriter who
has carved out a strong fan-base in his adopted home of Leeds and around the UK with songs about paranoia, love and
prostitution. When not playing his own shows Gary also does time with Hope And Social and as one of Ellen's Escapades.
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Beccy Owen
It has been known that in her hometown of Newcastle people have queued around the block to get into
one of Beccy Owen's shows, such is her following. Becky is an all round good egg who as well
as performing herself is involved in many local music projects as well as educational programmes.
Expect some inspirational music workshops as well as performances. She is on a self-proclaimed mission
against 'fat-cat-pop-machine-mediocrity'. Nuff said.
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Pip Mountjoy
Pip is a 17 year old singer-songwriter from Richmond in North Yorkshire, just up the road.
We prefer her hair sassy curly so we've not used the straight hair picture she sent, sorry Pip, but as far as promo shots
go we're the doctors with letters after our names. Pip is part of the BBC Introducing rodeo and is therefore supporting
upcoming Roddy Woomble, Beth Jeans Houghton and Slow Club shows. Not a bad start to a career and we like her songs very much.
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