Featured News
Bernicia Rising
02 weeks ago
by wear6334
in Featured News
South Shield’s this year is hosting it’s very own arts festival Bernicia and alongside that Bernicia Rising which aims to showcase young emerging talent from across the North East.
Bernicia Rising also offers young musicians the chance to win a spot to perform alongside the likes of Lulu James and The Little Comets at The Customs House, where Bernicia festival will take place.
Organisers of the event are looking for original artists and bands from South Shields, aged between 15-19, who are encouraged to upload a track to Bernicia Rising’s SoundCloud group.
All of the tracks uploaded will be the judged by a panel of music experts and the finalists will then be given the opportunity to perform at Bernicia Rising.
Musicians and bands will then perform at South Shield’s Amphitheatre on June 8th alongside headliner and Bernicia act Athletes in Paris. After the event, one act will be chosen to open Bernicia’s main stage and will be given 10 tickets to the festival.
The guidelines of how to apply for Bernicia Rising
1. One track to be uploaded per artist.
2. All acts must be available to play on both Saturday June 8th and Sunday August 4th.
3. All acts must have AT LEAST three original tracks. No covers will be permitted.
4. All acts must be from the South Shields area, and members must be between 15-19 years old.
5. Window for entering opens May 1st, and closes May 20th.
6. Finalists will be notified by May 28th.
7. Each finalist will be given 2 tickets to Bernicia Festival.
8. Winning act will given 10 tickets to Bernicia Festival.
Bernicia Festival
02 weeks ago
In the North East we are not known for our festivals however South Shield’s is not letting that stop them hosting their very own alternative arts festival, Bernicia.
Due to take place on Sunday August the 4th at The Customs House, the town’s historic arts venue, Bernicia aims to bring together creative talent within the North East for a day of live music, vintage shopping, arts and film.
At the heart of the festival is the music, which is all home-grown talent, and features rising stars from South Shields it’s self.
The much anticipate line-up of regional artists has been announced and we are happy to say it’s a cracking list of the who’s who of local music. . .
Set to headline the festival are The Little Comets. The band are one of the most successful acts the North East has produced, as they have won over audiences worldwide with their unique indie rock sound.
Set to join them will be Lulu James, a South Shield’s girl herself. Lulu James is currently set to take the UK by storm with her emotive electronic soul music when she joins with Email Sande to support her on her European tour.
Next up are hard rockers Boy Jumps Ship who have support from the likes of BBC Radio 1 and Kerrang Magazine who describe their music as: “enigmatic sound bites nestled between soaring refrains that wouldn’t disgrace Biffy Clyro.”
Further representing South Shields will be Natasha Haws an emerging talent within the North East music scene. Her first single was released last year and received much praise including support from BBC Radio One’s Huw Stephens.
The rest of the line-up includes a mix of bands and artists including the psychedelic Symphonic Pictures, The Minotaurs, melancholic pop band The Union Choir, garage rock duo Gallery Circus, dark pop Maps Are Fiction, alternative folk outfit Crooked Hands, electronic duo Lionhall, quirky Athletes In Paris, The Railway club, singer-song writer Faith Elliot, indie-folk singer Suntrapp and South Shield’s very own Little Red.
The festival will take place on August the 4th at The Customs House, South Shields. Tickets will be distributed via a lottery system, more information on which will be released shortly. To keep up to date with the festival follow it’s official blog : http://berniciafestival.wordpress.com
Masamune to rock out in April
01 month ago
by wear6334
in Featured News
Masamune
Masamune are a four-piece Rock band who formed within The Bunker, the city’s music recording rooms, and they have landed the opportunity to play a supporting slot at the 02 Academy.
The band are due to supports Fearless Vampire Killers, a death pop band from Beccles, at 02 Academy 2 in Newcastle on Thursday 18th April 2013.
This comes after they successfully launched their new EP ‘Masquerade’ and music video last month with an EP launch in a packed Plugged Inn, with an audience of 100 people.
(You can read a review of their EP Here)
Neil Anthony, lead singer of the band, said, “It’s a good feeling to be selected to play with a band that is, well supported enough, to headline a smaller stage at Download Festival. We feel it’s a step in the right direction for us to support a touring band at the O2 Newcastle. This gig will be a great opportunity for us to show a different crowd of people what we are about and we’ll hopefully pick up new fans along the way.”
Tickets for the Fearless Vampire Killers gig are available from the O2 Academy website for £8.05 (includes booking fee). Alternatively, fans of Masamune can get guest list tickets directly from the band by contacting masamunemusic@hotmail.co.uk.
Sunderland musician on a roll
01 month ago
by wear6334
in Featured News
Local musician Chris Binding has been working on his solo career since 2011. He has regularly performed throughout the North East and has became well known within the music scene for his use of a 30 loop pedal, which gives his music a distinctive sound.
Now a year on he is ready to release his first single ‘Sleep On A Dream’ which was recorded and produced by another local musician and friend Paul Liddell. The single is now available on Bandcamp to download.
As well as this Chris has directed and produced a music video for local rapper B-Type, also from Sunderland. The video is for the rappers latest single ‘House Is Not A Home’ and signals a change in his sound what Chris describes as “Unconventional compared to his chip-tune stuff”.
Sunderland Soundscape Festival
02 months ago
by wear6334
in Featured News
Sunderland Soundscape festival is a new North East festival set to ‘bring music to the heart of the city’.
Come next month the city centre on, April 20th, will be bursting at the seams with local musicians taking over various Sunderland venues, to show the public what the North East music scene has to offer.
The festival will be a free event all-day event and coincides with this year’s National Record Store Day – So while you are out checking out the acts you can also pop down to Hot Rats, Sunderland’s vinyl shop, and checkout the exclusive vinyl’s released to celebrate Record Store Day.
On the day you will can expect to see a host of musicians such as The Lake Poets, Paul Liddell, Reckoner and This Little Bird who will be playing in such venues as Plugged Inn, Pure, Independent 2, Krispy Kreme, Pandora and Lush.
Therefore while you are shopping in town or even having a cuppa you will gain an insight into the musical talents we have in the North East.
The festival is hoped to promote the regions artists and and to inspire the next generation of musicians.
Soundscape twitter
Split Festival Announces Fallow Year
02 months ago
by wear6334
in Featured News
Organisers of Sunderland’s Split Festival have announced that there will be no festival in 2013, but have promised that Split will return in 2014, with a bigger and even better event.
Split Director, Barry Hyde, explained the decision: “We have decided to follow in the footsteps of the greatest festival on Earth, Glastonbury. Every four, or so, years Glasto has a fallow year. This is for many reasons, to rest the land, to make improvements and to give The Futureheads time and space to write and record our sixth and hopefully greatest album to date.
“We will still be organising some special events throughout the year and we look forward immensely to Split 2014! With this fallow year, we can make Split 2014 our best ever.”
After four consecutive successful festivals, from 2009-2012, the organisers are keen to improve the event even further and have also began working with The Arts Council in order to develop the infrastructure and foundations of the business side of Split.
Ross Millard from Split Festival explained: “Even though the festival only lasts a weekend, there is so much work to do in preparation that we now really need to take stock of so many things from a logistical point of view.With this in mind we the Split team are working with a number of organisations, such as The Arts Council, and have also held consultation meetings with other well known festivals, so we can create a better organised infrastructure, so, if you like, Split is bigger, better and structurally stronger.
“In the meantime, we are already planning a number of Split fringe events, which we’ll announce in due course.”
Nately’s Whore’s Kid Sister to headline at regional festival
02 months ago
by wear6334
in Featured News
Nately’s Whore’s Kid Sister
An upcoming North East band who have been playing music together for four years now are to play their biggest gig yet.
Nately’s Whore’s Kid Sister have been for the past year pulling in crowds of roughly 100 people while performing in the North East.
Slowly but surely the alternative metal band have been building up their fan base with the release of their debut EP ‘Ribs’ earlier last year.
And now all of the hard work the five-piece band from Newcastle have put in looks like it has paid off.
The band have been picked to headline one of main stages at this year’s Stockton Calling Festival where they will perform to their biggest crowd yet, an expected 1,100 people.
The band in response to been asked to headline said: “It’s a privilege to be asked to play Stockton Calling, let alone headline.”
The band will now join the festivals list of prestigious artists who have previously headlined over the years, which includes artists such as King Charles and The Pigeon Detectives.
It is all thanks to local music magazine NARC and Keep Your Eyes open (Kyeo.TV) website that the band have been given this opportunity.
The magazine and website are hosting The Green Room stage which is one of the seven stages at the festival that will host over 50 artists on the day.
This will be the first time the magazine and website have hosted a stage before at Stockton Calling, which takes place on Saturday, March 30 and tickets are now available to purchase online.
Adam Clery, editor of Kyeo.TV website said: “Metal music is not for everyone but in terms of live performances Nately’s Whore’s Kid Sister are unique – It is just total carnage.”
Nately’s Whore Kid Sister, simply put, are the best live experience in the region.”
Cluny Tunes Presents. . . The Generals & Beth Macari
02 months ago
by wear6334
in Featured News
Yes it is a play on the classic Loony Tunes however instead of Bugs Bunny you will find some of the regions most promising emerging musicians at centre stage.
The whole purpose behind the night is to promote local music that has been recorded at the Cluny’s very own studios which have been supporting local talent over the last 25-years.
This months in stallement of homegrown music comes from Newcastle songstress Beth Macari. Currently promoting her newly released debut EP ‘Find A Better You’ she will be performing on the night her new matierial with thebacking of her band ‘The Beth Macari Band’, known for their diverse blend of soul and funk.
Also performing are The Generals a indie/rock band hailing from Sunderland who have previously featured on Split Festival and will be launching their new songs at Cluny Tunes.
Evolution Emerging Applications!
03 months ago
by wear6334
in Featured News
Attention North East bands! It is that time of year again when Generator are looking for fresh new ‘emerging’ talent to perform as part of Evolution Emerging – the Generator’s take over of Ouseburn Valley’s multiple music venues.
The festival will take place on Saturday 25th May over the same weekend as Evolution, which takes place either side of the banks of the Tyne. For the first time one lucky artist will be offered the chance to open the main stage at this years Evolution Festival, Sunday 26th to Monday 27th May – Tickets for Evolution are available now Here.
How to apply
Artists have from now until Wednesday 20th February (11:59pm) and to apply using Generators 3 step application process:
Step 1 - Complete the Generator’s application form Here
Step 2 - Submit 1 track via Soundcloud
Step 3 - Share your track
Once you have submitted your track through STEP share your Soundcloud track’s URL on the official Evolution Emerging Facebook Event Page
Once the application deadline of February 20th has expired Generator & Evolution Festival will invite a panel of North East music tastemakers and evolutionaries to listen to all submissions and vote for their favorites. Successful artists will be informed from the end of February & Generator will announce the full Evolution Emerging lineup in March.
The Cluny Celebrate their 10th Birthday
07 months ago
The Cluny, one of Newcastle’s established music venues, are celebrating their tenth Birthday in style this month.
The birthday celebrations planned will feature live performances from Mercury Nominated Field Music, well loved melancholic acoustic band The Lake Poets and a very special & unfortunately sold out performance by The Futureheads.
It is not simply the case of one big party. No The Cluny are doing it in style over four days over which they are hosting six special Birthday gigs across the beginning 1st November.
The full list of gigs taking place …
November 1st Minotaurs / The Lake Poets
November 2nd : Catfish Keith at The Cluny 2
November 3rd : Top Boy Round Here at The Cluny 2
November 3rd: The Futureheads
November 4th: Serious Sam Barrett/ David Broad in the Cluny bar
November 4th: Dreaming Spires/ Kontiki Suite