Posts tagged The Smittens

I love Indietracks.

In preparation for writing this, I’ve been concerned that anything I say is just going to be horribly gushing.  I’ve gone over the weekend again and again looking for negatives to include in this.  I didn’t come up with very much.  This is a festival that can seemingly do no wrong to me, and what’s written below will reflect that.

With that said, let’s jump aboard the train toward the Midland Railway Centre in Derbyshire for a look back at this year’s Indietracks.

FRIDAY

I skipped out on the Friday opening of the festival last year, a decision I immediately regretted upon getting there, so this year I went for the full experience.  Granted this meant a lovely drive up on the M1 on a Friday afternoon which took a mere five hours.  Friday is more of a preview of the weekend rather than a proper day of it’s own.  Only the main stage is open, with only three bands playing, but it’s enough to let everyone get settled in for the weekend ahead.

By the time I got in to the site, Veronica Falls were already about halfway through their set, meaning I missed out on a debacle that apparently saw their soundcheck being confused for their actual performance.  Now I quite like Veronica Falls (or rather I like Found Love in a Graveyard), but the rest was pretty much lost on me, so most of the time was taken getting reacquainted with the site itself, and admiring the two hot air balloons that decided to pass over the site at the same time.

Next up were Allo Darlin’, a band I have spent the last year or so raving about, and have managed to see a record five times in the past six months.  I was a little concerned about seeing them as I couldn’t really get into their set at the Luminaire on the previous Wednesday, but any worries were quickly dispelled by just how much they threw themselves into it, and how much the crowd reciprocated.  One of the best things about Indietracks is how happy almost every band seems to be to be playing there, and nothing summed that up more than the massive grin Bill Botting had on his face throughout their set.  All of the usual favourites were busted out, from The Polaroid Song (which had some added Walk Like An Egyptian) to Henry Rollins Don’t Dance to Dreaming, which saw Max from The Smittens ably taking over the male vocal duties from Monster Bobby.  By the time the enthralling Tallulah was brought out (a brave move in a festival environment), it felt as if they could easily be headlining the festival as a whole.  Yet we’re only two bands in.

The Friday headliners come in the form of Eddie Argos’ side project Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now!.  Art Brut were a mildly controversial choice as a headliner last year, but Argos’ enthusiasm for the festival and it’s music along with a superb performance seemed to win everyone over.  This year he had to convince people to go with a band that spends it’s time “responding” to other people’s pop songs, including many that no one has ever heard of it.  It’s a tall order for sure, and it’s one of the reason I’ve yet to be won over by the record itself.  Somewhat inevitably though, Argos takes to the stage with such excitement that it’s hard not to be pulled in by him.  While it seems at times that the stories between the songs are more fun than the songs themselves (the lead in to Billie’s Genes, a response to a certain Michael Jackson classic, was a particular highlight), you end up going along with it completely.  It’s clear that Argos feels at home at Indietracks (he cites sadness at having to miss MJ Hibbett and Shrag on the other days) even if his music isn’t necessarily the same.  By the time the band finish up with Formed a Sideproject (“we’ll make Israel-Palestine worse”), it’s almost inevitable that he’ll be back again next year in some form.

SATURDAY

After a quick Tesco breakfast, I was back on the site bright and early which enabled me to raid the merch tent, where I ended up walking out with 6 Fortuna Pop! CDs for a mere £20, and then got an extra one for cheekily asking if I got a free gift for being the first buyer of the day.  Can’t believe that worked, but it goes to show just how lovely indiepoppers are.

The first band of the day were The Hillfields in the train shed.  I wasn’t familiar with them beforehand and went along partly because they were the only band on that early and partly because the drummer sent me a cheeky tweet asking me to.  I’m quite glad that I did though, as while they weren’t the most spectacular band I saw all weekend they were rather enjoyable.  I was particularly impressed by their bowling shirt style uniforms too.

Over to the main stage for Red Shoe Diaries, who turned out to be first great surprise of the weekend.  Indietracks was the first I’d ever heard of them, and their slightly awkward banter between the songs revealed that they were perhaps the most local band of the festival, with the lead singer having grown up “just down the road”.  Their songs were fun and poppy too, ideal for the bright Saturday afternoon that the day was developing into.

After a quick gander at The Felt Tips (also enjoyable), it was back to the main stage to see This Many Boyfriends, one of the bands I was most excited about seeing.  Their Getting a Life With… EP has been one of the best releases of the last few months.  While the start seemed a little shaky, by the time they reached their hit I Don’t Like You (‘Cos You Don’t Like The Pastels), any doubt had been removed.  Their pure joy and enthusiasm to be playing (including a rambling anecdote about how they have Ballboy to thank) made them all the more enjoyable.

There wasn’t much on after that for a while so it was time for a cursory wander of the site.  That was until I could hear La La Love You playing on the main stage.  Now I had no idea who they were, only that they sounded utterly insane even from a distance.  Songs were being powered through at seemingly the wrong speed, so it seemed prudent to check them out.  Little could have prepared me for the sight of five Spaniards in bright pink satin jackets playing like there was no tomorrow.  Now, I say five, but what I actually mean is four, and a fifth member who didn’t appear to be playing any kind of plugged in instrument, just running around on stage pretending to play things and having the time of his life.  This reached a head with him leaping into the audience to dance with a girl the band decided to dedicate a song to in very broken English.  The whole exercise was batshit insane but quite possibly the highlight of the festival.

Antarctica Takes It! are an American band who managed to tear up The Luminaire on Wednesday night, managing to win over an entire crowd of people who had likely never heard of them beforehand.  Their power to do this had me looking forward to them even more, and they didn’t disappoint.  It only takes one great performance to completely win you over with a band, and that Antarctica Takes It! managed two in the course of a few days had me quickly shifting from somewhat appreciating them to them becoming a band I’ve had on repeat ever since I got back.  Those only familiar with their recorded output might have been surprised by just how much they managed to rock, to the point where they managed to make their keyboard collapse during a song.

I’ve never been able to get into The Just Joans beyond one or two songs, and the little bit of their set that I managed to catch didn’t do much to change that opinion.  Thankfully it was time for The Smittens next though, even if they decided to play a Just Joans song as part of their set.  Oh well.  Not that The Smittens can do wrong at Indietracks.  The band are playing for their third year in a row, and rightfully so.  If any band sums up the festival more, I have yet to discover them.  Pure fun from start to finish, and as a band they certainly get the uniqueness of the festival too.  Everywhere you looked all weekend, you’d see a Smitten singing along to another band or having a chat with someone.

Continuing our run of bands from the US were Boy Genius, a band I’ve quite enjoyed on record but have read mixed things about live.  I only caught part of their set, but what I did see was pretty good, even if the acoustics of the shed worked against them (as they do everyone really).  Far from being dull performers, they seemed to be enjoying themselves while playing, and the crowd seemed to be convinced.

Back to the main stage for Ballboy, who were the headliners in the eyes of myself and probably a number of others playing.  I simply love Ballboy.  Utterly, utterly miserable songs that manage to sound wonderfully upbeat when played live.  A lot of this is aided by the charisma of Gordon McIntyre, who always has a fun story to insert in between the songs.  The biggest laugh of the set came after he decided to dedicate the next song to a guy in the crowd celebrating his 60th birthday before realising that the next song was actually I Don’t Have Time To Stand Here With You Fighting About The Size Of My Dick.  Later in the set, Elizabeth from Allo Darlin’ was brought out to perform the monologue on A Europewide Search For Love.  It sounded a bit strange at the time, and didn’t seem to really work, but the more I watch it back on Youtube now, the more I like it.  Which is exactly the cycle I had with the original song itself too.

After that, it was time for the actual headliners, The Primitives.  Who are a band I know absolutely nothing about beyond vaguely knowing their top five single Crash.  So they fell a bit flat with me unfortunately.

Not that this was it for me on the Saturday though.  Still time to make an ass out of myself yet.  Toward the end of The Primitives, we decide to visit the campsite disco being operated by Pic ‘n’ Mixx.  So we ventured down the lane to the campsite and stumble around the campsite looking for said disco.  Eventually a security guard rolls up on his buggy thing and I’m thinking we’re about to be kicked out given we’re not campers.  Instead, I chance asking where the campsite disco is, and not only does he tell us, he offers us, even though “I’m not allowed to do this”, a ride on his buggy down to it.  We’ve taken the piss this far, so why not go the whole way.  Onto the buggy we jump, leading to perhaps the funniest exchange of the weekend:

Security guard spots my press badge.

“So, you’re press then, are you?”

“Err, yes..”

“That’s one of your lot unpacking his tent there.”

Because you know, everyone with a press badge is sent up from the same place and we all know each other.  I feel a bit mean though as the guy was incredibly helpful, particularly given we’d effectively trespassed into his campsite.  Which leads to the real kicker.  We arrive all set for the Pic ‘n’ Mixx disco around 10:30pm.  And then discover that it started at midnight.  So we wander back to the festival site, hang out at the discos there a bit, and then wander back to the campsite and get in past the crack security team (“Have you pitched your tent yet mate?”  “Yes..”) where we hang around for a bit before retiring back to the hotel.

SUNDAY

Will not be included here.. This has taken me far longer to write than I originally intended and I’m already running over 2000 words, so I’m going to split this up.  Friday and Saturday here, and Sunday with any various anecdotes will follow tomorrow.

Edit: Sunday review here!