Leeds
With a host of huge names and exclusive performances, this year’s Reading and Leeds Festival is, once again, the only place to be for the serious music fan over the summer.
Now, promoters Festival Republic are proud to announce the Festival Republic Stage, the place where the headliners of the future make their first mark on the twin sites. Over the years, this stage has seen everyone from Coldplay and Muse to The Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs begin their love affairs with the best festival crowd in the world and this year is no exception.
With a line-up that crosses all the genres from rock to synth pop and all the names you have read about as tips for the year, The Festival Republic Stage is once again your A to Z of the best new bands in Britain and the world. Reading and Leeds is not just about the big names, on this stage some of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll stories begin and, this year, here’s who will be writing their names into the history of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll show on earth.
Friday 28th August at The Reading Festival / Sunday 30th August at The Leeds Festival
Marmaduke Duke
Marmaduke Duke is the self-created surreal musical world of enigmatic Scottish duo The Atmosphere and The Dragon, two frontmen better known as Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro and JP Reid of Sucioperro respectively.
A collision of twisted disco, white boy funk and unadulterated nu-pop weirdness, new album Duke Pandemonium is the soul-tinged version of ‘Caligula’ - the madness, the mayhem – that Marmaduke Duke have been threatening to make. This is a soundtrack to hedonism, decadence, deviance and dancing. Lots of dancing.
Soulsavers With Mark Lanegan
Soulsavers will take to the stage for what is sure to be a very special set on the release of their third album, Broken.
With previous album, It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s Where You Land garnering critical acclaim across the board, the one-time studio project has blossomed into a full scale project that, over the three albums has also seen vocal contributions from such diverse talents as Jimi Goodwin, Richard Hawley, Mike Patton and Gibby Haynes.
If you have yet to experience SoulsaversS then there is no better time than these sets, sure to be the talk of the site at the close of the weekend.
Black Lips
Black Lips represent the faith that it takes to reject that world of sterile, futile, servile, silliness and forge your own world based on bravery and bad‐ass‐ness.
They have carried to fruition the plan that has been hatched, and will continue to be hatched in the minds of dizzy, dumb and desperate youth the world over. Now they carry their message of faith to the world.
Saturday 29th August at The Reading Festival / Friday 28th August at The Leeds Festival
The Blackout
If you’re going to title an album The Best In Town then it’s a good idea to make sure that you are the best in town. The Blackout are in no doubt that this claim – which also happens to be the title of their new album – is justified.
Beginning life in the Welsh town of Merthyr Tidfil in 2006, the six piece supported fellow countrymen Lostprophets prior to releasing debut album, We Are The Dynamite and progressing swiftly to their own sold out London Astoria headline.
Now signed to Epitaph, you can understand why president ‘Mr Brett’ Gurewitz’s confidence when he states “I expect these guys to make a huge leap forward this year. I’m thrilled to have them on the label.”
Bring Me The Horizon
Bring Me The Horizon are five young British lads with a penchant for the heavy.
Hailing from Sheffield, England, the band formed in 2004 and began setting the UK ablaze with blistering performances across the country.
By 2006 the band had already won Kerrang!'s "Best British Newcomers" award and toured with groups as varied as Killswitch Engage, Lostprophets, Megadeth and more. Later that year they unleashed their debut album, Count Your Blessings, which further cemented their place among the Heavy Metal elite. S
econd album Suicide Season was released in November 2008 to critical acclaim, propelling the band into international stardom. Having toured all over the world in 2009, catch this very special act on their return to the UK this August.
Atreyu
Since they muscled their way onto the Orange County metal scene in 1998, Atreyu have sold over a million albums by constantly challenging themselves and their audiences with charged music and acrobatic performances that both have pushed the boundaries of catharsis and emotional exorcism.
But even those who have grown used to the unexpected from Atreyu will be blown away by the musical growth, determination and depth of the band’s new album Lead Sails Paper Anchor.
Sunday 30th August at The Reading Festival / Saturday 29th August at The Leeds Festival
La Roux
At the end of 2008 21 year old Elly Jackson, aka La Roux, arrived with a whirlwind of excitement surrounding her.
onfirming all the hype - she bagged a top 5 single, the support slot on Lily Allen’s national tour, has been part of the biggest remix of this year (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey Remix) and has everyone from Franz Ferdinand to Daft Punk hailing her as a talent to watch.
With her number 2 single In For The Kill still in the Top Ten 12 weeks after its release, the iconic redheaded Brixton girl unleashes her highly anticipated debut album on June 29th and is sure to be a massive draw for these two shows.
Lightspeed Champion
Currently resident in the USA, Dev Hynes, aka Lightspeed Champion is one of the brightest and most intriguing talents to emerge from the UK in recent years.
With debut album Falling Off The Lavender Bridge last year Hynes received critical acclaim form across the board with NME declaring that ‘when Dev Hynes picked up an acoustic guitar, the nation of indie felt its heart murmur’ in a celebratory 9/10 review. With new material in process for a forthcoming album, these shows are an early opportunity to hear what comes next from Lightspeed Champion.
The Rumble Strips
Working with producer Mark Ronson on Welcome To The Walk Alone, their second album, has seen The Rumble Strips expand their musical template to incorporate Phil Spector and Scott Walker, 1940's wartime melodies and early 1960s European soul with the rousing brass and stampeding drums of their critically acclaimed debut, Girls and Weather.
With Ronson regarding the title track as “his proudest achievement”, and the album due for release on 13th July expect The Rumble Strips to deliver one of those iconic Festival Republic Stage moments.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
With a host of huge names and exclusive performances, this year’s Reading and Leeds Festival is, once again, the only place to be for the serious music fan over the summer.
Now, promoters Festival Republic are proud to announce the Festival Republic Stage, the place where the headliners of the future make their first mark on the twin sites. Over the years, this stage has seen everyone from Coldplay and Muse to The Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs begin their love affairs with the best festival crowd in the world and this year is no exception.
With a line-up that crosses all the genres from rock to synth pop and all the names you have read about as tips for the year, The Festival Republic Stage is once again your A to Z of the best new bands in Britain and the world. Reading and Leeds is not just about the big names, on this stage some of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll stories begin and, this year, here’s who will be writing their names into the history of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll show on earth.
Friday 28th August at The Reading Festival / Sunday 30th August at The Leeds Festival
Marmaduke Duke
Marmaduke Duke is the self-created surreal musical world of enigmatic Scottish duo The Atmosphere and The Dragon, two frontmen better known as Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro and JP Reid of Sucioperro respectively.
A collision of twisted disco, white boy funk and unadulterated nu-pop weirdness, new album Duke Pandemonium is the soul-tinged version of ‘Caligula’ - the madness, the mayhem – that Marmaduke Duke have been threatening to make. This is a soundtrack to hedonism, decadence, deviance and dancing. Lots of dancing.
Soulsavers With Mark Lanegan
Soulsavers will take to the stage for what is sure to be a very special set on the release of their third album, Broken.
With previous album, It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s Where You Land garnering critical acclaim across the board, the one-time studio project has blossomed into a full scale project that, over the three albums has also seen vocal contributions from such diverse talents as Jimi Goodwin, Richard Hawley, Mike Patton and Gibby Haynes.
If you have yet to experience SoulsaversS then there is no better time than these sets, sure to be the talk of the site at the close of the weekend.
Black Lips
Black Lips represent the faith that it takes to reject that world of sterile, futile, servile, silliness and forge your own world based on bravery and bad‐ass‐ness.
They have carried to fruition the plan that has been hatched, and will continue to be hatched in the minds of dizzy, dumb and desperate youth the world over. Now they carry their message of faith to the world.
Saturday 29th August at The Reading Festival / Friday 28th August at The Leeds Festival
The Blackout
If you’re going to title an album The Best In Town then it’s a good idea to make sure that you are the best in town. The Blackout are in no doubt that this claim – which also happens to be the title of their new album – is justified.
Beginning life in the Welsh town of Merthyr Tidfil in 2006, the six piece supported fellow countrymen Lostprophets prior to releasing debut album, We Are The Dynamite and progressing swiftly to their own sold out London Astoria headline.
Now signed to Epitaph, you can understand why president ‘Mr Brett’ Gurewitz’s confidence when he states “I expect these guys to make a huge leap forward this year. I’m thrilled to have them on the label.”
Bring Me The Horizon
Bring Me The Horizon are five young British lads with a penchant for the heavy.
Hailing from Sheffield, England, the band formed in 2004 and began setting the UK ablaze with blistering performances across the country.
By 2006 the band had already won Kerrang!'s "Best British Newcomers" award and toured with groups as varied as Killswitch Engage, Lostprophets, Megadeth and more. Later that year they unleashed their debut album, Count Your Blessings, which further cemented their place among the Heavy Metal elite. S
econd album Suicide Season was released in November 2008 to critical acclaim, propelling the band into international stardom. Having toured all over the world in 2009, catch this very special act on their return to the UK this August.
Tagged in Leeds Festival