NEWS – the latest music

Win a pair of tickets to Surfstock
Surfstock, the surf, lifestyle and music festival is nearly upon us, and you lucky readers can win a pair of tickets! This grassroots festival sees over 60 live acts play 29-30 August on four stages in St Agnes, Cornwall. The lineup includes Phantom Limb leader singer with Massive Attack, Gossip, The Go! Team, Santogold, Black Lips, Lightspeed Champion, Alphabeat, Chromeo, The Complete Stone Roses, DJ Andy Smith, Natty…and so much more. To win a pair of ticket go to the Competitions page.

Vote in the Surfstock and CARVE H30 British Isles Surf Awards
The Awards, in association with the Driftwood Gallery, celebrate the best of insane, boundary-breaking surfing in the UK and Ireland, offering prizes in eight categories including Heavy Water, Young Gun, Hot Shot, People’s Choice Photo and Surfer of the Year. The Awards form the centrepiece of Surfstock, and all images will be displayed in a 42-foot yurt in the middle of the festival site. As part of a very special prize package, the Driftwood Gallery are providing two rare signed pieces of artwork by George Greenough and Albe Falzon, worth over £800. To vote, go to http://www.surfstock.co.uk.

Surfstock Discount Tickets
We’ve wangled a deal so you can get £29 off the price of a Surfstock ticket! Head over to http://www.ticketweb.co.uk
and use the code tge50 in the promo box to score your £50 tickets before 18 August.

LEVELLERS ‘LETTERS FROM THE UNDERGROUND’
UK TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED

Brighton based folk-punk band, the Levellers, are set to release ‘Letters from the Underground’ - their most politically resonant album in a decade – on Monday 11 August and have just announced the dates for their UK tour.

“The punked-up folk sound is as bristly as ever…..Burn America Burn is a brilliant slice of fiery pop reminiscent of late Clash” (Letters from the Underground) Classic Rock 9/10

Musically and lyrically the album conveys a passion, energy and conviction that shot the band to fame in their early years. ‘Letters from the Underground’ was recorded in the Levellers own Metway studios in Brighton and is being released on their own label – On the Fiddle.

The Levellers have seen a renaissance with their live career in recent years. 2008 sees them airing the new songs and old favourites from their hit-rich back catalogue. They are headlining a number of festivals this Summer, including their own sell-out ‘Beautiful Days’ festival and will play the Royal Albert Hall on 27 September before embarking on a European and UK tour this Winter.

Wed 3 TRURO Hall for Cornwall 01872 262 466
Thurs 4 EXETER Great Hall 01392 263 518
Fri 5 LINCOLN Engine Shed 0871 4244 555
Sat 6 MANCHESTER Academy 0161 832 1111
Sun 7 NORWICH UEA 01603 508 050
Tues 9 BRISTOL Academy 0844 477 2000
Wed 10 MIDDLESBROUGH Town Hall 0191 260 3246
Thurs 11 SHEFFIELD Octagon 0114 222 8777
Fri 12 LEEDS Academy 0844 477 2000
Sat 13 BIRMINGHAM Academy 0844 477 2000
Sun 14 SOUTHAMPTON Guildhall 023 8063 2601
Tues 16 OXFORD Academy 0844 477 2000
Wed 17 INVERNESS Ironworks 0871 789 4173
Thurs 18 GLASGOW ABC 0844 499 9990
Fri 19 DUBLIN Academy 00353 1 456 9569

www.levellers.co.uk
www.myspace.com/levellers

Tickets for the Truro show go on sale from 9am Tuesday 29th July and are available from www.seetickets.com 0871 2200260 or www.hallforcornwall.co.uk 01872 262466
Subject to booking fee

Falmouth Week ‘live music’ nights at the Princess Pavilion, August 12+14

Local live music promoters SW1 Productions have confirmed two nights of the live music on offer at this year’s Henri Lloyd Falmouth Week Festival.

Tuesday 12th August see’s one the UK’s hottest electro indie bands THE INFADELS who bring their blend of dance/indie/electronica to Falmouth for the first time.

The band describe themselves as a ‘song and dance band’ that crawled from a disastrous house share in deepest darkest London in 2003. Despite intending to be the shortest lived band in history (they wanted to release one single then split up, which they did) success came looking for them and the reformed Infadels were unexpectedly taking on the world. Off of the back of 2006’s ‘We Are Not The Infadels’ they toured the world many times and collected high praise from the music press. New album ‘Universe in Reverse’ is due in summer 2008 and carries a message of never giving up and letting something great slip through your hands, something you should all take note of an make sure you don’t miss the Infadels.

Joining the Infadels will be one of the UK’s coolest bands ART BRUT who are an eccentric, motley bunch who have more in common with Half Man Half Biscuit than their oft-compared influences of The Fall. ‘Formed a Band’ was released in March 2004 and was a gleeful call to arms to a new generation determined to poke fun at everything and everyone. As chief rapier wit and unlikely champion of Britpop’s new wave, the 27-year-old Eddie Argos is used to living life at the speed of pop. It was (a bit) complicated enough for the band who combined kitchen sink drama and French philosophy to even get here – ‘here’ being encroaching international superstardom – from humble beginnings as champions of London’s DIY New Cross Scene, class of 2004. Soon you’ll all know about Eddie Argos, former postman, lifelong dreamer, occasional indie prophet whose only real ambition in life was to one day get on Top Of The Pops – a rare treat to have a band such as this in Cornwall…DO NOT MISS IT!

Local opener will be one of Cornwall’s best live bands I SAY MARVIN, now based in Brighton the bands are all massive fans of the Infadels and were delighted to get the opening slot – SW1 Productions Liam Jolly says “Cornwall continues to produce great music and we currently have some of the best emerging bands in the UK, it’s a really exciting time for Live Music and the local scene is more vibrant than ever’. I Say Marvin recently delivered a stunning set at the Cornish Live Music Awards, reminding fans what they’d been missing since the band decamped to Brighton in 2007.

Thursday 14 August sets a very different musical mood with Aussie singing pop sensation GABRIELLA CILMI. With looks to melt and a voice that is equal parts animal snarl, vocal might and jazz slyness, Gabriella is the hottest new Australian export on the block after recently tearing up the UK charts with ‘Sweet About Me’. With a great debut album out too, her future is assured. + Supports; Cosmo Jarvis and local singer songwriter Steph Newton, who is continuing to build a solid fanbase in the region.

Both shows start at 8pm, doors at 7.30pm. Tickets are £12.50 in advance available from the venue box office 01326 211222

BEST SELLING AUSTRALIAN XAVIER RUDD TO PLAY FALMOUTH AS PART OF WORLD TOUR support from bird of wales Australia’s best selling artist Xavier Rudd is set to release his seventh album in August and will play the Princess Pavilion in Falmouth on August 20th. Rudd, known for his virtuoso ability to play aboriginal instruments as well as lap guitar, foot boxes and harmonica, has recorded the album Dark Shades of Blue (his seventh) with Joe Barresi (Tool, Queens of the Stone Age). The album is more heavy and guitar-driven than previous releases, but continues to be loaded with Rudd’s messages of hope and global responsibility. “It was an honour to work with Joe Barresi. His understanding of how to translate what I do into a studio mix seemed really natural to him and super cool to hear from my angle. Jimmy Hoyson did a great job capturing the sounds from the source and combined with Joes’ touch I can’t imagine a better route for these songs to take on their journey into the digital world of today’s musical reflection. It was classic while hanging out with Joe to realize some of the albums that he has mixed that I have admired over the years.”

Xavier, a long time champion of the rights and culture of the aboriginal people of Australia and a multitude of human rights and environmental causes, has a rare integrity, which shines through in his music. This album, a follow up to White Moth (released in 2007), which charted the spiritual journey of Rudd over the past few years will no doubt build on his already devoted international fanbase.

SUPPORT DETAILS - “BIRD OF WALES” Support details have been announced for Xavier Rudd’s headline show at Princess Pavilion in Falmouth next month (20th August) – their name doesn’t give any hint of it, but Birds of Wales is a band comprised of four guys from Toronto, Canada. "I've always had a thing for birds. I grew up with a cockatoo," recalls Morgan Ross, Birds of Wales' frontman and founder, who is of Welsh descent.

Known for outstanding live performances and great songwriting, Birds of Wales is grabbing the attention of fans on both sides of the Atlantic with their Indie Folk-Rock sound. Last year the band’s "Fall of the 49" CD was released in Europe following three successful tours. The first single from this disc, "Cinderella," was featured on a compilation CD - 560,000 copies of which were distributed throughout Ireland earlier this year. Another track from the CD, My Lady; In July, was the most-played song on "The Verge,” XM Satellite Radio’s new music station and will also appear in Ecstasy, Rob Heydon’s upcoming film based on a story by Trainspotting author, Irvine Welsh.

In December Birds of Wales finished recording tracks for their second CD with producer Jeff Dawson (Daniel Powter, Kelly Rowland) at Mushroom Studios in Vancouver. Keep an eye out for this anticipated CD which will be released in North America sometime during this upcoming spring and then throughout Europe later in 2008.

With support slots with Kate Nash already under their belt, the band will be supporting Xavier Rudd on four of his UK shows.

Tickets are £16.00 in advance and are on sale from www.seetickets.com 0871 2200260 or from the venue box office 01326 211222 – subject to booking fee.

http://www.myspace.com/birdofwales