Feature Which Leeds Bands Will Play Leeds Festival?
Camille Ainsworth looks at the hopefuls for this year's Futuresound Competition
Feature: Which Leeds Bands Will Play Leeds Festival?
In most places July is a quiet month for gigs but not in Leeds. Summer is here and with it the arrival of the ultimate battle of the bands, the Futuresound Competition. Up for grabs? Only the chance for bands from across West Yorkshire to play Leeds and Reading Festival this summer, an opportunity to display their musical talents to the wider UK music establishment. And it works. The competition has helped great bands like Sky Larkin, Pulled Apart By Horses and Dinosaur Pile-up into the national music arena.
It might be a cliché but the competition for the 2009 finals is fiercer that ever.
This year over 300 bands entered the competition. “It’s made the job of selecting the 30 bands to play the competition extremely hard,” says Futuresound promoter Andy, “and it’s goning to mean an even tougher job for our judges to select the winning six bands. The up side is that the quality of acts is fantastic and we’re expecting a hotly contested and very exciting competition.”
And the mix of bands is not only exciting but also quite surprising.
“It seems there’s a cluster of bands in the finals who have had some kind of success already,” says Nathan at the Brudenell Social Club, “the likes of Middleman and Last Gang - great bands who’ve had releases, done decent tours and achieved great stuff. Then there are bands for whom it’s the next logical step in their career, like Yonderboy or Just Handshakes (We’re Brirish), great bands that have been developing over the last 18 months. Finally, there are bands that are different and, for me, the most interesting, bands who are intriguing to watch,” by whom he means the likes of psych-folkers Bear Driver and noise merchants Castrovalva. “Oh, and then there’s Gaze,” he continues, “I suppose they’re a comedy band, they’re controversial and they’ll bring the party.”
But what about the winners?
“If Gaze don’t astound the world of Leeds music,” says SoundPeople promoter Jack Simpson, “then I think Chickenhawk will go through. They’re a good band with inertia on their side. Just Handshakes (We’re Briths( are a great indie-pop outfit who are hard not to like. Milk White White Teeth are great - everyone I know loves them. Wonderswan are perfectly placed too, Old Romantic Killer Band are just a great band and finally there’s Middleman - they don’t have the kudos of newness but are too good to ignore.”
And even the bands aren’t sure. “There are a lot of dead good bands in the competition this year,” says Michael of Wonderswan. “I could imagine pretty much all of them in the top six. Our favourites are probably Holy State, Bear Driver and Old Romantic Killer Band. Someone’s actually compiled a list of odds for all the bands to win the competition, apparently we’re 66/1.’
As for Leeds Guide‘s thoughts on winners, we’re backing Yonderboy, Sketches, Wonderswan, Bear Driver, Old Romantic Killer Band, Ellen and the Escapades and Just Handshakes (We’re British).
The Odds
Admittedly these aren’t official odds, and were made up by a cunning member of www.leedsmusicforum.com. Nevertheless, the maths seems to work and it’s certainly food for thought, if nothing else
Old Romantic Killer Band 3/1
Last Gang 7/2
Middleman 7/2
Sketches 5/1
Yonderboy 7/1
Chickenhawk 10/1
Evil Regent 10/1
Ellen & The Escapades 10/1
Just Handshakes (We’re British) 12/1
Holy State 14/1
Bear Driver 16/1
Pavilion 16/1
Milk White White Teeth 16/1
Kinch 20/1
Benjamin Wetherill & The Trumpets of Death 20/1
Broadcast Society 20/1
Castrovalva 25/1
Hey Sholay 25/1
Team Modeliste 33/1
Olfar & The Feral Pets 33/1
Aces & Eights 40/1
Gary Stewart 50/1
Spodni Pradlo 50/1
Killing Fields Of Ontario 50/1
Wonderswan 66/1
Gaze 66/1
Fourteen Corners 66/1
Stations 100/1
Bedroom Orchestra 100/1
The Finnlys 100/1
More Thoughts From The Leeds Music Scene
Matt, guitarist/vocalist for Sketches
“There are some bloody good acts and the variety is a good reflection on what Leeds has to offer musically. Some we’re really familiar with like Old Romantic Killer Band, Yonderboy and then some that I’m really looking forward to seeing for the first time. We have a great heat. We haven’t seen The Bedroom Orchestra or Wonderswan, so we are looking forward to checking them out, having heard great things about both. Ellen & The Escapades to win for me though - I’m a huge fan. As for us, the opportunity to play a festival that Radiohead will be headlining is rather nice.”
Brew Records have two of their bands in the final heats this year, Castrovalva and Chickenhawk. Here are Tom from the label’s thoughts for Futuresound
“This year I’m very excited to have two bands on that are reflective of our musical tastes that have been recognized and been put forward for the competition. Coming from the label point of view, where we are actually fans of the music we put out, it’s nice to see other people involved in the music scene in Leeds also acknowledge the bands. We always just to do our own thing because of our musical tastes without being in direct competition with anyone. We’ve always had consistent support from other promoters and labels and visa versa, which is a very nice position to be in. Last year we had I Concur play the competition, but they were taken out because BBC Raw Talent wanted them to play the festival anyway, so we never got to see it right to the end. This year will be different though.
“Looking at the previous winners and bands that played the stage I’m really happy to see music been showcased that leans towards more experimental and progressive music that, above all, reflects the changes in our local scene. Two bands that stand out for me from the introducing stage last year had to be the behemoth of That Fucking Tank and sheer power of These Monsters. Both were very worthy of playing the stage and put on the stand out performances of the entire weekend - at least for me anyway! It would be a shame to have a hundred landfill indie bands grace that stage that really isn’t reflective of music in this area and I’m thankful the quality of music is improving year on year.”
Adam from British Wildelife Records
“My main tips would be Chickenhawk and Wonderswan, I’m a fan of Castrovalva and Holy State, but I think they may not be ready this year. I will be surprised if the Old Romantic Killer Band don’t win!”
Matt, Jumbo Records
“I like Just Handshakes (We’re British), Ellen & the Escapades, Gary Stewart, Benjamin Weatherill, Old Romantic Killer Band, Aces and Eights, Milk White White Teeth, Spodni Pradlo and Middleman, purely because they’re all good live and would hold the attention span of a festival crowd… also they have a good following too.”
From 24 June to 23 July, The Cockpit, Swinegate, LS1 4AG, 0113 244 1573.
Posted on Tuesday 16th June 2009
Sending you to Twitter, hold on... 
