TRUCK FESTIVAL 2017 HOT PICKS PREVIEW
- Jul 20, 2017
- 9 min read
TRUCK FESTIVAL is back to dominate the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside this weekend with three days of magical festivities and music! It’s our third consecutive year at the glorious event, we can’t get enough. It’s grown considerably in this short space of time moving from a two day event to a three day event, expanding its site, increasing capacity and attracting bigger names each year. We’ve reached a point now where Truck has to be regarded as one of the best festivals in the UK. Just head back over to our shining review of Truck Festival 2016 to get a gauge of how ‘fanboy’ we really are.
Anyway, we’re not here to waffle on about how good Truck Festival is we can do that in our Review/ Round-Up after the carnage. We are here for a Truck Festival 2017 Preview! What does this entail, I hear one ask? Well we’re going to give you our TOP picks for this year’s festival from headliners all way down to small stage openers, sound good? Let’s get cracking!
Truck is a fantastic festival for discovering small bands, each year they manage to book some of the best new upcoming bands to grace their stages. This year is no exception to that trend, they’ve gone above and beyond expectations making it nearly impossible for us to run around the site and catch all the bands we want to see each day. Challenge accepted!
Let’s keep things regimented but simple here, we’re gunna go through this day by day, stage by stage are and keep it short and sweet ya’ ready?
FRIDAY
THE NEST - Blackwaters / Pulled Apart By Horses / Vukovi
MARKET STAGE - Goat Girl / Dream Wife / Jaws
TRUCK STAGE - The Big Moon / Hinds / Slaves / Franz Ferdinand
First up in The Nest we have Guildford Indie Punk rockers ‘Blackwaters’ these boys are drumming up a real following at the moment with their infusion of adrenaline fueled, The Clash inspired punk rock. Backed by The Libertines Carl Barat they’ve been relentlessly touring on the ‘This Feeling’ circuit with some amazing bands for quite some time. Expect a captivatingly, self-assured performance, you’d be a fool to miss these lads in action!
Our pals Pulled Apart By Horses play a late afternoon slot on The Nest stage, we caught them a few weeks back at 2000 Tree’s festival and their set blew us away! Fresh of the back of their latest album release ‘Haze’ they’re out to WOW. If it’s drop kick to the back you’re looking for, they’ll deliver just that.
Make sure you go and check out Scottish experimental rock four –piece Vukovi, another band we saw at 2000 Trees last week. Their music will definitely put some hairs on your chest.
Over on Friday’s Market Stage we have a ‘three in a row’ scenario with Goat Girl, Dream Wife and Jaws set to cause a stir. They play around early to late afternoon back to back so top up a big bottle of booze and make sure you’ve emptied the tank cos you’ll want to be front and centre for this beautiful line-up of tropical indie and powerful girl band.
Main stage tips always seem to be a fucking obvious shout, of course you’re going to see the headliner of the day why do we need to tell you to go see a band that’ve made it all the way to the top? Well we’re gunna’ do it anyway so suck it up.
Our first Truck Stage tip is the Big Moon, another girl band nonetheless! The recent surge in rock and roll girl bands seems to be middle finger to the masculine and chauvinistic nature of rock music. It’s fantastic to see and to be honest it’s taken far too long to happen! The Big Moon have been knocking about since 2014 releasing their debut album ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’ earlier this year on 06th April. Their eloquent summer anthems are delivered with an infusion of forcefully driven guitar and melodic flow. For fans of bands like Mystery Jets, The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club.
Also up on the Truck Stage we have Hinds, another collection of fantastically talented ladies! Prepare for more summer anthems that should sedate you into a state of euphoric contentment. Start knocking back that warm mixture Caribbean Twist and Vodka and throw out some outlandish shapes.
The next two bands are a dead obvious choice. It’s no secret that we’re HUGE Slaves fans, they’re a fucking incredible band creating monstrous punk bangers from their relatively sparse setup. Laurie and Issac are incredible live and this will be sure to take the festival up into the next gear getting everyone hyped for the weekend ahead. For us, this will be two Slaves gigs in two days as we head to Tunbridge Wells Forum on Thursday for their S.C.B.T 5 year anniversary gig. We can’t fucking wait! Keep an ear out for Beauty Quest. It’ll without doubt send the crowd into a state of pandemonium. It usually come right before The Hunter just watch out for them stomping around all over the stage and you’ll know it’s coming!
Headlining the first night is Franz Ferdinand, a band that made their name in that iconic indie rock era back in the early noughties. Every Uncle, Aunt, Cat, Dog and their Mother knows ‘Take Me Out’ it’s an absolute classic; seeing it live will no doubt be one of them ‘at last I’ve seen it live moments’. We can’t wait to be embarrassingly inebriated, dance and belt this song out to the top of our lungs!
SATURDAY
THE NEST - Palm Honey / Dead Pretties / Life / Superfood / The Magic Gang / Yak
MARKET STAGE - Red Faces / The Shimmer Band / Kagoule / InHeaven
TRUCK STAGE - Yonaka / Vant / Sundara Karma / Nothing But Thieves / The Wombats / The Libertines
Let's start by nursing hangover number one with some fucking great bands! Saturday is the day, the big boy, the heavyweight. We've got some incredible bands to look forward to today and it's likely we won't be able to make it round to all of them which is heartbreaking. BUT...... we'll do our best. Over on The Nest stage we have a ridiculous amount of upcoming talent on offer. Palm Honey released their four track EP "Tucked Into The Electronic Wave" earlier this year. They're a band on the rise for sure infecting the UK with their funky Indie Pop swagger city by city, day by day. Make sure you're up and at em' on Saturday to catch them in action!
Life are heavily endorsed by our favourite punk duo Slaves and for good reason. These boys thrash their own brand of in your face punk, that resonates incredibly on their powerful debut album 'Popular Music' that was released only two months ago. They're fresh off the shelf ladies and gents, catch them whilst it's hot. YAK, we caught these lads last October at Scala in London and what a fucking kick in the nuts that was. Loads of energy, aggressive guitar, running drum and basslines and stage presence galore! These boys know how to put on a good live show, if you're feeling saggy and need a little lift head over to The Nest to blow the cobwebs away.
On the Market Stage today our HOT PICKS are young Sheffield band RedFaces who have melodies and catchy hooks pouring out of every orifice. Heavily influenced by 60's rock these lads are capable of producing an anthem or two. Again a band on the rise, go catch them you never know you could be standing there saying 'i was there' in a few years. The Shimmer Band are a regular on the 'This Feeling' circuit climbing their way to the top on the bill at many of the club curators biggest nights. They strike a perfect balance between Brit Rock, Psychedelia and Dance Rock again another band that could be HUGE one day. Think a love hybrid of Kasabian and Oasis! Sounds great right?
Later in the day we have Kagoule and INHEAVEN both bands that've been knocking about for quite some time head down and see these if you fancy a bit of Grungey Aesthetics. Both bands pack an eye watering punch but know a thing or two about contrast. Dipping in and out of heavy and soft melodic sections with a relatively arty feel. This might be quite an outlandish stab but some of you will get the comparison..... fans of The Killers should go and see INHEAVEN. (it's more notable on some tracks more than others).
This really is the best day! Over on the Truck Stage we have LOADS of bands worth checking out you've got Yonaka early on before descending into a period whereby you could cement yourself to the ground until the stage shuts. Vant, Sundara Karma, Nothing But Thieves, The Wombats, Libertines. Vant are the kind of band that cry out for a sing along. They create huge sounding rock tracks that already sound like classics! Karma Seeker is a personal fav of ours and features in our 'Ultimate Playlist'. These are a must for fans who like straight down the line, no nonsense rock with catchy choruses and cleverly curated verses. They definitely read the key to success manual.
Reading indie boys Sundara Karma have really established themselves as fan favourite over the past few years. The release of their debut album 'Youth Is Only Fun In Retrospect' sent the bands popularity into overdrive. They have an uncanny ability to create beautifully transcendent sounding music, with a sprinkle of summer anthem. We done an in depth review of their debut album which you can catch here if you want to know more about them....... one word of advice DO NOT MISS THIS! The rest of the evening goes without saying. We caught Nothing But Thieves at their first ever headline set at 2000 Trees festival last week, the first of many we're sure! They're a powerful band that resonate aspects of Muse. Lead singer, Conor Mason has the voice of an angel, it's almost operatic. We would stretch to say he has the best voice in rock music at the moment. Closing proceedings we have The Wombats and Libertines that to any music fans out there need little to no introduction. We're not going to tell you why you need to go and see them, that would just be a waste of time!
SUNDAY
THE NEST - Kamikaze Girls / Weirds / Tigercub / All Them Witches
MARKET STAGE - Cassia / Tom Grennan / Honey Blood
TRUCK STAGE - Cabbage / Maximo Park / The Vaccines
The festival appears to wind down slowly, we have a lot less HOT PICKS today than yesterday's blistering whirlwind of bands but..... it's still a day of fantastic music. Many of you are going to be scrambling out of your tents this morning wondering where you're shoes, phone and memory of last night has disappeared too. Fear not go sort yourself out with a cup of tea/smoothie and a bacon sandwich (bean burrito for the vegans) that'll hose down that awful hangover for sure.
On today we have arguably our hottest tip of the weekend over at The Nest stage. A band from Leeds that we were lucky enough to interview a few months back during their road trip with The Wytches. WEIRDS for us are one of the most underrated upcoming bands out there! Sure they're in the early stages of their career and are still very much 'emerging' BUT there should be a lot more hype around this band than there currently is. We recently reviewed their debut album 'Swarmculture' and ambitiously called this the best album of 2017 so far. We still stick by that statement two month down the line. Their music is so delicate, crafted with an intricacy of veteran musicians. Heavily influenced by Foals, these lads have managed to do what alot of bands struggle to and create their own sound/style. Make sure you get down to The Nest nice and early for this one, you'll be kicking yourself if you miss it! Also on The Nest stage we have Kamikaze Girl, Tigercub and All Them Witches. We're looking forward to the grizzly psychadelic prowess of All Them Witches who have come all the way from Nashville, Tennessee to be in Oxford with us all.
On the Market Stage are newcomers Cassia a band that came about our attention through the wonders of sponsored Facebook posts. Their video caught our attention, we listened, loved and this will be our first time seeing them live so needless to say we're pretty excited to find out what they're packing in the locker. If it's vibrant summery vibes you're after go check them out. It might be just what you need after a stonking two day hangover. For fans of Vampire Weekend and Bombay Bicycle Club. Also on the bill are Tom Grennan another member of the This Feeling family and Honey Blood who we caught tearing up the stage in Cheltenham two weeks ago. The two-piece girl band have a strong feel-good element to their music along with water-tight sets and gentle rhythms.
We're picking out three bands on Truck Stage today. It's the last day of the festival so start sinking the tins and letting the festival juices flow it's back to the real world tomorrow. Cabbage sons of Manchester, still yet to release a debut album but have achieved so much. Hugely loyal fanbase, national acclaim and supporting slots with the likes of Kasabian. Young Dumb and Full Of..... is the bands latest EP release. A collection of all their works to date in one neatly compiled orange vinyl. Not only do this band have insanely energetic and captivating musicality but their lyrical intent is some of the boldest we've seen since the ska epidemic in the 1980's. Banging down 10 Downing Street with a jack hammer they're on a war path for the Tories. Tons of character and stage presence this'll be one not to miss! Our last two HOT PICKS are Maximo Park and the Vaccines who again need now introduction. Their showmanship and experience will be a great way to bring what's bound to be an amazing weekend, to an end.
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