60 acts have been announced on the bill of XpoNorth 2015
The music showcase held in June have had a record amount of submissions this year with the majority of acts playing coming from the Highlands and Scotland as a whole.
2015 sees Inverness bands presented in force, with debutantes including Woodentooth, Bite Night, Josephine Sillars, Spring Break, The Ragazzi and Alice Bentley. The Ragazzi said of the news; “This genuinely means a lot to us, hearing that we are part of the line up has made the summer a more exciting prospect for us. We’ll be working hard until then to make sure we are at our best for it!”.
Another band playing the event for the first time is Searching for Donkeys whose Graeme Gilchrist said; “we were surprised and blown away with having such an important opportunity to develop ourselves and our audience.”
Bands returning include, for the third consecutive year the always impressive Lionel and for a second year Schnarff Schnarff.
Frontman for the band Myles Bonnar;
“We are just ecstatic about being a part of the rebranded XPO-North music fest! We would have killed to have played GoNorth when we were 14-15 years of age so last year was a big year for us!
Getting to play our hometown, in a great venue, to a great crowd and for such a buzz-filled festival was mint! XPO-North will be no different and we can’t wait! To come back for the 2nd year in a row is class and we are raring to play our new songs!We have two new tracks on top of our recently released DESK! Thank you Xpo-North!”
Sara Bills & The Hasbeens play the full festival after being on the bill of the fringe event at the Eagle last year.Nairn-based Toby Michaels plays the event for the first time in his new role as frontman for The Broken Ravens.
Andrew MacGillivray returns to the festival after stepping in to play for Silver Coast last year, this time he plays in his own band Bloodlines, formerly Russian Ninjas.
“We are incredibly excited as we have always wanted to play Xponorth” Andrew said, “adding we feel this is the perfect time for us with our new EP coming out just a few weeks before the festival. Expect to see a lot of us over the 2 days…”
Following on from the success of bands further afield from last year including Pale Honey, Europe is represented this year by Yuko Yoko (The Netherlands), Ice in my Eyes (Luxembourg) and The Bongo Club (Sweden).
The showcase list in full:
A SUDDEN BURST OF COLOUR
ALICE BENTLEY
ALPHAS
AMATRART
ARTHUR NICHOLSON
BEAR ARMS
BEST GIRL ATHLETE
BITE NIGHT
BLOODLINES
BROKEN BOY
CARA MITCHELL
CATHOLIC ACTION
CITIZEN 9
CRASH CLUB
DECLAN WELSH
DED RABBIT
FINN LEMARINEL
FOREIGNFOX
FOREVER
FRIENDS IN AMERICA
GALES
GARDEN OF ELKS
GET IT TOGETHER
HECTOR BIZERK
HUXTABLE
ICE IN MY EYES (Luxembourg)
IN:TIDES
JIM VALENTINE
JOSEPHINE SILLARS
JR GREEN
KATHRYN JOSEPH
KILL THE WAVES
KLOË (Official XpoNorth Aftershow)
LE THUG
LIONEL
MAN OF MOON
MEGAN D
MISS IRENIE ROSE
MØGEN
MONOGRAM
NIEVES
PALE FIRE
PINACT
POOR THINGS
REDOLENT
SARA BILLS & THE HASBEENS
SCHNARFF SCHNARFF
SEARCHING FOR DONKEYS
SPRING BREAK
SUNSHINE SOCIAL
THE BONGO CLUB (Sweden)
THE BROKEN RAVENS
THE GREAT ALBATROSS
THE MIRROR TRAP
THE RAGAZZI
THE REVELLERS
THE SHITHAWKES
TIJUANA BIBLES
VLADIMIR
WE CAME FROM THE NORTH
WOMPS
WOODENTOOTH
YUKO YUKO (The Netherlands)
For selected acts, there is also the chance of appearing at Beauly-based Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival and Loopallu in Ullapool later this year on specially curated XpoNorth stages.
Festival Director, Amanda Millen, said: “Giving a platform to emerging talent and offering free practical, hands-on support is what we are all about. Showcasing the best new music has always been an integral part of the festival, but XpoNorth is now a wide-reaching festival which brings together a host of elements under one creative umbrella.
XpoNorth takes place this year on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th June at venues across the Highland capital.
See all our XpoNorth coverage (as well as revisiting last years event)
