IF YOU LIKE: Marrapalooza

Image: Native James by William Jupp

Local DIY multi-venue, multi-genre music festival Marrapalooza returns for its third year to venues across the Ouseburn on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th August, with headliners including She Drew The Gun and Brad Stank. Promoter Portions For Foxes, the brains behind the festival, will be hosting a plethora of incredible talents from all over the country, bringing a vast array of genres to music fans. This year’s is the festival’s biggest and most ambitious yet, with more than 35 performers curated by four of the leading lights in the local grassroots music scene. This year’s event is curated by Portions For Foxes, Flat Four Records, Tyne and Queer and Future Collaborations, and aims to bring the region an inclusive and community-driven event. Here’s just a few of the highlights in store…

IF YOU LIKE…

Exhilarating riff-driven rock

You’ll enjoy the elaborate rock-infused soundscape of exciting duo The Safest Place, who’ll be making their return to the North East after a successful outing at this year’s A Stone’s Throw Festival. There’s also unapologetically loud and punching punk rock outfit Gans, who head our way from Birmingham; spoken-word hip-hop fuses with punk rock in the musical catalogue of Native James; and Knives bring heavy and hard-hitting punk with powerful vocals and surprising vocal harmonies. Hartlepool supergroup Venus Grrrls offer up their exhilarating live show, adding a layer of unapologetic rock.

Introspective alt. folk

You truly can’t miss catching Wild Beasts’ Hayden Thorpe’s stunning alternative folk, driven by his angelic voice; nor should you miss Chris Brain’s hauntingly beautiful and emotive compositions – the Yorkshire-based musician has just made his return from an extensive tour of the UK, including a show at The Cluny, and I can’t wait for his return. Withered Hand adds to this introspective genre through contemplative compositions that pull on the heartstrings. The soft alternative pop sound of Brad Stank fits within this genre as their introspective sound sways like a hazy folk song yet shimmers like commercial pop.

Shoegaze-infused rock

Cruush bring their alternative shoegaze sound all the way from Manchester and tell stories through hazy vocals and echoing soundscapes that blew me away at the first listen –they’re a great new discovery ahead of this year’s Marrapalooza! Local hero Melanie Baker has been climbing the musical career ladder fast and steadily, and will be bringing her soaring shoegazey storytelling alternative rock tracks to this year’s festival (listen out for fan-favourites I Don’t Cry Like I Used To and All My Plants Have Died). Another local hero, Ruth Lyon, will be taking to the stage with her stunning alternative rock sound and incredibly talented band, hot on the heels of the release of her debut album.

The Unexpected 

A fun and guitar-driven sound that twists and turns like a ride at a theme park comes from All GirlsArson Club; Akam will undoubtedly be bringing the afterparty club vibes with thumping beats; and the North East’s own Fast Blood always surprise with the ferocity of their powerful and heavy punk rock tracks and live performance – the band previously headlined The Cumberland Arms where they tore down the stage and made a new fan out of me with their stomping live show.