On 1st and 2nd June, Camden Rocks will once again be filling the streets of Camden with loud guitars and crashing drums as the cream of the rock and indie scenes descend on NW1.
Big names on this year’s weekender line-up include Frank Turner, Deaf Havana, Ash and The Pigeon Detectives, but as always at Joyzine we like to take a look at the bands whose names appear in the smallest print at the bottom of the poster, and we’ve put together a playlist of some of our top tips from this year’s festival.
Long-term Joyzine favourites Saint Agnes released their debut album Welcome to Silvertown earlier this year and they’ll be bringing their cinematic country-fried classic rock sound to Camden Rocks on Sunday 2nd June.
Soeur were one of our favourite discoveries of 2018, and their Fight EP was an excruciatingly tense listening experience, making it onto our list of our favourite releases of the year. They play on the Sunday.
Gaygirl have featured on many a Joyzine line-up over the past few years, and recent single ‘Sick Note’ saw them took their grunge-pop sound to new heights. Catch them at Camden Rocks on Sunday.
Politicized punk two-piece Deux Furieuses recently announced their signing to Xtra Mile Records, home to festival headliner Frank Turner and, and one time or another, to a host of Joyzine faves including Beans on Toast, Chris T-T and Future of the Left. We await the release of their follow up to awesome debut LP Tracks of Wire, but in the meantime you can see them at Camden Rocks on Sunday.
No strangers to an all-day music fest, Bugeye‘s Angela Martin was one of the driving forces behind the excellent CroCroLand festival last month, and her band’s indie disco mashup was one of the highlights. Catch them in Camden on Sunday 2nd June.
Queen Zee‘s exuberant, self-described Queen Rock is an explosion of glammed up punk rock fronted by trans activist Zee. You can see them at Camden Rocks on Saturday 1st June.
Essex indie-punks Asylums released their second album of skewed anthemic outsider rock, Alien Human Emotions, last year and are likely to provide you with your best pogo-per-minute rate of any band at this year’s festival. They play on the Saturday.
We caught up with The WiDOWS frontman Kim Le Tan ahead of the release of their recent single ‘The Brexit Chainstore Massacre’. You can check out their pounding psychobilly sound on the Sunday of the festival.
Desperate Journalist are the highest billed of our recommendations, they even get their own font on the poster, but their swoonsome indie epics are just too delicious to leave out. Be sure to find them on Saturday 1st June.
Rounding off our recommendations is Lara Smiles, whose shimmering alt-rock single ‘The Fighting’s Over’ recently received it’s premiere within these very pages. You can see her at Camden Rocks on Sunday 2nd June.
Further information about the festival and tickets, priced at £40 for a single day and £70 for a weekend pass (plus booking fees) can be found at camdenrocksfestival.com
Article by Paul Maps