London promoters/label Roadkill Records have an impeccable record when it comes to introducing us to new garage, surf and psych sounds, with previous shows having featured Joyzine favourites such as Table Scraps, God Damn, The Sly Persuaders, Sit Down and many, many more. As such we were duly thrilled to discover that this year’s Roadkill Festival is expanding to a three day, free entry extravaganza at The Victoria, Dalston. Running from 5th – 7th August the line-up features headline slots from Japanese Television, Black Doldrums and Ghost Car, with a host of other fantastic acts, 19 in total, performing during the festival. You can book free tickets here.
We caught up with Roadkill head honcho Josh Cooper to find out more about this year’s line-up.
Earth 2022 is a destitute wasteland corrupted by greed. Its uninhabitable landscapes ooze deadly radiation planted by maniacal self-appointed leaders, its cities strangle their residents as living costs climb, plagues rage, grounds scorch and seas rise while culture wars drive its people further inward, consumed by individualism.
We appreciate that this has absolutely nothing to do with a gig, what we’re going for here is an injection of community, one that nurtures creative endeavour. It’s not a lot, but it’s honest work.
The extra-terrestrial talent enlisted at the festival is that of our favourite weirdos, a pyschoscopic mixture of motorik instrumental krautrock, both gothic and blues infused psychedelia, 60s inspired garage-rock, punk mayhem and strange sonic explorations.
This one’s a biggie for us, obviously we’ve been doing weekend events for several years but it’s the first time we’ve expanded it to three days. Also, because we’ve essentially been on hiatus gig-wise we wanted to make sure we could get on as many of the artists that we wanted or were previously confirmed on cancelled shows. Japanese Television who headline our Friday night were originally booked in with us for July 2020. Obviously we nuked that from orbit, considering. And we had already put together most of that summer’s weekender, though the line-up looks very different now. In fact, the only bands who carried forward from its initial inception are Junodef and FEZ, the latter of which we’ve actually signed to the label since then. The whole line-up is one we’re very proud of, alongside new blood we have stalwarts like Black Doldrums, Ghost Car, Petsematary, Marlon Bianco, The Dead Zoo, etc – all well aware of the craic – these are some of our favourite bands and characters. Charlie Sundown performing with a jazz quartet, Roadkill life-partners Ich Bin Finn blowing the cobwebs away on a Sunday afternoon, the as-yet-unrevealed Colour Me Blood Red doing… something. We have some surprises up our sleeves for sure.
Not everyone doing this has the resources to keep it together alongside a day job/family/existential dread of living in the bad future. We’re here to celebrate the bands who were taken off the roads, the sound engineers, the venues and staff, the people who help us get drunk, but also the people who help us find a little purpose on the side.
Thanks so much for asking us to put together this playlist for you, something that (due to our compulsive list-making/data-oriented tendencies) we undoubtedly would’ve done anyway, but it’s much better knowing someone else other than us will be listening to it.
Roadkill Festival takes place at The Victoria, Dalston from Friday 5th – Sunday 7th August. Book your free tickets here.
Find out more about Roadkill Records on their official website
Introduction by Paul Maps
Photographs provided by the promoter
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