Wireless Festival

Hyde Park

Tube: Hyde Park Corner (7 mins) Green Park (8 mins) Bond Street (9 mins)

A Massive Park in Central London»

Super Furry Animals

Super Furry Animals are...

• Gruff Rhys - vocals, guitar
• Huw Bunford - guitar
• Cian Ciaran - keyboards
• Guto Pryce - bass
• Dafydd Ieuan - drums

When attempting to describe the Super Furries, people usually end up having to compare them to the Super Furries. “This latest record is not as good as their second one”; “this record is a bit like the fourth one, but heavily influenced by the first one”; “I‘m heavily into the seventh one, but then I‘ve always been first-core“. This is basically because even their most average output is approximately 12.5 times better than any other band. Since the early 90s, they have been beaming out techno-acid-socialist-prog-indie-calypso-pop from their private universe in Wales, effortlessly different, never knowingly without the sunshine-laden tunes. They will make you smile. They might even make you think.

The Super Furry Animals coalesced in 1993, when singer Gruff Rhys and his cohorts Dafydd Ieuan and Guto Pryce ganged up with keyboard whizz Cian Ciaran and disgraced school teacher Huw Bunford. Originally a techno outfit (check out early effort Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllantysiliogogogoch (In Space)), the group gradually moved towards the more guitar-orientated side of the market, bothering the charts in 1996 with a string of singles from their debut album, Fuzzy Logic. Originally pigeonholed as the Welsh arm of Britpop, SFA quickly outgrew this frankly unlovable title with 97’s Radiator and 99’s Guerrilla, positioning themselves as Britain‘s leading purveyors of wonky leftfield pop. Although the stripped back Mwng got them a mention in the Welsh parliament for being entirely sung in their mother tongue, it was 2001’s Rings Around The World which truly put them on the mainstream map, reaching number 3 in the album charts and recruiting as well as splitting a good many fans with its widescreen sound.

Since then, 2003’s Phantom Power and 2005’s Love Kraft suggest a band blissfully set adrift on their own sea of whimsy and weirdness. They remain as politically uncompromising as ever, mind; members of the armed forces do not get their usual discount buying SFA’s albums, and they allegedly turned down a seven figure amount of money to soundtrack a worldwide Coca Cola advert, something that a number of other “alternative” rock stars should take note of.

Their live shows are also really, really great.»

The Strokes

• Julian Casablancas - vocals
• Nick Valensi - guitar
• Albert Hammond Jnr. - guitar
• Nikolai Fraiture - bass
• Fabrizio Moretti - drums

The Strokes were formed in 1998 when five friends decided to get a band together and play the clubs of New York. Sounding like a mixture of the 70's and 80's melded together in a decadently cool downtown music hall they soon attracted the attention of Ryan Gentles, booker of New York venue, The Mecury Lounge.

Producer, Gordon Raphael, helped them record their first demo, 'The Modern Age', which was picked up by UK label Rough Trade.

Since then The Strokes have just climbed higher and higher up the music industry's trouser leg, refusing to be ignored. They played sold out shows with the Doves and Guided by Voices and started recording their debut album before signing a record deal with RCA.

The album, Is This It, was released in September 2001 and was met with much acclaim from the music press and the general public. The single, 'Hard to Explain'/'New York City Cops', reached number sixteen in the UK Top 40 and The Strokes embarked on a sixteen date sold out UK tour.

Last year in many television programmes and music magazines Is This It was hailed as one of, if not, the album of 2001.

With their shaggy hair, skinny ties and drainpipe jeans, The Strokes have been labelled fashion icons and the kings of cool across the world and with plans for a follow up album it looks like The Strokes are going from stength to strength.

»

Belle And Sebastian

Belle And Sebastian are...

• Stuart Murdoch - vocals, guitar
• Richard Colburn - drums
• Mick Cooke - trumpet
• Chris Geddes - keyboards
• Stevie Jackson - guitar
• Bobby Kildea - bass
• Sarah Martin - brass, strings
• Isobel Campbell - strings (left 2002)
• Stuart David - bass (left 2000)

Belle And Sebastian pretty much define the word 'indie', efficiently churning out super-hushed jangle pop on their Jeepster label, while a fanbase who remember how great The La's were loyally fawn over their records. The band have released the following albums; Tigermilk and If You're Feeling Sinister (both 1996), The Boy With The Arab Strap (1998), Fold Your Arms Child You Walk Like A Peasant (2000) and Storytelling (2002).

»

Bob Mould

Born in 1960, Bob Mould fronted a pair of seminal indie-rock acts before embarking on a solo career. Hüsker Dü were active from 1979 to '87, and Sugar followed from 1992 to '95.

MySpace

Photo: Ryan Russell»

The Raconteurs

Once upon a time there was this band called the White Stripes who sold some records. Back in their hometown of Detroit, there was a man called Brendan Benson who I reckon is better but sold approximately no records in comparison. They formed a band with The Greenhornes, called themselves The Raconteurs (or, if you live in Australia, The Saboteurs) and lived happily ever after.»

Cazals

• Phil Bush - vocals
• Daniel Gallagher - guitar
• Luca C - guitar
• Martin Dubka - bass
• Warren Stubbs - drums

»

Harrisons

»

Guillemots

A Guillemot is a sort of puffin-like bird that lays a pear shaped egg on their nesting ledge (cheers, Google). Sadly, these Guillemots aren't - luckily though, they're a band of four keyboard wielding London types armed with broken junkstore rhythms and mini keyboard orchestras.»

Humanzi

Humanzi are: Shaun Mulrooney (guitar, keys, lead vocals), Colm Rutledge (guitar, vocals), Gary Lonergan (bass), Brian Gallagher (drums, vocals).

According to their MySpace page, Humanzi sound like "the war cry of a thousand lost souls pleading with the DJ for one more tune at 7 o'clock in the morning at a gaff party on the wrong side of the tracks." Um, okay...

Website
MySpace

»

Milk Kan

»

Gogol Bordello

»

The Pigeon Detectives

Website
MySpace

The Pigeon Detectives are: Matt (Vocals), Oliver (Guitar), Ryan (Guitar), Dave (Bass), and Jimmi (Drums)

»

The Like

All-girl three-piece.

WEBSITE

Blurb from band's website:

The Like formed in 2001 in Los Angeles, when best friends Charlotte Froom (a bassist of two weeks at the time) and Tennessee Jane Bunny Thomas (a drummer in her all-girls-school band) met Z Berg and found the voice and songs they had been looking for. Almost immediately, the ladies began to garner local praise and attention, surprising their audiences with a complexity belying their very young years (two 15 year olds and a 16 year old at the time).

Over the next three years, the ladies independently released three EPs (i like the like, ... and the like and like it or not) that they sold at shows and on their website. Soon a diverse fan base developed and magazines from around the world began to take notice. Following their high school graduations in 2004, The Like signed to Geffen Records and toured with Phantom Planet and Maroon 5.

»

Dirty Pretty Things

Carl Barat's post-Libertines rock troupe.

Website here.»

Assembly Now

• Gavin Dwight - Vocals
• Maxim Fernandez - Guitar
• Howard Sutton - Bass
• Andrew Lusher - Drums

2007 has already been a hectic year for Assembly Now. Having performed on sell-out tours with indie-darlings The Wombats and a Vice Magazine tour with The Noisettes and Goodbooks, the band are now busy preparing to release their brand new single, 'Graphs Maps & Trees'.

From headline dates UK-wide to the O2 Wireless festival, and entertaining the kids with secret gigs in their own front rooms, Assembly Now have been woo-ing fans the length and breadth of the country with their brilliant indie-pop nuggets. Their single launch party for 'Leigh-On-Sea' was a sold-out smash that saw queues round the block, fans breaking in through windows and sneaking in back doors.

They aren't only burning down the house on the live front though. The band won Steve Lamacq's BBC 6Music 'Rebel Playlist' not once, but twice. The second time with a huge 56% of listener's votes. A shocked Steve Lamacq said it was "more votes than we've ever had in a playlist poll!" Yes – that's a record. Even Hollyoaks decided to get on the case by having debut single 'It's Magnetic' as a scene soundtrack. All this for an unsigned band? Phew!

And it's still not time to relax. With studio man John Fortis (Razorlight, Art Brut, Laura Marling) on knob-twiddling duty, 'Graphs, Maps and Trees' is hitting the shelves this August. Along with an extremely tongue-in-cheek video by Fear Of Flying's hotshot director James Appleton, it's a Pop Art summer medley of gloriously optimistic proportions.

Listen on Myspace»