User:Djpaj/Swindon Shuffle

Swindon Shuffle

The Swindon Shuffle is an annual not for profit music festival held in Swindon, Wiltshire, England showcasing unsigned music acts mostly from contemporary genres.

In its sixth year, the festival now takes place on a weekend in August and uses music venues in or around the Swindon town centre, showcasing an average of 50 acts across the weekend. When the festival first started in 2007 all acts were from the Swindon area, but in recent years the line up has included acts from across England.

Formation

The Swindon Shuffle was conceived and founded in 2007 by Richard Craven, Phil Dyson and Paul Jellings from Songs of Praise Promotions, plus Neil Gammon from Black Lava Promotions and Tim McDonald from Yankeeboy Promotions. Using the basis of already established city centre music festivals like the Camden Crawl, The Great Escape and the Oxford Punt, the original aim was to showcase a thriving local music scene while raising money for a local charity, the Prospect Hospice, that provides dedicated end of life care for Swindon and the surrounding area.

The idea for the music festival, and inspiration for the festival name, started as a "shuffle" by the crowd between several music venues on one particular night to watch the performing acts, but this had changed by the start of the first festival to a three day event held across many venues.

Festival History

2007

The inaugural festival was held Thursday 19 to Sunday 22 July 2007 using The Victoria, The Furnace, The Rolleston, 12 Bar, and The Beehive as venues. Swindon Town Football Club's Winners Lounge was used to host an official opening 'fringe' night organised by Puttyfoot Promotions on the Thursday.

The festival was officially supported in 2007 by the Swindon Cultural Partnership, Frequency Magazine, [Swindon] Artsminds, and Swindonmusic.co.uk, and the charity partner was the Prospect Hospice. 41 acts performed across the weekend, plus there was a Songs of Praise club night on the Saturday.

Headline acts were Buswell, The Sturgis Armoury, Hip Route, Electric City Heights, and Black Eyed Dog. Other acts to appear included an early performance from The Alfonz, The SheBeats, Seven Years On, and Gaz Brookfield.

The festival was put into doubt when three inches of rain fell in 24 hours on Swindon on 20 July 2007 causing major disruption and leaving parts of the town underwater, however the festival still went ahead with good attendance. The festival also saw an impromptu acoustic stage added at 12 Bar on the Sunday afternoon.

The festival raised £2,007 for the Prospect Hospice, with a cheque being handed over at the Songs of Praise 'Keep It Peel' night featuring Rats Ruined My Brain, Black Cat and Matthew Kilford. The festival was self-described as "exceeding expectations" with 1,000 people attending over the weekend.

2008

The second year of the festival was held Thursday 7 to Sunday 10 August 2008, and again using The Victoria, The Furnace, The Rolleston, 12 Bar, and The Beehive as venues. New venues included in the festival were The Apartment in the town centre and Riffs Bar in Hook on the outskirts of Swindon. A 'fringe' event also took place on the Thursday at The Elm Tree in Chiseldon on the outskirts of Swindon.

The festival was officially supported in 2008 by Frequency Magazine, [Swindon] Artsminds, and Swindonmusic.co.uk. The charity partner was the Prospect Hospice again, although British Heart Foundation stalls were also set up at the venues to help raise awareness and sign up people to the donor scheme. The event has grew in size in 2008, with more venues, more bands and the introduction of the dance and hip-hop/funk music scene. At least 42 acts performed across the weekend, plus there was a Kandifunk club night on the Friday and a Cassette Player club night on the Saturday.

Headline acts were Beatbullyz, The Alfonz, Durera, Talk In Code, and Jon Trowbridge. Other acts to appear included Veer Luth, The Parodies, Truth Be Told, Seven Years On and Matthew Kilford. 2008 was also the first year that organisers allowed submissions from acts wanting to appear at the festival.

2008 was the first year a promotional video was made prior to the festival taking place that featured the acts Seven Years On, Talk In Code, Jeff Like Usual, The Alfonz, and Lighterthief, plus Richard Craven, Paul Jellings and Al Bridges from the organising committee. The video was direct by John Farrow. It should also be noted from the video credits that the promotors of the festival in 2008 had changed to playdead Events & Artist Management.

The festival was self-hailed as "even better than last year’s [festival]" with an increased attendance on the 2007 festival.

2009

The third year of the festival was held Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 August 2009, and again using The Victoria, The Furnace, The Rolleston, 12 Bar, The Beehive, Corner Club (formerly The Apartment) in the town centre and Riffs Bar in Hook on the outskirts of Swindon. An outdoor stage was added for the first time, located in Swindon's Wharf Green in the town centre and programmed by BBC Introducing.

The festival was officially supported in 2009 by BBC Introducing, Frequency Magazine, Swindon Does Arts, and Swindonmusic.co.uk. The charity partner changed for 2009 to the Goldenhar Family Support Group. The event grew again in size, with more stages and more bands, leading the organisers to claim the Swindon Shuffle was "the biggest UK's unsigned music festival that aims to give new unsigned bands the opportunity to perform and showcase local talent". 60 acts performed across the weekend, plus there was a Kandifunk club night on the Friday and a Cassette Player club night on the Saturday.

Headline acts were The Kulucci March, The Dead Lay Waiting, AJ & Bully Live, The Alfonz, Lighterthief, Sunday Dogs, Energy Without The Sun, Old School Tie, The Shudders, and The Plastic Fiction. 2009 was also the year when non-Swindon acts appeared including Stornoway, The Volt, Bleech, The Dirty Feel, and The Locarnos.

2009 was the second year a promotional video was made prior to the festival taking place that featured the acts Energy Without The Sun, Gaz Brookfield, and Matthew Kilford, plus Paul Jellings and Sam Bates from the organising committee. The video was again directed by John Farrow, and was filmed on location at Create Studios and Swindon's Wyvern Theatre. Former XTC band member Barry Andrews is also credited as he appears in silhouette in the Create Studios control room near the beginning of the video.

The festival was praised by local venue owners, with one quoted as saying "I think the Swindon Shuffle did more for Swindon than [Radio 1 Festival] the Big Weekend".

2010

The forth year of the festival was held Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 August 2010, although due to the tough economic climate that had resulted from the Great Recession the size of the festival was scaled back to using just The Victoria, 12 Bar, and The Beehive in the town centre. In scaling back the festival the organisers regained the local focus and revisited the ‘underground’ nature of the festival, which was popular with attendees.

The charity partner for 2010 remained as the Goldenhar Family Support Group, with £2,365 raised. 53 acts performed across the weekend.

The acts performing at the festival included Napoleon In Rags, The Dacoits, Billyjon, Matthew Kilford, Buswell & Strings, The Costellos, Old School Tie, and it was also the last ever performance by The Alfonz to a sold out crowd before they broke up.

2011

The fifth year of the festival was held Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 August 2011, using The Victoria, The Beehive, and The Platform in the town centre. To mark the fifth year a number of the venues / days were handed over to local organisations involved in the Swindon music scene to programme. These organisations included Holmes Music, BBC Introducing, and The Ocelot.

There were two charity partners for 2011, both the Goldenhar Family Support Group and the Wiltshire Air Ambulance. Over 45 acts performed across the weekend.

The headline acts were The Wildtones, Old School Tie, The Off Chance, Napoleon In Rags, Kova Me Badd, Big Casino, Kola Koca, and The Costellos. Other acts performing included The Jess Hall Band, Meow (Alice Offley), Doza, The Dacoits, and Black Sheep Apprentice.

Swindon Skuffle

After being left off the official line up for the second year in a row, the venue Riffs Bar organised their own music festival on the same weekend as the Swindon Shuffle, 12 to 14 August 2011, called the Swindon Skuffle and being billed as "the UK's smallest unsigned festival". The festival raised money for REACH inclusive ARTS.

Headline acts at the festival were a Faux Fighters acoustic set on the Friday, Dirt Royal on the Saturday and Secret Lives on the Sunday. Other acts to appear included Nudy Bronque, The Loves, and Him & His Brother.

2012

The sixth year of the festival was held Thursday 10 to Sunday 13 August 2012, and returned more to its multi-venue roots using The Furnace, The Rolleston, The Beehive, 12 Bar, and Piri Piri restaurant in the town centre, plus Riffs Bar in Hook on the outskirts of Swindon. Further changes to the organising committee included bring on board Ed Dyer and Sarah Henderson.

There were no charity partners for 2012 and at least 35 acts performed across the weekend.

Acts performing included The Shudders, Good Things Happen In Bad Towns, Matilda, Street Orphans, Alice Offley, and Chip Daddy.

Swindon Shuffle and Sugarhill Festival

In 2007 and 2008 organisers of the Swindon Shuffle were invited to programme a local music stage at Sugarhill Festival, called the Shuffle Stage, as Sugarhill Festival recognised the achievement by the Swindon Shuffle in raising the profile of Swindon music in 2007; work that Sugarhill Festival wanted to help reach an even wider audience. This allowed Swindon acts to perform alongside established acts like The Beat and Neville Staple, and Dreadzone in 2007, plus Young Knives, Tom Baxter and Imelda May in 2008.

2007 Line Up

Sugarhill Festival 2007 took place on Warren Farm in the village of Liddington, just outside Swindon, over the weekend of Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 September.

A total of 28 acts played the Shuffle Stage across the weekend including Swindon based acts The Knott, Charlie Bath, Arc, The Alfonz, Jurgen and the Wolfs, Playgroup, Dr Joel, Black Eye Dog and Seven Years On, plus the Bristol based band Your Robot Overlords.

2008 Line Up

Sugarhill Festival 2008 took place again on Warren Farm over the weekend of Friday 5 to Sunday 7 September.

Again 28 acts played the Shuffle Stage across the weekend including Swindon based acts Beatbullyz, Talk In Code, Hip Route, Attica Seasons, Rats Ruined My Brain, Jeff Like Usual, Matthew Kilford, 2 Sick Monkeys, Buswell and Trip Dress, plus the Swedish band The Flaming Moes. The 2008 line up also saw previous Swindon Shuffle acts The Alfonz and The SheBeats perform on the main stage.

Swindon Shuffle CDs and DVD

2007 Acts Album (CD)

To mark the creation of the Swindon Shuffle festival, plus raise extra money for the supported charity in the first year, an album was released on CD format through Swindon record label 4th Street Music. The album featured 16 of the acts playing at the festival including The Alfonz, Black Eye Dog, Buswell, Electric City Heights, Jeff Like Usual, Seven Years On, The She Beats, Simon Hall, The Sturgis Armory and Truth Be Told.

The album was officially launched on Saturday 23 June 2007 at 12 Bar in Swindon with live performances from Jeff Like Usual, Simon Hall and an acoustic performance from Seven Years On.

2011 Live Performances (DVD)

Media organisation Swindon Viewpoint filmed a number of acts live performances at the Swindon Shuffle 2011, and as a way of raising funds towards their costs of covering local music they released a limited edition DVD featuring a selection of the acts. The DVD was only available by pre-order from Swindon Viewpoint.

Songs were included on the DVD from The Dacoits, The Vooz, The Racket, Kova Me Badd, Black Sheep Apprentice and Hiproute, as well as the five 're-union' acts that played The Beehive on the Saturday; Jacksauce, Big Casino, Zebracoat, Babytrain, and Plastic Sound Co.

2012 Acts Double Album (CD)

A compilation album of acts performing returned for the Swindon Shuffle 2012. It was a limited edition, individually-numbered, double-CD album featuring 44 tracks from acts playing the festival.

Acts appearing on the album included Bateleurs, Old Colours, Charlie Bath, Alice Offley, Nudybronque, SkyBurnsRed, Mantrasphere, Black Hats, The Racket, Mr Hello and his Honesty Club feat. Kid Jamaica, and Chip Daddy.

External Links

Official Swindon Shuffle Website