Virgin

While Glastonbury festival goers react to the news of Michael Jackson’s death, the music plays on. After a soggy start the sun comes out and Lily Allen treats the crowd to her cover version of Britney Spears’ Womanizer. While Lily later wore one white glove in tribute to Michael Jackson, Doves and Pharrell Williams of N*E*R*D offered their musings over the death of the ‘king of pop’…

Londoners pay tribute to Michael Jackson at a Liverpool Street Station flashmob where everyone sings along to Bad…

The BBC pays tribute to Michael Jackson with a video retrospective of his career…

“Changes have been made to Virgin Festival by Virgin Mobile in order to ensure an even hotter line-up, and one that will make South Africans proud,” announced Peter Boyd, CEO of Virgin Mobile.

The festival has been postponed to early 2009 in order to secure the international line-up that is more in line with what Virgin Festival stands for throughout the different countries.  “Our criteria for a successful Virgin Festival are a great Greenfield venue, an impressive and eclectic international line-up, a huge local line-up, the Road to V bringing local unsigned bands into the mix, and some quirky brand activations for the crowd from Virgin.  Four out of five of these are on track, but we’re not entirely satisfied with the international line-up,” said Boyd. “Some of the bands that South Africans kept asking for were simply not available at that time of the year.”

He went on to say that Virgin Mobile and Big Concerts will work hard together to achieve a line-up that will show South Africans what a festival of this nature is all about, and one that will make South Africans proud.

As a platform for the Road to V winning band, three concerts presented by Virgin Mobile will still be taking place. On the 13th December in Johannesburg at Coca-Cola Dome, 14th December at Durban’s ICC and on the 17th in Cape Town at Grand Arena at Grandwest. Maroon 5, One Republic, The Parlotones and Goldfish will be lighting up the stage together with Road to V’s winning bands. The grand winner will still open the Virgin Festival by Virgin Mobile when it goes live.

“International acts Maroon 5 and One Republic will still be coming to South Africa, therefore existing ticket sales will still be honoured, only now the concert will be a curtain raiser for Virgin Festival 2009. Unlike the festival it will be indoors, but the dance arena will still be included,” explains Attie Van Wyk, CEO of Big Concerts.

For those who’ve already bought tickets, there’s no need to worry. Current ticket holders have three options:
1.    Hold onto tickets for next year’s Virgin Festival, as they will still be valid;
2.    Get a full refund from Computicket;
3.    Or attend the Virgin Mobile pre-show instead, which will be cheaper, so you will also be entitled to a partial refund of your original ticket price.
“We are confident we have arrived at the best solution for music fans, and it will be worth the wait for Virgin and South Africa.” concluded Boyd.

A pocket full of Glaswegian charm and on the cusp of stardom with the release of their new single ‘Wendy’ and hotly tipped album ‘Friday Night Lights’ later this month. Eleanor Conway chats to lead singer, Kev about his intergalactic dreams, sharing urinals at V Festival, and meeting David Gest down a dark alley.

EC: Hey, what you up to?

KS: Sitting reading my comics. We’re in the studio recording some b sides today…

EC: How rock and roll is the session? Going on a scale of one to ten. Is it non rock and roll, or is there drinking and topless girls dancing on the mixing desk?

KS: (laughs) We’re being very well-behaved today, we’re probably 2 or 3 on the rock-o-meter, we’ll probably phone in for some topless dancers later.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of an early record producer called Kim fowley a notorious maniac, he was producing a band in Manchester from LA on the phone, they were doing it live and so he called up a local Manchester brothel and ordered a bunch of prostitutes to come round and dance in the studio so the band would play better. I don’t think our manager Francis would actually do that but you never know.

(raucous laughing)

EC: You recently played at V Festival, how did it go?

KS: We were up against The Verve and Kaiser Chiefs, I was still surprised we got a crowd it was great. People came along to see us.

My favourite part was the backstage area you go to the toilet and you’re taking a piss next to Ricky of the Kaiser Chiefs, Richard Ashcroft would walk past you to take a dump. You’re like ‘what the hell is going on here!’

EC: Let’s talk about your latest single, ‘Wendy’, I’m assuming you are not talking about a cheap mode of habitation, such as a Wendy House, so who is this girl called Wendy?

KS: She’s a mixture of various girlfriends of all the guys in the band have had over the years. She’s a Frankenstein character to be honest, bits of different people all mashed together to make Wendy as you know her.

EC: If you were to make your ultimate girl, like in the movie ‘Total Recall’, where Schwarzenegger is in the chair and he designs a perfect girl, what would be yours?

KS: I’m always getting slagged off in the band as I go for small dark haired foreign girls.

EC: One’s that can’t understand you?

KS: Yeah, it means that my general inability to communicate with human beings isn’t a problem until they master English and I master their language.

And at that point they’ll dump me.

(laughing)

EC: Wendy has been remixed by The Fratellis along with The Vaselines, I’m a househead at heart, so I don’t really get the indie remixes. What did The Fratellis mix add to the orginal?

KS: We were kind of surprised, I suppose there’s an element that if you change the chords in somebody’s song it could be see as an insult, but it also takes a lot of balls. It worked, we were like, ‘fucking hell, we never thought of that chord’.

I’m a big dance music fan myself, I love getting the remixes, the more dancey ones. It’s kind of made me think I should get myself a sampler and start writing some German minimalist techno.

EC: You’re shocking me, this is like a genre crossover, you can’t do that.

KS: (laughs) I kind of grew up listening to indie and going to hardcore dance clubs at the weekend, it’s a strange dichotomy, one day we’ll hook up with Fat Boy Slim and come out with some wild dance stuff. That would be real cool.

EC: You actually supported Paul Heaton who was in the Housemartins with Fatboy Slim earlier this year didn’t you?

Maybe that’s a subconscious connection in my head. We did a short tour a couple of months ago, he’s the nicest guy in the world. I’ve never played with a main act who has said on stage, ‘this is our new single, if you don’t like it, go and buy Attic Lights new single’. I’m in awe of Paul Heaton.

EC: I watched a short film about you guys on YouTube. Kev, you were described as enigmatic, talented, hopeless, optimistic, hyperactive, an intelligent space cadet — now which do you relate with more?

KS: Colin calls me a hopeless optimistic all the time, Tim is always loathed to sit beside me on the tour bus because I’m totally hyperactive, and end up screaming at him and poking him and tickling him, so it depends what mood you get me in.

EC: Virgin are embarking on intergalactic space adventures, Virgin Galactic, if you were to go up to space, what is the one thing you would like to do? Pee, make love, or make music?

KS: That’s very difficult, because all three would have definite appeal.

I’m not sure actually, I’d genuinely love to go to space, it would be tremendous. In case my mum encounters this interview I won’t say make love in space, and making music in space would be quite good, but being a basic infant, I’d probably want to pee in space to see what happens.

EC: I agree with you, I’d probably do the same.

I generally dislike comparing artists to people that have been before, but you’ve been described by journalists and reviewers as the Beach Boys with distorted guitars, do you see that comparison yourself?

KS: I suppose it’s an easy thing to do, there’s part of me that’s like ‘you know we’re more than that’, and every band is more than their comparisons. When we started Attic Lights the idea was, we wanted Beach Boy melodies, uplifting yet slightly melancholy songs, we want loud guitars, coz we grew up with Weezer and the Pixies and stuff like that. So aye, it doesn’t bother us too much and I’m sure people will get a handle on it and make their own minds up.

EC: It’s been said that you guys love Glasgow, and I can’t remember which band member said they would love to work for the council if the opportunity arose. How good is Glasgow, and how much fun can I have for a tenner?

KS: It kind of depends on what you want…

(Noel boisterously shouting in background)

KS: (sternly) Noel, you can’t say things like that.

Noel is being extremely rude.

Colin said he actually worked for the council, much to the amusement of everyone else.

(Shouts to band) Colin you go out more than anyone else, what can you do in Glasgow for a tenner?

(shouting– musician styleeee ) A bottle of Buckfast, take it to the park or five white Russians at Nice and Sleazy, which is a pretty cool bar.

EC: Obviously as your success grows (fingers crossed) there will be big pull towards the smoke. Have you considered moving to London?

KS: Do you know what? It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. I think previously we’d been down in London on a regular basis, we thought London was a bit too big for us. Now I’ve fallen in love with London, it’s absolutely fantastic I just love going down, the architecture is amazing, the difference between Camden and Kensington and all that. Everyone that is a real music aficionados from the States, always talk about London bands, and the UK scene. There’s definitely kudos. I guess to people in London it’s not that amazing, I just love walking around Camden it feels like a really incredible multicultural mix. I’d definitely like to live in London, London is definitely one of the great cities of the world.

EC: Just before calling you I was looking at your video for ‘Bring You Down’ which weirdly has David Gest in it….. er why?

KS: It’s not ours. It’s a long story, I’ll give you the condensed version, it’s rather bizarre. Our tour manager, John, met David Gest on a flight from London to Glasgow. They ended up getting pissed and having a party back at John’s flat, he played Gest a version of our song and then phoned us to come round. Everyone’s hammered and David Gest is like (Kev adopts American/Glaswegian accent), ‘I’d like to do a monologue over this’. So we let him put a monologue over it, and he wanted to his own video to it as well. So it’s a bit weird isn’t it?

EC: It is, because the video features the ‘Small people of Davidland’ and ‘The Chinese girls with Herpes’, so my next question is, which would you like to meet down a dark alley?

KS: I’d go for the small people, as opposed to the girls with Herpes. I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, anyone with a disease I try to stay away from.

EC: What would the people of Attic Lights land look like?

KS: Good question actually, y’know you got me stumped, if they were anything like the band they’d probably be a mixture of hyperactive or stoned or confused. Basically like five headless chickens, because that’s what the band is like, but somehow we always seem to get things done though.

EC: With a little bit of Glaswegian charm I’m sure….

KS: We always put on the charming smiles, especially for lovely journalists like yourself.

EC: Excellent. Correct answer.

And on that note….. Attic Lights release their new single ‘Wendy’, and album ‘Friday Night Lights’ on 6/10 and 13/10 respectively.

Attic Lights:

http://www.atticlights.co.uk/

http://www.myspace.com/atticlights

Words: Eleanor Conway

www.elle-online.com

www.myspace.com/elleuk

This is Not London is a series of special one-off events with a list of curators and guests that reads like a roll call of who’s relevant and exciting in music right now. It is a response against mediocrity and stagnation in parties and festivals, put together by music lovers, for music lovers.Beginning on October 3, a series of universally respected musical frontrunners will curate their very own bespoke nights at matter, thoughtfully gathering together their friends, heroes and peers to create a fascinating and unique insight into their respective worlds. To that end, Simian Mobile Disco, Southern Fried Records, Moshi Moshi Records and Justice have all wrangled together a rambunctious group of live and DJ talent, including the likes of Lindstrom, A Trak, Armand Van Helden, Kate Nash, Tilly and the Wall and DJ Mehdi.

Thrillingly enough, that’s not the end of it. Not hardly. For, come October 24, This is Not London will play host to James Murphy and Pat Mahoney, of New York’s legendary - and legendarily cool - DFA Records.

There are precious few people in the world to whom the word “cool” can be applied so freely (and without the slightest trace of irony or insincerity), but for the past seven years or so, James Murphy has undoubtedly come to epitomise its very essence. After all, not many people can hopscotch from forming a cutting edge record label like DFA Records, to being credited with injecting an element of live spontaneity and soul into dance with his own band, LCD Soundsystem, to collaborating with and bringing to prominence a whole host of bright young things like The Rapture to, indeed, creating a whole new genre of music in itself with dance-punk. His trademark sound - all jerky, pinballing beats, razor sharp angles and attitude to match - has seen its influence spread to a whole new generation of young artists and continues to make its mark on popular culture.

For one night only, James Murphy will be programming a whole night of musical mayhem for This is Not London, bringing together live performances from artists as diverse and exciting as the Juan Maclean, Gavin Russom, planningtorock and YACHT, as well as DJ sets from the stellar likes of Morgan Geist, Mock N’ Toof, Gucci Soundsystem, Babytalk, Horsemeat Disco and lots more. Friday nights may never be the same again.

James Murphy curates This is Not London on Friday, October 24.

Tickets are available through www.matterlondon.com

Featuring - SPECIAL DISCO VERSION feat. James Murphy and Pat Mahoney (DFA/LCDSoundsystem), JUAN MCLEAN (DJ set with Live Acid Performance) GAVIN RUSSOM, planningtorock (LIVE) YACHT (LIVE), MORGAN GEIST, OPTIMO,HORSEMEAT DISCO, STILL GOING, MOCK N TOOF , BABYTALK, GUCCI SOUNDSYSTEM

www.thisisnotlondon.co.uk & www.matterlondon.co.uk

Liam Fray from The Courteeners says they’ll headline the UK V Festival next year, probably. Okay - so, while backstage at this year’s Chelmsford V Festival, I kind of pushed him in to making that statement and I immediately felt soiled and dirty like some gutter-dwelling tabloid hack but hey, all’s fair in love, rock’n'roll and trying to get that exclusive backstage scoop. I had a lined up a whole series of guffaw-inducing, oh-so-clever and highly original either/or questions for the mighty Liam Courteener (as you can see from our other V Festival clips)… until he said he was pissed off coz the previous interviewer had asked him a load of really crap either/or questions. Oh. So here I am clenching my butt cheeks and gritting my teeth under a fixed grin trying make polite conversation with a burgeoning rock legend who thinks I’m a bit of a dick for not asking decent, probing and intelligent questions. This job is quite hard sometimes you know.

Check out The Courteeners’ new Stephen Street-produced single, That Kiss, it’s really very good.

By now you’ve probably already heard that the Great Escape festival, scheduled for the October long weekend, has been cancelled. Organisers site unexpectedly low ticket sales as the reason and I must say it’s probably because the festival was organised for the same weekend of Parklife, a well-established event in the Sydney festival calendar. The last three years have seen the Great Escape held over the Easter long weekend, but inexplicably organisers decided this year to attempt to go head to head with the dance and hip hop behemoth.

It can’t be a lack of top shelf performers that discouraged potential festival goers, with bands such as We Are Scientists, Supergrass and The Futureheads planned to tear it up at Newington armoury. It’s unfortunate it had to be cancelled, but eager music fans can at least take solace in the fact that most of the line-up have confirmed they will be proceeding with their sideshows. (Oh, and if you’re looking for my pick of the bunch I strongly recommend Black Francis at the Metro. Sometimes known as Frank Black, he was the driving force behind progressive punk pioneers The Pixies and his show is something I’m looking forward to with open ears.)

Anyway, the confirmed sideshows are as follows;

CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND
Saturday October 4 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney
www.enmoretheatre.com.au
www.ticketek.com.au

JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN
Tuesday October 7 – Factory Theatre, Sydney
www.factorytheatre.com.au
www.ticketek.com.au

LADYTRON
Monday September 29 – Metro Theatre, Sydney
www.metrotheatre.com.au

MOUNT EERIE
Friday October 3 – Sound Summit, Newcastle
www.thisisnotart.org

SUPERGRASS
Friday October 3 – The Forum, Sydney
www.forumsydney.com.au
www.moshtix.com.au

THE FUTUREHEADS
Friday October 3 – The Gaelic Theatre, Sydney
www.moshtix.com.au

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS
Sunday October 12 - Annandale Hotel, Sydney
www.annandalehotel.com

WE ARE SCIENTISTS
Monday October 6 – The Metro, Sydney
www.ticketek.com.au
www.metrotheatre.com.au

YEASAYER
Tuesday October 7 – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
www.moshtix.com.au

BLACK FRANCIS
Friday October 3 – Metro Theatre, Sydney
www.ticketek.com.au

In other music news, Aussie Grammy award winning band Wolfmother has announced the resignation of bass/keyboard player Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett. The band sites irreconcilable musical differences as the reason for the fracture. Singer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale has stated that he plans to recruit other musicians with a view to recording a sophomore Wolfmother release over the coming months.

Now, the band regrouped after an extended break early this year to record some new material and undertook a small tour to test out the material, culminating in their appearance at Splendour in the Grass.

I’m wondering, is there anyone out there who got a chance to see them in the past couple of months? If so, what was the new material like, and did anyone notice any animosity on stage? To me, the announcement seemed quite out of the blue for such an initially successful band and it’s a shame to lose them (at least temporarily) from the Aussie music landscape.

The fansite wolfmother.net has contributed to rumours heard on Triple J radio that some members of the supergroup The Raconteurs (Saboteurs for Aussie audiences) will be replacing the former members in a new line-up. This is all rumour as of now, but it should be noted that The White Stripes have confirmed they are working on a new album (thereby freeing up the other members of the band) and Wolfmother’s myspace page was recently updated to include ‘folk’ as one of their genres. This seems a confusing move given their classic hard rock sound unless Stockdale is looking further afield for new members.

Obviously, Wolfmother won’t be playing Homebake in December so that’s gotta be a bit of a downer for anyone expecting to see them there. Looks like lucky ticket holders will have to satisfy themselves with the likes of Crowded House, The Vines, British India and the many other great bands on offer (btw I really have no pity for you fortunate buggers that managed to secure tickets! =)

The awesome Fratellis have been added to the lineup to Calgary Virgin Festival on June 21-22. The Fratellis will play Saturday 21 while Ladyhawk and Cadence Weapon have been added to Sunday’s bill. Glaswegian Fratellis are about to release their first single from their forthcoming album ‘Here We Stand’ which is due out on June 9. ‘Mistress Mabel’ is currently doing the rounds on the radio and indicates that those chirpy Scottish types have got a cracking second album lined up for us to bop along to all summer - just like last year when they were one of the highlights of the UK VFestival. Vancouver’s Ladyhawk are now all set to bring their particular taste of indie rock to the party while Edmonton’s Cadence Weapon promise to throw in a bit of hip-hop to the mix - which can’t be bad. Keep checking back for more lineup anouncements soon :)

Bob Dylan (legend!), Iggy & The Stooges (legends!), Chuck Berry (legend!), The Offspring, Bloc Party, Wilco, Paramore, Lil Wayne and The Swell Season join the bursting-at-the-seams lineup for the US Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore on August 9 & 10. Not only them - but also: KT Tunstall, Duffy, Cat Power, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, The Go! Team, Lupe Fiasco and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club join headliners The Foo Fighters, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Stone Temple Pilots and Jack Johnson while Moby, Soulwax and Underworld take to the dance tent. I think those canny Americans have done a darn fine job this year if you ask me. Check out virginmobilefestival.com for the full lineup and get your tickets from Tickemaster from 3 May. But I can let you lucky virgin.com/music surfers in to a little secret… head on over to Ticketmaster from 10am on 1 May, enter VMOF and get your hands on some pre-sale tickets - bargain! Don’t ever say I don’t give you the scoop when you need it. So what do you reckon to the lineup?

More acts have been confirmed for the UK VFestival lineup: Calvin Harris, Estelle, Air Traffic, The Stranglers, The Delays, The Presets, Sam Sparro, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Royworld, The Script, Alphabeat and Captain now join August’s two-day fest in both Chelmsford and Stafford. So with yet more acts still rumoured to join these alongside Muse, The Verve and Kings Of Leon - who else do you want to see play VFestival!? I’ve still got my fingers crossed for Goldfrapp and Roisin Murphy…

see more lovely Calvin Harris photos on Neil Dorgan’s Flickr photostream

The Road To V is moving pretty thick and fast this year, and the first pit stops are the finalists’ heats at Islington and Liverpool in a few weeks where 14 of the best unsigned bands play for the judges - including Dirty Pretty Thing and sometime Libertine Carl Barat. And you can get your grubby mitts on free tickets to those gigs from the Road To V website - how marvellous. But what of last year’s winners? Where do you go once you’ve opened up VFestival for the adoring masses? Well the road doesn’t end there as Ipswich indie boys Rosalita will tell you. I caught up with them a couple of weeks ago to find out what they’ve been up to since winning the 2007 Road To V and they have some words of wisdom for this year’s entrants. I did have to be taken down a dark and deserted track to some spooky farm outbuildings on the outskirts of delightful Ipswich to get to them , but once there I realised this was their secret den cum rehearsal room where they were masterminding and preparing their imminent UK tour - hurrah. Watch the clip now, go on - it’s good.

This news’ll either have unsigned bands flocking to the Road To V contest or hitching their girlie skirts in fear and running for the hills. Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things person Carl Barat has been announced as the fifth judge on the Road To V panel in the UK. The Road To V comp gives the chance for two unsigned bands to open up the VFestival in the UK this August. Previous winners have been The Young Knives, Bombay Bicycle Club and that chap Sam Riley who played Ian Curtis in Control. The Holloways were also previous contenders and watch this space for news of last year’s brilliant winners Rosalita and The Brightlights. Hopeful bands have already been busy uploading tracks to the Road To V website - and now the gauntlet has well and truly been thrown down. The other four judges joining the right honourable Mr Barat are VFestival promoter Mags Revell, NME’s Mark Beaumont, A&R chap Sav Remzi and Crown Management’s Paul Samuels. So these are the bigwigs who will initially decide which bands will get to play the heats at London and Liverpool - then it’s over to us mere mortal punters to vote, vote, vote like Billy-O for the bands we want to open the UK VFestivals. More Road To V features coming up here very soon… check out armcurls’ Flickr photostream for more lovely Carl Barat pics.

Yeee-hah. Still fuzzy-headed and in need of a pint of Bloody Mary to help us recover from all four Australian VFestivals… the ultimate hangover cure comes along. Yes - Virgin Festival Calgary raises it’s curtains to the lucky Canadians for the very first time revealing the awesome lineup of Stone Temple Pilots, The Tragically Hip, The Flaming Lips (big yay!), Three Days Grace, Matthew Good, City And Colour and Stars. Check out virginfestival.ca/calgary for the full lineup. Get those button-clicking fingers ready coz early bird tickets go on sale today, YES TODAY at 10am MST until Friday 11 April 5pm MST. Grab your early birdies now! Otherwise you have to join the virtual queue with all the normal smelly punters for the general release date of Saturday 12 April at 10am MST from Futureshop or Ticketmaster. Or you can even pick up the old blower and dial 403-777-0000. Heck, you could even get off your skinny arses and go along to an actual real-life Future Shop or Ticketmaster outlet. Revolutionary. There’s just no excuse.  Stay logged on to virgin.com/music for more gossip as soon as I can invent some… See ya later pardner (now I will stop with the crap cowboy-isms)

Blimey, you wait six months in the long bleak winter with fluff-all festival-going joyness then, like the proverbial London bus, loads all come along at once. I’m quite dizzy with Virgin Festival excitedness. So here I am in Sydney, Australia (why is everyone so darn healthy here? My Antipodean workmates are up at 6.30 am doing yoga in the Botanical Gardens while I’m dragging myself in to conciousness with coffee and banana bread) and my trainers are still caked in mud from the Gold Coast VFestival and I have to think about how to get to Melbourne and Perth this weekend to take in the next leg of the Australian VFest tour. Just about got my fuzzy brain around that one when, still raw from the Toronto Virgin Festival announcement (Foo Fighters! Oasis! Bloc Party! Stereophonics!) I find that those sneaky guys from Virgin Mobile in the US have unleashed yet another awesome lineup upon the world. Stone Temple Pilots! Kanye West! Nine Inch Nails! Jack Johnson! Yay - more Foo Fighters! Hardcore yet chilled - the perfect diverse VFest lineup that keeps us all hooked. So the Baltimore date is now in my ever-growing festival diary - August 9 & 10 at the Pimlico Race Course it is. Check out virginmobilefestival.com for more details. I may need to take a power nap now in order to get me through the next few days…

Oasis and Foo Fighters will headline the third annual Virgin Festival Toronto this year on 6 &  7 September. Bloc Party, Paul Weller, Stereophonics, Wintersleep, Spiritualized, The Weakerthans, Constantines and The Pigeon Detectives are also part of the brilliant line-up announced today. Tickets will be on sale Saturday 29 March 12 pm EST at select Future Shop locations, futureshop.ca, all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.ca, or by calling 416-870-8000. Lucky lucky Virgin Mobile members can get their hands on Early Bird tickets before anyone else - so keep your ears plugged in to your mobile. Good news or what!? As soon as I hear more gossip from the very nice Canadian types I’ll be sure to pass it on, in the meantime check out virginfestival.ca for more details…

Looking forward to the Australian VFestivals? Fancy winning an amazing competition that gets you VIP access to VFestivals worldwide throughout 2009? Think you can do a better job than those boring old music journos - and me!? If you’re heading to one of the Australian VFestivals in the next couple of weeks and fancy writing up your adventures for this very site - then we’ll get you VIP access. You’ll also be in with the chance to win CDs, mobile phones, free tickets to your local VFestival next year - as well as the once-in-a-lifetime prize of VIP tickets and travel to VFestivals worldwide next year. No joke… find out how to take part in the competition here, but get a shimmy on coz there’s only a few more days left to enter!

Little Red have won Australia VFestival’s very own Garage To V contest. The five man outfit from Melbourne were crowned as the undisputed kings of unsigned bands and they will now open all four VFestivals across Australia. Hurrah! Take a listen to their track ‘Waiting’ over on the official Garage To V website and while you’re there take a butchers at the videos from the heats in Perth and Melbourne. Looks like Aussie audiences will be in for a treat with these guys getting things going. Fitting spikily somewhere between a popular 60’s pop combo, Talking Heads and Franz Ferdinand these young whippersnappers have nicked the best hooks, riffs and trousers from the past few decades and, with a bit of an arch twist involving not one, not two - but three boy vocalists, bring something fresh, perky and harmonious to proceedings. Easy to see why these lads, in all their matching suit glory, swung the judges’ votes. I’m sure those Australian record company bigwigs will be swooping in on them over the next few weeks so, while the boys grease themselves up in readiness, make the most of the raw and unplucked Little Red while you can still get within frisking distance. I’ll hopefully catch up with them when I’m over in Australia for the VFestivals so keep your eyes and ears peeled (can you peel your ears? Well you can try I guess) for more here very very soon…

The Road To V sometimes leads to The Young Knives, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Brightlights, Rosalita, The Holloways and many other brilliant bands on their way to global rock’n'roll super stardom. On the other hand, the Road To V sometimes doesn’t lead there at all but somewhere else far murkier and uncharted - down a potholed side lane with a creaky signpost saying ‘turn back now!’ maybe. Such is the joy of rustling through the interweb pages of the rather brilliant roadtov.com. For as we speak future stadium rock stars of tomorrow (August 2008 to be precise) are furtively uploading their wares to the site so we can all behold the joy of their unsigned greatness. Alas for every Young Knives there’s a … well, a frankly shit band that should stick to the back room of the Dog and Bird in the Bush in Kettering. Thankfully, the Road To V is not American Idol or X Factor and we are spared any pantomime stunts by the time the expert judging panel gets serious and the heats are in full swing. But be warned, the sturdy hand of good taste has not yet taken a firm and unforgiving hold of the many and varied entries on roadtov.com so surf at your peril. Chances are you’ll come across the next big thing, vote, vote, vote, vote for all your worth and come August you’ll see them open this year’s VFestival.

For tasters, I’ve picked out these fine examples for your consideration. The Jackpot Golden Boys say they’ve been described as heavy metal beach boys due to their heavy guitar riffs and 4 part vocal harmonies. I say they’re like Ben Elton just wrote a West End musical all about Buster Bloodvessel and Bad Manners (now there’s an idea!). Dancing Lotus may look a bit like Blazing Squad mated with Goldie Lookin Chain in order ensure survival of the fittest in the harsh world of the music industry, but their tunes hark back to LLCoolJ’s commercial heyday (hip hop - with violins? Genius) and they also have a legion of devoted fans furiously voting and commenting (there could be something in that you know). Go Dancing Lotus - dance, dance! Dragging goth backwards in to the realm of pop comes Billy Rebel. Like The Damned doing Monster Mash, these guys have a big enough sense of humour to dress up as blood-soaked vampires and bash out the perkiest bit of punkish rockabilly I’ve heard since… oh way back when The Stray Cats were Runaway Boys. Now, Excuse Me Miss came to my attention not only coz lots of people have voted for them but their blurb says they’re like ‘S Club with throbbing hairy man-danglers’ which is so wrong in every way it defies belief. They also say they’re a bit jazz so, like the proverbial cat, curiosity has brought me within brushing distance of death. And their band shot makes them look like they’ve just popped in to their mum’s dining room after sunbathing on the patio outside and happened upon a set of musical instruments. Brilliant. Grinny Grandad have a great name, they actually have real life girls in the band, they sample brass bands, they apparently ooze retro savvy chic and I wouldn’t necessarily argue with that. So there you go. Hitch a ride on the Road To V people and buckle up coz it may get bumpy.

Tickets to this year’s VFestival sold out in just 90 minutes. Blimus. Missed out? Peed off? Never fear - National Express to the rescue! You can still get coach and weekend camping packages to each of this year’s UK VFestivals - bargain. Just imagine, it’d be like Carry On Camping but with rock’n'roll. You could bagsy the seats at the back, pull moonies at the drivers on the motorway, sneak booze in to your Transformers flasks and then fill the sick bags - all before you even arrive. It just might be the solution to get you to V if you missed out on tickets on Friday - and it just might be a more sound option rather than those naughty ticket touts selling ‘em on for an inflated price on certain t’internet auction sites. Just say no! But say a-yes to the National Express gawd love ‘em. A British institution to treasure. Book your coach and weekend camping packages now.