STAGE 1 FRIDAY

DISTORTED BREED
Bitter and twisted dirt rock mayhem from the perpetrator of PERFECT DISTORTION! Distorted Breed is the new band fronted by Jim Distortion - a red-hot phoenix raised from the ashes of FUTILE GESTURE and PERFECT DISTORTION by their inimitable mainman, lead vocalist and writer. Shunning the industrial and techno noize that created Perfect Distortion’s sonic backdrop, the new incarnation is down and dirty, bassy and basic with the emphasis on balls-out rock ’n’ roll and Jim’s unmistakeably leonine, yet singularly melodic roar.


www.myspace.com/jimdistortion
www.jimdistortion.co.uk
www.randomcandle.co.uk

NEW DEVICE
The latest addition to the Westmill Farm Festival line-up may be a local band - but they’ve come a very long way! On the 13th June, this London and Hertford-based hard rock outfit were the support act to rock legends BON JOVI at London’s cavernous 02 Arena - and they’re not the only rock giants NEW DEVICE have supported lately - as well as playing at the Download festival and Sonisphere alongside Metallica and Alice in Chains, they’ve toured with Europe and Dear Superstar and shared the billing with the likes of Gun, Bullet For My Valentine, Funeral For A Friend and My Chemical Romance.

Quite a CV for a band that only formed in 2007! NEW DEVICE are a hard rock band, pure and simple. Influenced by stadium rock giants of the late 80s and early 90s such as Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith and Metallica, they manage to achieve what others can’t: solid, authentic hard rock, written by genuinely passionate lifelong fans of the genre. Snapped up by Powerage Records, the band have recently released their debut album, TAKIN’ OVER - a magnum opus recorded with Ryan Richards (Funeral for a Friend) and mixed in Los Angeles by Cameron Webb of Motorhead, Tenacious D and Godsmack fame.
www.myspace.com/newdevice

JOAN OV ARC
All-girl hard rockers JOAN ov ARC have toured up and down Europe, the Mediterranean and Caribbean with explosive shows, electrifying audiences at the London Astoria, G3 magazine birthday at Café de Paris, the Garage, The Pitz, The Barfly, summer festivals, military gigs, high profile cruise ships, the Harley Davidson Chopper Show in Slovakia and at Rhythms of the World, to name but a few. They’ve gained support and respect from legendary dudes such as Bruce Dickinson from ‘Iron maiden’ and Brian Howe from ‘Bad Company’ helping them to have national radio airtime; at one BBC6 Radio show, where the girls met Bruce and played a few tunes leaving him flabbergasted and shouting "these girls can shred"!

www.myspace.com/joanovarc

KILLERSTANCE
A metal band with a little bit extra, drawing influences from a much wider scope than you might expect. They have a bone crunching sound that’s rhythmic, heavy and dripping with melodic twists and technical turns never letting you forget that this is metal! Energetic, creative and powerful, their songs still leaving room for amazing harmonies and immense changes in rhythm and although relatively new to the studio and gigging world, KILLERSTANCE have been known to steal the show and attract major crowds.

Their EP will be released soon but have a three track CD available from mid June 2010 - listen to “When Gods Burn” at:
www.killerstance.com

CRIMZEN
Five-piece female fronted melodic metal band. Formed in 2006 in the depths of Hertfordshire, England, CrimZen are on a quest to caress the senses, scar the soul, and make your body ache till the day you stagger off to hell. CrimZen are led by Kerri's haunting, soulful vocal, which weaves a delicate tapestry with the iron fisted riffs provided by Craig and Alex, which is bitch-slapped into order by Keith's artillery of drums and Chris's slick funky bass lines.

www.myspace.com/crimzenrock

SELF-INFLICTED
Self Inflicted are a melodic metal band formed in 2005 in Royston, Hertfordshire. Fusing elements of metal, rock, prog, doom, goth and industrial music has earned the band a reputation for having a colossal wall of sound and a devastating live show. It's this reputation that has seen the band support Irish rock band The Answer, former Progidy guitarist Gizz Butt, and perform to over 1000 people at the Summer Explosion Festival in Hertfordshire. The summer of 2010 sees the release of a brand new EP and dates all over the UK.

ALTITUDE ZERO
Altitude Zero are a 4-Piece alternative band From Hertfordshire
whose sound covers a bit of everything from our huge range of influences.

www.myspace.com/altitudezerouk

THE BLISSETTS
The Blissetts are not for the faint hearted. Led by indomitable front man Paul, Arup on guitar, Ed on bass and Ajay on drums, The Blissetts sound is a car crash of anarcho-punk, rap and old skool rock, with a whole host of current events thrown in. Not ones for shying away from any given subject, The Blissetts have tackled racism, capitalism, unemployment, politics, war, Simon Cowell and even God. They even released their acclaimed single ‘Liars, Cheats, Thieves and Politicians’ on election day 2010. In a world where apathy is preferred to action, a band like The Blissetts is needed now more than ever, just to give us all the kick up the backside that we sorely need to get fired up. The band’s message is a simple one: ‘Don’t blindly believe everything you are told, think about it, investigate it and make up your OWN minds!’.

www.theblissetts.co.uk
www.myspace.com/theblissetts

EMCOIL

A 5-piece band from Hertford, Stortford and Sarlow with a heavy melodic rock sound and at times heavy, heavy.
www.myspace.com/emcoil

SILVERBLAZE
Silverblaze are a 5-piece rock band from hertford whose music mixes rock, pop and metal to create a unique sound that guarantees to grab your attention. With hard-hitting riffs and memorable melodies, this energetic, guitar-driven quintet are a real modern take on the classic rock band. Having recently recorded an EP, Silverblaze have big ambitions and are itching to unleash their own brand of rock 'n' roll onto a music scene that’s ready for change.

www.facebook.com/silverblazemusic

 

 

 

 

STAGE 2 FRIDAY

(YOUNG BANDS' STAGE)

CHRIS CAPE
Indie space-rapper Chris Cape believes he was born in space, millions of years ago. True or not, he has come to earth bearing anthems to save humanity and taken this planet’s safety upon himself recently, saying, "Demons will come but we will fight them with lasers and kill them…" during an interview with The Sun. After playing over 20 festivals last summer and with even more bookings coming in for this season he is bringing “space-jam” to the stage. With three singles from his forthcoming release Message from Outer-Space ready to go, Cape is expected to receive substantial media attention throughout the Christmas and New Year period. Musically likened to acts MGMT and Gym Class Heroes he is giving pop a forced make-over. Through his constantly updated ChrisCape.com blog and Twitter profile (twitter.com/chriscapeblog Cape is becoming impossible to ignore online. With such an eccentrically intense live show, it is worth getting the “Cape Experience” before it costs loads. “Very impressive." Mike McNally (EMI, Observer, NME/Melody Maker)

www.myspace.com/chriscape
www.youtube.com/ChrisCapeTV
www.chriscape.com

PET PETROLEUM

Back for a third year, although you'll know them in their old guise as High Resort, Pet Petroleum are currently in the Surface Unsigned Competition 2010 have been followed by RCA Records and their new material is being featured on BBC Radio 3's The Verb show. www.myspace.com/highresort

WIDEBOY GENERATION

One of the very few bands that will simultaneously remind you of everything that is great about rock'n'roll while kick-starting your heart with a vital urgency that is sadly lacking in their contemporaries. 'Characterised by cocky charm', is how the dictionary describes the term 'wideboy'... and these lot have that by the shovel-load. A 3-piece band straight outta Garageland, that also have a shedload (as in record in one) of well-honed tunes and crap cutting riffs that prove these guys shoes are for kicking arse..not gazing at! Surely they're too thin and their strides too tight to be wide boys but this lot have got all the swagger and chops and unforgettable choons of The Clash,The Jam,and even The Who, and although they may plough a similar furrow to the aforementioned ledgends as well as nodding in the direction of bands such as Oasis, Supergrass and The Enemy, refreshingly they somehow cut out a brand new groove that's never in a rut. In another era you might even have called this power-pop, and it's big enough, powerful enough and downright catchy enough to kick the crap out of the current crop of indie kids! Revoution Rock, anyone? www.myspace.com/wideboygeneration
FALSE ALARM
KATE IS THE DECOY

Kate Is The Decoy, since forming, have been on nothing but a roll! The band formed in summer 2008 and they wasted no time on getting to work on writing and recording their first few tracks. Once the tracks we’re uploaded onto their Myspace there was no doubt in people's minds that Kate Is The Decoy has what it takes! Their demos earned them shows at established music venues and have been given the chance to share the stage with bands such as Enter Shikari, Canterbury, My Passion, MiMi Soya, Exit Avenue, The Broadcast and more! The band prides themselves on their energetic live performance and will never let up once they hit the stage!

HIGH HEELS & LOWLIFES

High Heels & Lowlifes,  a hot new indie electro pop duo straight out of happening London town - With an Essex estuary twang, High Heels singer Bek adds the look, and the voice, to the urban cool, old skool vibe of manic MC Mista Mee's streetsmart beats.

FROM RHEA TO RUIN

From Rhea to Ruin, Your local Metal/Hardcore band, full of tight chugging guitars mixed with smooth melodies and two vocalists spitting some raw screams means you’ll definitely find yourself moving. They’re a new band based around Hertfordshire who’re hitting it hard having already played with the likes of The Dead Lay Waiting, Bleed From Within and Trigger the Bloodshed. With their debut EP set to release early 2011 you can expect to hear alot more of From Rhea To Ruin in the upcoming months!

www.myspace.com/fromrheatoruin

SWING YOUTH

Formed in April 2009 and consisting of two pairs of brothers, Swing Youth originally hail from Watford on the outskirts of London. After honing their sound and rehearsing to near perfection, the outfit unleashed their swaggeringly buoyant pop to deafening applause at the renowned Club NME. By the end of the year, their performances were gaining almighty praise from all corners of the music industry and led to their debut single selling out in less than two weeks.
The British radio has also leant its support to the burgeoning brilliance of Swing Youth being play-listed by both Tom Robinson and Steve Lamacq, plus performing live on their local BBC Introducing show. This impressive CV has also helped them garner interest from underground head-hunters Moshi Moshi - not too shabby for a band who haven’t even celebrated their first birthday yet.

“Slices of pure pop…like The Buzzcocks with a confident, swaggering melody.” – Indie MP3
“The kind of speaker punching power pop effervescence that was once the given domain of the likes of the Cars, the Distractions, Motors, Split Enz and the Vapors, criminally catchy, insidiously infectious, audaciously acute and blessed with a nerve jangling hook hogging chorus line" - Losing Today

So, I got back home and wacked on 'Jennifer/ Hey Keith' and while it wasn't 'Sound of Arrows' pop, it was still reet good.  So good infact, that I've managed to become one of their top listeners on last.fm.  'Hey Keith' may sound a bit like 'Madness' with backing vocals  provided by Damon Albarn, but it still manages to work with it's bouncy beats.
Vice magazine Blog

www.myspace.com/weareswingyouth

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiQaS3OMuX0

MADDOX

Maddox, the five-piece indie band, hail from the new town to end all new towns… Stevenage. No wonder then, when asked to describe their nervy, edgy rhythms, songwriter and lead vocalist, Jak Melvin, describes the band’s unique sound as “New-Town-Wave”. The haunting, emotionally detached vocals, which conjure visions of urban romance on the track ‘Bright Young Hearts’, lead Maddox to be invited on to the BBC Radio ‘Introducing’ show. Since then, the Maddox cult has grown fast and the band have been in demand to gig locally and in the capital. www.myspace.com/musicmaddox

STEREO BREAKOUT

This new young band from Letchworth Garden City is making a strong impact with their energetic rock sound and stage performances.  Three dedicated 14 years olds formed this band only 9 months ago as part of Herts Music Rock School.  Their fan base is gaining momentum having already played 8 gigs with a strong writing style of 15 originals and counting.  They take inspiration from the Foo Fighters, Green Day, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Muse, Jimi Hendrix and many others. www.myspace.com/stereo.breakout