Monday 15 February 2016

Dials Days 2016 Portsmouth - Initial Line Up Announced


Last year I was involved in the curation and organisation of a self-funded, multi-venue, new music festival in Portsmouth called Dials. It was pretty successful as far as first events go and the team behind it, including myself, decided that in 2016 we’d like to run and organise some more live music events. Today I’m pleased to announce some of the line-up for Dials Days, an all-dayer running at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms and its sister venue The Edge of The Wedge on 23rd April 2016. 

Dials Days will follow a similar ethos to the 2015 festival bringing national touring bands together with the cream of local talent to provide an exciting day of new music and discovery at a value price, more typical of a single gig. Unfortunately at this stage I can’t announce the headliners, and if you have heard the sad news about the tragic deaths of the band Viola Beach (see my previous post here) you will understand partly why.

However, there’s still plenty of musical goodness on offer, including a number of Breaking More Waves favourites.

Among the acts so far confirmed are Welsh alt-rockers Estrons, who will bring an unbridled energy to the event following a forthcoming slot for BBC Introducing at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. Also playing and adding energy of a different kind will be the sassy all-dancing Femme, who recently toured with Charli XCX in the States and is due to release her debut album later this year. Dials Days is also pleased to bring back ethereal rock trio Wyldest to Portsmouth who wowed the previous festival with their ethereal guitar sounds.

The bill will also include electronic bangers from London’s Avec Sans, wonky guitar pop from Fake Laugh, indie-rockers Hey Charlie, new dream pop upstarts Thyla from Brighton and the spacey psychedelic noisesmiths Dead Rabbits from Southampton, plus a number of other artists (full list below).

After the bands finish, following their exhilarating 60’s party DJ set at Dials Festival, the mighty Fuzz Tones DJs will be returning, this time to the main room of the Wedgewood Rooms plus Dead Rabbits and Damaged Goods will be keeping the spirits high in the Edge of the Wedge into the small hours. 

Tickets can be purchased now from Music Glue (via this link) or The Wedgewood Rooms (this link) at a bargain price of £10. 

I'd urge you to purchase one in order for us to create further events in the future - this isn't about making money, it's about bringing new, exciting acts to Portsmouth and working within a spirit of collaboration. If we made a profit we could use that profit to re-invest in bringing more expensive acts to Portsmouth. However this can only be done if we actually sell some tickets. This full afternoon and night of entertainment costs about the same as a cinema ticket or a round of drinks.

Full line up so far: 

Avec Sans, Dead Rabbits, Estrons, Fake Laugh, Femme, George Regan, Hey Charlie, Is Bliss, Little Robyn, Melt Dunes, Shallows, The Boy I Used To Be, Thyla, Wyldest + Very Special Guest Still To Be Announced

A Soundcloud playlist of the majority of the acts so far confirmed can be found below.



Here are 4 artists on the bill that Breaking More Waves is particularly excited about at Dials Days – they’ve all been featured on the blog before.

Femme - Expect dance routines, banging beats and pom poms. Portsmouth probably hasn't seen anything like Femme in its history.



Thyla - Recently introduced on the blog, my latest new favourite thing from Brighton.



Avec Sans - Long term blog favourites, and another act on the bill (alongside Estrons and Femme) who are playing this year's SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. Expect a lot of electronic kit and some very cool pop songs.



Wyldest - They've played a fair few gigs in Portsmouth already and are beginning to develop a decent fanbase. Of course Breaking More Waves was the first blog in the world to post about them (when they went under their previous name Wildest Dreams) so we're always happy to have them back again.



Social Media: 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dialsfestival/
Twitter @dialsfestival
Website http://www.dialsfestival.co.uk/

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