Aztec Doll © John Jowett
Two Barnsley acts are amongst the first names confirmed to play Wakefield’s Long Division Festival.
Aztec Doll have been announced to play for the second year running. Last year they played the Warehouse 23 venues and shared the stage with the likes of Middleman, Ghostpoet and The Fall.
Gilmore & Roberts © Barnaby Aldrick 2012
Also confirmed to play are the Barnsley/Hertfordshire award-winning folk duo Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts. They join the likes of The Cribs, The Wedding Present, Gruff Rhys, Toy, Frankie and the Heartstrings, I Like Trains, Postwar Glamour Girls, Roddy Woomble and many, many more.
Aztec Doll bassist Lee Garforth said, “We played our first ever gig in Wakefield, back in 2012. Chris Morse, promoter at The Hop, and one of the organisers of Long Divison, in particular has given us a tremendous amount of support. He’s also given us support slots with great bands such as; Post War Glamour Girls, Bleech and Nine Black Alps. We can’t thank him enough really. For me personally, playing the main stage at Long Division last year was the first time I felt like we are a ‘proper’ band – we had a dressing room, a rider, and people carrying our equipment for us. It was quite surreal.”
There was some great names on last years bill, including Ghost Poet and The Fall. I wondered if Lee managed to catch any of their sets. Lee said, “yeah, I caught both of those actually. I’ve got a lot of respect for both Mark E. Smith (The Fall) and Ghostpoet as lyricists – they’ve both got quite unusual styles of writing, but they both create great imagery with their lyrics. I’ve always found writing lyrics to be the hardest part of writing a song, so it really grabs my attention when I hear great wordplay. It was quite refreshing to watch Ghostpoet that day, because Long Division, as many festivals are, is quite guitar-based. I’d love to see more electronic and hip-hop music at these festivals though. I really enjoyed The Fall’s set. I was really surprised how tight band were – I thought they might be a bit of a shambles. They played quite a few of their more well known songs like ‘Theme from Sparta F.C.’ and ‘Mr Pharmacist’, which I also wasn’t expecting.”
And finally I wanted to see what takes Lee’s fancy on the line-up this year?
“The Wedding Present are an obvious choice, as they’re pretty legendary. I haven’t listened to any of Gruff Rhys’ solo stuff, but I used to be a massive fan of Super Furry Animals, so I’d like to catch his set. The Witch Hunt are a great – I first heard their music when I saw them support Michael Kiwanuka in Leeds a few years ago. They’re quite dark, and their singer has a really haunting, ethereal voice, so I’d love to see them again. There’s quite a few newer acts that I haven’t heard much by, such as Toy and Beans on Toast, that sound pretty interesting, so I’d quite like to check those out too.”
Long Division takes place over the weekend of Fri 12th to Sunday 14th September, with Aztec Doll playing on the Saturday. Everything you need to know is here > longdivisionfestival.co.uk
Tickets for Long Division will be available from Debut Records on The Arcade.
Alternative Barnsley 