Get Loaded in the Park

Having taken a year’s sabbatical in 2010, Get Loaded returns to Clapham Common on Sunday 12th June 2011 to showcase the very best in indie and alternative live music. As sister festival to South West Four, Get Loaded took place on the August Bank Holiday Sunday from 2003 to 2009. This year Get Loaded reverts from the end of the London festival calendar to the beginning for its greatly anticipated return.

Headlining Get Loaded in the Park 2011 is one of the key bands to emanate from our shores over recent years. Over the past decade Razorlight have sold four million albums, played sold out arena tours and headlined festivals. Razorlight’s performance at Get Loaded in the Park will be the first show in England featuring the band’s new line-up. Joining Johnny Borrell is Gus Robertson on guitar and Freddie Stitz on bass and Skully on drums. Get Loaded in the Park is the first opportunity to hear their new tracks. Described by Q Magazine as ‘the biggest cult band in the UK’ we’re delighted to welcome The Cribs. Made up of brothers Gary, Ryan and Ross Jarman and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. Known for their raucous and unpredictable live shows, the band have built up a fanatical following which comes off the back of a hectic tour schedule and four superb albums. In 2011 they are set to play a handful of summer festivals before they head into the studio work to work on their 5th album. Joining us in South West London will be none other than Noisettes. Two years on from their debut album awash with punk spirit and scorching blues-rock, the London trio returned with ‘Wild Young Hearts’, a set of sleek pop songs steeped in soul and dizzy on disco. Described as “the best live band in Britain” by The Guardian and with a hugely anticipated new album on the horizon, we’re extremely excited to welcome Noisettes to Clapham Common this June. With a style ranging from sweeping, often epic guitar pop to the visceral and angular, six-piece band British Sea Power have also been added to Get Loaded’s mouth-watering lineup. Their sound has been compared to the likes of The Cure, Joy Division and Arcade Fire and following their nomination for the Mercury Prize in 2008 are no strangers to the big festival experience. Having recently toured the UK, not to mention their current tour of the US, we’re delighted to welcome British Sea Power back to London as one of the key acts at Get Loaded in the Park 2011.

Described by the Observer as ‘Britain’s most innovative, radical and creative pop star’, Get Loaded in the Park is delighted to welcome Patrick Wolf to the Get Loaded Main Stage line-up. His refreshed outlook on life and a profound optimism has propelled him to new creative heights, contradicting the view that abject suffering always makes the best art. Adding extra sunshine to the stellar lineup will also be eight piece cult indie heroes Los Campesinos! Specialists in uplifting indie pop anthems, Los Campesinos! play everything from violins, piccolos and glockenspiels to guitars, bass and drums, all lending to a rich and interesting sound. New Zealand born, London resident Connan Mockasin brings his delightful, slanted and enchanted world to Get Loaded in the Park. He has recently been creating a stir on the blogs with his track ‘Dolphin’ and will be bringing his unique blend of psychedelic pop to the party. Completing the main stage lineup The Rifles bring a new look band to Get Loaded in the Park. With a third studio album soon to hit our airwaves, Chingford’s finest look set for an absolutely massive summer with the first chapter written on 11th June.

The Gigwise stage promises something for everyone this year; getting everyone in the summer mood will be Darwin Deez, About Group, Babeshadow, Yelle, O.Children, Spector and Alpines. Hailing from New York City, Darwin Deez’s live shows are extravaganzas of unbridled energy and unfettered joy. Describing his strain of pop as “a little bit Thriller, a little bit Dismemberment Plan”, his sound calls to mind everyone from Beck to The Flaming Lips. His self-titled debut album was released in April 2010 and was met with universal praise, especially by the NME who named him the 10th coolest musician on the planet. A hilarious, complex and entertaining individual, Darwin Deez writes songs that will make you want to bust out your dancing shoes while also cutting to that raw, emotional nerve. Don’t miss your chance to witness a rare insight into everything a pop star should be, and yet so rarely is, at Get Loaded in the Park 2011. Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor bring his other band About Group to Clapham Common for an exclusive and rare appearance. As a Mercury prize-nominated pop star, Alexis has been responsible for bringing geekery to the dancefloor and will be showcasing tracks from About Group’s second album. Responsible for laid back, buoyant clean-picked love songs reminiscent of Vampire Weekend, Babeshadow are a hot new act who recently toured with Florence and The Machine. They will be joined by electro-pop French artist Yelle, who returns to the festival circuit with a bang this summer courtesy of new album ‘Safari Disco Club’ and coming fresh from touring alongside Katy Perry. Proceedings will take a darker turn when Goth rockers O.Children and South West London synth duo Alpines hit the stage. O.Children are fronted by the towering Tobi O’Kandi, a six-foot-something force of nature whose growling baritone rips through crowds like Beelzebub’s own bowling ball. As the new act from former Les Incompétents / Lion.Ox.Eagle.Man member Frederick Macpherson, Spector categorically tick the box labelled ‘raw energy.’ A vigorous and ludicrously good-looking five piece, they fuse rawkus energy and effortless panache. Alpines are one ice maiden with a powerful voice and one musician with an impressive keyboards arsenal. On the road to great things witness the beginning at Get Loaded in the Park.

The Last.FM stage hosted by The Flower Pot will be headlined by Johnny Flynn, described by The Times as ‘the next poster boy for the nu-folk scene’. He will be joined by the sweet harmonious hooks and rockabilly beats of Slow Club and hotly tipped spoken word hip hop act Sound of Rum which features the lyrical genius of Kate Tempest. Completing the stage lineup will be The Agitator, aka Derek Meins, whose songs, according to the Guardian ‘sound like Billy Bragg barking over Public Enemy beats’, Beans on Toast, who blends a dark wit with serious social and political satire, four piece Six Nation State, newcomers Dark Moon (Joe Strummer’s daughter’s band) and The Joker and the Thief.

An indie and live bands showcase as strong as you will see in London this year, we hope you can join us on June 12th as Get Loaded in the Park returns in triumphant style.