ANNOUNCEMENT 2: Johnny Foreigner, Her Name Is Calla and More

Filed Under: News

Although University of Leicester pipped us to the post with their big announcement this morning, and although we can’t afford to have Richard III headline our little festival, we hope we’ve got something to be equally excited about. It’s been a week since we announced our existence to the world, and our first batch of artists and It feels like forever ago already. Thankfully, we’ve got a second bundle of stuff to announce - musical and otherwise - right now. We’re still only scratching the surface of what we’ve got planned, so keep your eyes peeled and we’ll fill you in as soon as we possible can.

ARTIST ANNOUNCEMENTS

This week’s announcement is one national act, and three Leicester(ish) based artists, all of which we’re incredibly proud to tell you about. Joining the brilliant ROLO TOMASSI, NINE BLACK ALPS and THREE TRAPPED TIGERS for Handmade 2013 are…

JOHNNY FOREIGNER

Birmingham noisy pop quartet Johnny Foreigner are coming back to Leicester to join the Handmade Line-Up. Four albums in to their career, they released the excellent ‘Johnny Foreigner Vs Everything’ on Alcopop! Records last year. They shouldn’t need any more introduction than this…

HER NAME IS CALLA (Folk Set)

The transcendental Her Name Is Calla join us for this year’s Handmade Festival. Falling somewhere between the usually disperate genres of Folk and Post-Rock, whilst never really fitting in to either bracket, their performances are all about atmosphere. Having toured extensively across Europe, it’s a pleasure to have them back in Leicester.

LITTLE NIGHT TERRORS

The songsmiths behind some of one of the finest pop songs to come out of the city in years, ‘Pure pop dynamite trio’ Little Night Terrors are an awesome prospect at this year’s Handmade Festival. With their music produced by Simon Barnicott (Arctic Monkeys, Temper Trap & Bombay Bicycle Club) and having toured with The Vaccines, you should know what to expect.

WE THREE AND THE DEATH RATTLE

Sneakily announced on BBC Radio this weekend, the final addition to the line-up this week is We Three and the Death Rattle. Having toured with Josh T Pearson earlier this year, they’re one of our home town bands to get genuinely excited about. Filthy guitars and boy-girl vocals courtesy of John and Amy, they’re one of the most unique of the current crop of Leicester bands.

PARTNERS

A really important part of Handmade is the people we get to bring together to work on it. We’re really hambled that they’re willing to offer their time and effort to make this happen, and we’re very pleased to be able to tell you who some of them will be RIGHT NOW…

MUSIC

FIREBUG
The centre of the known universe for much of the city’s music scene, Firebug are a big part of how and why Handmade came in to existence. It’s been host to early shows from the likes of Frank Turner, Foals and We Were Promised Jetpacks, all of whom have gone on to massive things since, and it continues to be right at the bleeding edge.

THE COOKIE JAR
A relative newcomer, but fast wining a place in the hearts of many musicians and promoters, The Cookie Jar has already seen some monumental shows, not least last years secret show from And You Will Know Us By The The Trail of Dead, which almost bought the roof down. Expect much more from this little room under a coffee shop in the future.

ROBOT NEEDS HOME COLLECTIVE
This collective of musicians and music fans has been putting shows on for nearly a decade, bringing Foals, 65daysofstatic, Trail of Dead, iliketrains, Mono, Bloc Party, The Horrors, Kids In Glass Houses, Oceansize, Reuben, The Twilight Sad and Yourcodenameis:milo in to the city at various points, alongside more others than we could count. They’re also involved in record releases, tour booking and management and generally promoting the music scene in Leicester.

THE DEATH OF LEICESTER
TDOL Events is an independent music promotions / tour bookings company based in Leicester. They started out promoting shows in 2007 in Leicester and occasionally Nottingham, gradually progressing onto booking tours for bands. They have worked with countless artists including: Deez Nuts, Deicide, Memphis May Fire, Heights, TRC, Exit Ten, Unearth and many more.

COMEDY

BOTTLE ROCKET

Bottle Rocket Comedy presents a series of events in Leicester, Peterborough, Derby and across the UK. Our shows feature the hottest comedic talent from rising stars to household names. In the past, Bottle Rocket Comedy events in the Leicester Comedy Festival has been the proving ground for future stars with previous acts including Michael McIntyre, Rhod Gilbert, Mark Watson, John Bishop, Russell Howard, Micky Flanagan, Jason Manford and Stewart Lee.

WALKING CLICHE
Walking Cliché is a new promoter specialising in bringing unique, sporadic events to Leicester featuring the very best in emerging comedy talent. Starting with debut appearances at Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival for performers such as Pattie Brewster (**** - Chortle) and Raphael Attar (Brilliant - Nick Grimshaw, Radio 1), Walking Cliché aims to provide a new alternative platform for the most exciting contemporary fringe acts of the day.

PHOTOGRAPHY

LEICESTER LO-FI
Leicester Lo-Fi are a disparate band of photographers, with a common interest in performing the art in a traditional way: with film, paper & chemicals. They do light hearted socials and serious exhibitions using toy cameras, posh cameras, or something knocked up in the shed. They can usually be found at The Crumblin’ Cookie on the first Tuesday of each month, but they’ll be joining us for Handmade as well this year.

SCOTT CHOUCINO
Scott is a Ppofessional portrait photographer based in the UK. He works mainly with musicians, bands and comedians as well as covering large events for national clients. He is slowly bringing this style of shooting across into family and couples portraits trying to offer something fresh and natural. More of his work can be viewed at www.scottchoucino.com and you can follow me at www.facebook.com/scottchoucino

CINEMA

WETHECONSPIRATORS
The men behind some of the most incredible music videos in the city, WeTheConspirators use film, photography and animation to produce incredible visuals. With videos for Maybeshewill, Buenos Aires, Dark Dark Horse, Mark Elliot and Charlie and the Martyrs, they’ve worked with every corner of the city’s music scene. You can lose hours of your life engrosed in their website.

SHORT CINEMA

Short cinema is a grass roots bi-annual festival committed to exhibiting emerging talent from the east midlands.

ART

THE ATTIC ARTS COLLECTIVE
The Attic is a Leicester art collective formed to support local creatives to sustain art practices, as well as engaging with the community to provide an exciting and enriching art experience which is open and accessible to everyone who wants to explore. They believe art is entertainment, art is education and art is therapy.

RACHAEL SMITH
Rachael Smith is an award-winning illustrator/cartoonist based in Leicester. She is most well known for her character ‘Flimsy the Kitten’, who has her own cult following on her askflimsy.tumblr.com”>website. Rachael is also the illustrator for the Leicester Mercury, contributing weekly comic strip ‘Vicky Park’ to the More Magazine, and bi-monthly comic strip ‘Culture Vulture’ to the Culture Magazine. Her first full-length comic ‘The Way We Write’ follows fellow Handmade folks Her Name Is Calla.

JOE MORAN
Joe Moran is a Leicester-based artist who makes work using a variety of materials and processes, combining a number of disparate elements to create work. Exploring a number of themes within his work including chance processes, ideas around the degradation of information and image, alongside an interest in the use of light and its movement around objects and space. www.joemoran.co.uk