Our chums at Galtres Festival have been singing the praises of the Littlemores – who will once again grace the Galtres stages at this year’s event.

Here’s what they have to say…….

“Here at Galtres HQ we get a lot of bands telling us they are the next big thing. Every week we get hundreds of applications to play at the festival from bands supposedly on the verge of breaking through, and have got more demo CDs than we could fit in a long-wheel-base Land Rover (!) But every now and again a truly remarkable band stands out from the crowd, and right now the fabulous Littlemores from York are that band for us.

They played the Galtres Festival Duke Stage in 2010 and the Firkin last year (Sunday late after The Levellers) and both performances were among the best of the festival. We even chose one of their tracks to accompany our festival video last year - the magnificent 'Chasing the Sun'. Their soundtrack of indie jangle, blue-eyed reggae and white boy ska makes you dance and think at the same time ... and your mum will like it too! They will of course be back at Galtres this year to play a storming set on the Sunday, and we just can't wait for that.

But it's not just us who's bowled over. They got two weeks of consecutive plays on BBC's Radio 6 by Tom Robinson who "loves them and can't get enough of their music", according to a BBC insider.  Stereoboard.com says they have "all the youthful angst of punk poetry and the wit of Morrissey". And according to Rock Reviews 247 "it won’t be long before Littlemores join the likes of Arctic Monkeys ... Idle Idols II is catchy, full of passion and rife with a bunch of fantastic songs for any occasion. Littlemores have outdone themselves and if you ignore them or this EP, you will be missing out on a fantastic musical experience."

Esteemed critic David Edwards in Drowned in Sound said that Littlemores play "intelligent guitar-pop with a beating heart and lyrics of astute intelligence. They say what they feel, not what convention dictates, and therefore their music carries an integrity and honest embrace that is sorely missing from most current UK guitar bands. The softer side of Arctic Monkeys; the stonier path of The Maccabees. - Highly recommended".

Conor, Jack, Kai, Ben and Tom, got together and started writing songs in Kai's garage in the autumn of 2008 and played their first gig just a few months later. With diverse influences from across the musical spectrum - Billy Bragg to The Libertines, Bob Marley to The Maccabees, the five-piece, Littlemores are more than simple songwriters. This hard-working band has a loyal following, having gigged non-stop across their home county as well as opening for The Twang, The Holloways, Dogs, Frankie and the Heartstrings, Sound of Guns and Shed Seven. Big stage appearances at Moor Music and Galtres Festivals were surely a taste of things to come as the band release their first EP, Idle Idols II and launch themselves into 2012 with plans for the EP tour well underway.

The band has loads of gigs ahead in York, Leeds (including supporting the Janice Graham Band at the Cockpit), Hull and planning a couple of London gigs in late spring.  Their first London gig will be at The Dublin Castle on April 18th - the birthplace of Madness, its stage has been graced by everyone from Blur, through Coldplay, Supergrass, The Killers, The Arctic Monkeys, Billy Bragg, and Amy Winehouse - which is a pretty good place to start!  And as well as Galtres they have several other festival bookings already, including Cottingham Springboard which is the only one they can talk about just now...

They're also currently in the studio recording the new song 'Away with a Stranger' and filming new videos in a disused church in Leeds, and the busy lads are also working on a cut-down 'unplugged set' for a collaborative gig at The Fulford Arms with the legendary Rory Motion - the plan is that Littlemores will back Rory on some of his tunes including the Pink Floyd pastiche 'Set The Controls To The Heart Of the Spin' - which will be a great laugh.

 We hope you enjoy them as much as we have, and we look forward to them achieving the national recognition they truly deserve.“

More info on the Littlemores HERE

Discover more on the Galtres Festival HERE