WORCESTER Music Festival is finally here and ready to turn the city into one, almighty explosion of live, original music, with nearly 300 bands and artists gearing up to play their talented socks off. 

The four-day event over the August Bank Holiday weekend (24-27), will see around 32 venues and outdoor stages across the city centre hosting sets throughout the day, into the evening and late at night, with a raft of inspirational and entertaining workshops for kids and adults running alongside. 

From the mesmerising to the malevolent to those wielding sheer mayhem, half of the acts booked for this year’s annual festival are from the county, the other half are set to travel from all over the UK to perform at the event. The beauty is, every one of the gigs and workshops is absolutely free. 

Helen King, Worcester Music Festival’s co-chairperson, said the feel-good event will give original music fans the chance to watch back to back, live music of all genres – from folk to thrash metal - throughout the Bank Holiday weekend, but also aims to inspire the whole community. 

“We have stepped up our family-friendly events this year to show the next generation that ‘talent shows’ on the telly aren’t the be all and end all, and that getting out to watch live music with family or friends is such an amazing experience, with the chance to actually meet the artists themselves. 

“Festival-goers can dip into outdoor performances while shopping, take part in a family-friendly ceilidh or workshop, or go the whole hog and plan a hard-core itinerary of gigs, it’s that’s flexible.” 

Then there’s Worcester Music Festival’s good cause. During this year’s festival, volunteers will be collecting on behalf of city-based children’s respite centre New Hope, with a host of raffle prize packages up for grabs (family, sport, couples, pamper and kids), courtesy of generous businesses. Here's a video about the centre....with a beautiful soundtrack as supplied by the fabulous Jasper In The Company Of Others. 

To check out this year’s full line-up, visit www.worcestermusicfestival.co.uk. You can also create your own itinerary with My Guide, helping music fans better navigate the festival. 

Delectable divas

NEVER mind ‘here come the girls’, here come The Five Divas, five formidable females from the county who are set to electrify the city’s Art House Café on the Saturday afternoon of WMF.

While all individual acts in their own right, bringing the powerful Sarah Oreggio, pure-voiced Sue Bell, country raunchster Leslie Wilson, heartfelt melody maker Marie-Claire Berreen and queen of the big, bold musical numbers Becky Rose, who was invited to write and sing her own song for the Queen at July’s official launch of The Hive, together for a sizzling set under The Five Divas banner makes for quite a show. Guaranteed to appeal to anyone with a penchant for girls with gumption.

Homegrown

MANY WMF acts have formed organically in the heart of Worcester, some even formed because of WMF. The Lamb and Flag will be hosting two such acts, firstly, acoustic duo The Annas, who met at Worcester School of Rock and Performance and will be appearing at WMF for the third time.

Secondly, Hitchhiker, a great example of a local WMF success story, with singer guitarists Anna Mason and Sean Jeffery hooking up after performing individually at the 2010 festival. With drummer Chris Hunt joining Hitchhiker in February, the band is getting bigger and better every year, releasing their debut double A-sided single Eyes / Serotonin this spring.

Penny White, meanwhile, was born in festival book town Hay-on-Wye and inspired by years living in Arizona with her mother. However, it’s safe to say Worcester has played a key role in the acoustic folk and country singer’s music career. In her early teens, Penny attended the Elgar School of Music, where her unusual style on the violin and piano, influenced by Japanese fantasy game composers, took tutors by surprise, making her one to watch out for at the Horn & Trumpet.

Pet sounds

IF you love the sound of guitars mixed with a sexy sax, mandolin, harmonica, glockenspiel, ebow and ukelele, you’ll love Malvern’s Hennesea, whose name derives from the Swedish word for ‘hers’. As testament to their sound, influenced by the likes of Fleetwood Mac and Joan Baez, the six-piece’s new single is a unique cover of Singin’ in the Rain, marking next week’s centennial of Gene Kelly’s birth. They’ve also released an EP, Moonlit Silhouettes. Playing at Charlstons.

Evesham’s Juey was brought up on a diet of rock and roll, country, bluegrass and cajun and, naturally, became a guitar, banjo and harmonica-wielding musician. Playing goosebumpy, self penned songs live since 2008, with Maverick Magazine hailing her a “fine storyteller”, Juey will be playing the Old Rectifying House at WMF, following the release of album Ever Decreasing Circles.

‘GOT Soul, Got Vibe’, the first EP from Worcester’s Jasper In The Company Of Others, pretty much sums up the buzzing effect the band has on audiences. Signed by Sound Hub Records in March before supporting Toploader, and working on their debut album for release next spring, the band will be playing the Marr’s Bar on the Saturday of WMF before performing at the Midlands final of Surface Festival, one of the biggest battles of the bands in Europe, the next day. Grab the opportunity to see Jasper in their full ukulele-lovin’, moustachio-ed glory at this year’s WMF.

With Cypriot roots, Droitwich hip-hoppers Case Closed are, again, bringing their infectious, urban indie sound, acoustic guitar licks and melodic harmonies to WMF. Previously a trio, Case Closed are now a full band to pack more of a punch than ever before (Old Rectifying House).

Brum brum

WMF always attracts up and coming bands from Birmingham, and this year, there’s plenty of new blood to take in. Blue Nation, for example, is an indie and blues driven outfit from Brum’s vibrant music scene, led by the powerful vocals of Neil Murdoch. So powerful, in fact, Metallica’s sound engineer ‘Big Mick’ exclaimed during a sound check, “where the flipping heck did that skinny kid get that great voice from?”. Oozing soul, funk and dirty blues, Blue Nation recently raced away with new fans after playing the F1 Music Stage at Silverstone. Playing at Horn & Trumpet.

Club UnCooked, one of the biggest underground, indie rock nights in Birmingham during the indie rock era of 2005-2008, attracting the likes of The Enemy and The Twang alongside some of the Midlands’ best DJs, is also making its way to this year’s WMF, the first time Club UnCooked has staged an event of this kind for three years.

Slam punk

WITH the likes of Toyah Willcox living in Pershore, there’s always a pedestal for punk at WMF, especially when colourful new bands pop up on the live scene. Worcester-based punk metal band 11:11, for example, formed this year and have just recorded their first demo, the BBC deeming them ‘fun to watch with a lot of energy and charisma.’ Playing at Worcester Arts Workshop.

Formed from ex-members of punk, folk, rock and street performance bands at the instigation of songwriter Clive Williams, The Boy and the Flatpack Band are another must-see. They have been described as ‘Dylan meets Donnegan at a Balkan bar mitzvah’, proving that humour can be part of music without devaluing it, and ‘a kind of Kinks for the 21st century.’ Playing at Drummonds.

Then there’s Worcester’s Johnny Kowalski & the Sexy Weirdos, a gaggle of weird, mismatched personalities who deliver incendiary performances influenced by everything from Yiddish funeral music to crusty punk. Last year, Johnny et al played an acoustic in-store gig at Rise Records during WMF, so are looking forward to playing with the full sound at Worcester Arts Workshop, following the release of debut album, Victory for the Monsters.

Guitar greatness

GUITAR greats can blow audiences away in just a few bars, and, this year, WMF is chuffed to welcome back Leeds’ Jon Gomm, the virtuoso guitarist, who, after wowing Stephen Fry this year, saw hits of one of his YouTube clips soar to two million within days. Jon, who first picked up a guitar at the age of two, uses his lovingly-battered instrument to simultaneously create drum sounds, basslines and melodies, and is influenced by everyone from Robert Johnson to Radiohead. Just home from touring Europe, he is not only gigging at the Marr’s Bar during WMF, he is also holding a free workshop for budding guitarists. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Manchester’s Franco and the Dreadnought is also a class above the rest in terms of his agile approach to playing guitar, with blissful songs full of hooks and twists. Melting your heart like Damien Rice, while rocking the arena in the same vein as Oasis, Franco was personally asked by Desmond Tutu to write a song for Nelson Mandela as a gift for his 90th birthday. Playing at Charlstons at WMF, his debut single Last Man Standing is set for release in September.

Weird and wonderful

SIGNED to Glory and Honour Records (in fake blood and grease), Flesh Eating Foundation from Stafford are ‘chaotic and disturbingly entertaining electro-punks’ with a theatrical show to die for. Made up of enigmatic, masked frontman The Juddaman, deaf-blind zombie John E. Smoke, uber-guitarist Mash and visual prankster Crooknose, the band has just released their debut single, So Yeah, which is going down like a member of the decomposed at feeding time in nightclubs and on the airwaves, even with their speaker troubling sonics. Playing at Worcester Arts Workshop.   

Workshops for everyone

WHATEVER your age or ability, if anything’s going to inspire you to pick up a guitar, consider drum lessons or just start singing even more enthusiastically in the shower, it’s an awesome live gig. During WMF, why not seize the day and get along to one of the festival’s 30 free workshops?

This year’s festival has everything from sing-alongs and concerts for little ones and a rock school and pop choir for older children and teenagers, to a folk music workshop with flying fingered Scottish fiddler Claire King, a jazz jam, a piano accordion group workshop, a mixtape masterclass with DJ Ed Steelefox and The Four Elements of Hip-Hop.

There is also world drumming, junk and Indian vocal percussion, an acoustic guitar masterclass with the acclaimed Jon Gomm, a voice care for singers workshop and much, much more. To book up in advance, visit www.worcestermusicfestival.co.uk/whatson/workshops/