Evolution Emerging

Artist Focus #035 - 3200 Tigers

Newcastle Based electro/ Indie band 3200 Tigers are a cohesive blend of electronic riffs, buoyant guitar licks, and silky smooth vocals. Made up of Abigail Douse (vocals), Stephen Galt (producer/ live drums/ toy piano) Alex Lindsay (production/ guitar) and “the other Alex” Alex Jackson (bass/ backing vocals/ live drums) It’s old skool disco with a tongue in cheek element in the form of acidic lyricism and unashamedly poppy melodies, guaranteed to make your toes tap and your hearts melt.

Venue: Blank Studios 7:45 - 8:15PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #034 - Glishy Weather

Very little is known about Glishy Weather. Apart from the fact that it’s the project of Spokes founder and frontman Owain Davies. We also know that he is currently putting the finishing touches to a debut album due for release in late Summer of this year. An album sure to be full of Glishy Weather’s intense, melodic, soulful and beat driven music. All of which makes Glishy Weather one of the more intriguing and elusive bands on the line up. Make sure you get to Blast Studio to find out more. 

Venue: Blank Studios 10:00 - 10:30PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #033 - WavesWavesWaves

Waves Waves Waves have been reigning and honing their sound now for quite a while. Now, it appears, they’re getting ever closer to nailing it. They have developed a signature sound with massive dynamic ability. At times their soft vocals and haunting guitar chords tug at the strings of lost nostalgia, while at others, aggressive guitar, gritty picked bass and heavy percussion dominate the stage - only ever subsiding to allow frontman Nad’s emphatic delivery of lyrics. They are slowly becoming as deadly and as mesmerizing as the Ocean itself.

Venue: Blast Studios 7:45 - 8:15, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #032 - Suntrapp

Suntrapp are an indie-folk-y act fronted by Jake Houlsby. Their debut EP, Yannina, is scheduled for release later this year and looks towards the likes of Neil Young, The Beach Boys and Fleet Foxes for inspiration. Retrospective in approach but positive in outlook, the songs are about getting older and being who you are, delivered in a sincere and uplifting manner.

Venue: Blast Studios 8:30 - 9:00pm, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #031 - Alex Dobson

After 2 years of gigging on the local scene, 20 year old singer songwriter Alex Dobson is ready to go nationwide. On 8th April Alex will present his debut release ‘Count To Four’, a showcase of his incredible songwriting and melodic expertise in four tuneful tracks. Alex signed to NEED Music Ltd, a local music promotions company that have put Alex on the road to success.

After recently supporting SWIM DEEP at Northumbria Students Union he recently made his London debut early last month. Alex will follow up his Evolution Emerging performance with an appearance at Willowman Festival in North Yorkshire.

Venue: Blast Studios 9:15 - 9:45, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #030 - Dressed Like Wolves

One out of tune piano, seven broken guitars, ten good shows, twelve bad shows, five faulty tape decks, six casiotones, two years and one heartbreak later comes the new full-length album from popular beat combo Dressed Like Wolves.

Dressed Like Wolves is the nom de plume of Thornaby’s Rick Dobbing, and it is his heartfelt, beautifully fragile storytelling that makes for such compelling listening. Daniel Allen, and Matthew Brown complete the Dressed Like Wolves lineup and help deliver these brittle tales of daydreams set to lo-fi -folk.

“With all the biting humour, incredible beauty and breathtaking fragility of life itself, Dressed Like Wolves’ third full length elevates their handmade folk pop to a new level of glowing imperfection.” APOLF! Compilation Series

Venue: Heart Attack & Vine, 8:30 - 9PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #029 - Sam Wright

Blessed with model looks and a soulful voice, it is urban singer songwriter Sam Wright’s reflective and upfront tales of city life that has struck a chord with his burgeoning following. Sam’s debut year as a soloist 2012 has already seen him rise to prominence. Support slots with the likes of Greg Holden and King Charles, on top of extensive radio play on Amazing radio, BBC Newcastle and SparkFM has seen Sam has cut through with his 21st century guitar craft and frank lyrics.

Venue: Heart Attack & Vine, 9:15 - 9:45PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #028 - Terra T

Terra T has supported artists such as Chipmunk, J Spades, Krept & Konan and has been rapping from the age of 12, while honing his craft on stage as one of the most vibrant grime and hip hop artists in Newcastle Terra remains focused on his work in the studio ready to release an onslaught of videos and mixtapes to his burgeoning fanbase in the North East.

Venue: Heart Attack & Vine, 10:00 - 10:30PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #027 - Arebia

Arbeia are a four piece from South Shields and take their name from the towns famous Roman Fort. Their debut track ‘Elements’ and subsequent singles ‘Good Grief’ and ‘Umbrella’ have all been featured by BBC 6Music, Amazing Radio, Crack In The Road and The 405 and in 2012 the band received their highest accolade to date as Bella Union founder Simon Raymonde featured the band alongside some of this year’s biggest artists (including Mercury Music winners Alt-J) as one of his Favourite Bands of the Year.

Venue: The Cumberland Arms, 7:45 - 8:15PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #026 - This Little Bird

Since flying the nest of her former band, local favourites The Small Screen Light Show, Rebecca Young has been laying some beautiful little folk shaped eggs, just waiting to be hatched and discovered. Under her The Little Bird guise, Young has been gently drawing us into her world with her gentle, very personal folk songs

Nestled under her wing, an exquisite blend of acoustic folk and country, complimented with an earthy vocal that brims with experience and emotion.

Venue: The Cumberland Arms, 8:30 - 9PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #025 - Abel Raise The Cain

Abel Raise The Cain are an alternative post rock band from in and around the Teesside area. They are a collection of musicians who have each played in various other groups & ensembles in the north east over the past few years. A Teesside super group of sorts, they were formed in mid-2012 and were brought together by a mutual respect for the same genres of music, Atmospheric/Epic/Indie Soundscapes. Influenced by such bands as Arcade Fire, Sigur Ros, & Coldplay, Abel Raise The Cain aspire to create their own sound to reach people in the same way.

Venue: The Cumberland Arms, 9:15 - 9:45PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #024 - Richard Smith

Sunderland’s Richard Smith has given his songwriting skills a number of vehicles to test drive, from the early Interpol-shapes of Widows to the more recent Ryan Adams & the Cardinals-aping Chased By Wolves. Now writing and releasing music under his own name he may have just found his own sound to go with it. Richard continues with the pastoral shades of his last outfit but with much more bare and psychedelia-tinged instrumentation in the hypnotic rhythms and frequencies.

Venue: The Cumberland Arms, 10:00 - 10:30 PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #023 - Lisbon

Annoyingly young, talented and handsome, yet somehow, still loveable, Whitley Bay’s Lisbon blend elements of samba, funk, indie and blues to produce an energetic brand of powerful aqua funk. Take the track De La Funk, for example. A pulsating slice of frantic, bright indie poppy goodness, you can imagine it being the perfect sound for cruising through either the Portuguese city they share a name with, or the Spanish City they call home.

In the band’s short life span, they’ve played numerous gigs around the Newcastle area, including several at the prestigious Cluny in Byker, and more recently a set at the Mouth of the Tyne festival. With a set collective of upbeat, infectious, dance-y songs, Lisbon are sure to bring the party to The Tanners at Evolution Emerging 2013.

Venue: The Tanners, 7:45 - 8:15PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #022 - PALACE

“Palace’s sound is made up of bold guitars, chunky drum and bass rhythms, harmonically rich vocal melodies and an array of other conventions that will undoubtedly prick your ears up. Made up of five young Hartlepudlians with a taste for wholesome guitar music, their output is nothing less; simple, but incredibly strong songs that have literally no dislikable elements to them.”

Jonathan Gibson, NARC magazine

Venue: The Tanners, 8:30 - 9PM, Saturday 25th May

Artist Focus #021 - Goodbye Chanel

Elusive Newcastle via Leeds dream-pop merchant Scott Johnson (aka Goodbye Chanel) has already unleashed a couple of summer-inspiring tracks recently. Drenched in hazy sun and warmth, his sound is a blend of reverb heavy guitar licks and subtle percussion glazed over by a multi-layered vocal that floats effortlessly over the mix. The charming new ‘Abzarokee Springs’, as expected, does all of the above very well. Feeling like the Sunday morning after the night before; this song is soothing in its delivery and oozes a chill-out quality often evident in the work of Blood Orange or Explosions in the Sky.

(words by Neil Wood)

Venue: The Tanners, 9:15 - 9:45PM, Saturday 25th May