After Midnight Festival Announcement
Today is an exciting day for me, I am here to announce the first ever After Midnight Festival! Before I get into more why I wanted to do this and give my little spiel, I’ll announce the poster and the artists involved. I am so excited about this and it’s been hard to keep it a secret for this long, so a massive thank you to everyone involved in the festival!
Okay, so After Midnight Presents…
This is the poster for the first ever After Midnight Festival, with the amazing lineup of artists, some names you may recognise, some you might not, but let me tell you that they are all amazing performers and this show will not be one to miss.
The event will be held on Saturday the 20th of February at 7pm GMT, it will be held virtually, due to the current pandemic, on our YouTube channel which I will link below.
The event is in aid of Music Venue Trust, who are a charity that are very important to me and all of the music lovers across the UK.
The Music venue trust is a UK registered charity which acts to protect, secure and improve Grassroots Music Venues. They aim to secure the long-term future of iconic Grassroots Music Venues such as Hull Adelphi, Exeter Cavern, Southampton Joiners, The 100 Club, Band on the Wall, Tunbridge Wells Forum etc.
These venues have played a crucial role in the development of British music over the last 40 years, nurturing local talent, providing a platform for artists to build their careers and develop their music and their performance skills. They work to gain recognition of the essential role these venues fulfil, not only for artist development but also for the cultural and music industries, the economy and local communities. They also aim to preserve and improve venues, making them more efficient and improving the experience for performers and audiences.
So, I hope you will join me in raising some money for them with this festival, we can’t lose these incredible venues. The pandemic has really hit independent venues hard and Music Venue Trust are doing a great job of trying to help, to keep them open and safe so that when we are allowed to, we will be able to return.
I have created a Just Giving page where you can donate directly to Music Venue Trust, I haven’t asked for you to pay for tickets for the event as I want it to be accessible for everyone, however if everyone who watches could donate something, even as little as £1, I believe we truly can make a difference and help do our part. I will leave the link to the Just Giving page at the end of this article and of course I will have it on our social media pages and in the description of the event when it is running.
I want to say a massive thank you to all of the artists performing, it was really great to see an amazing response from them all when I initially reached out about this festival. We have put together some small biographies so that you can get to know them and their music before the event. These will also be all over our social media pages over the next few weeks leading up to the event.
Stay Lunar
Since forming in Bristol in 2019, Stay Lunar have really established themselves with their polished dreamy/bedroom-pop sound. On the back of support slots with Larkins, Little Comets and SPINN, their latest single ‘Dreaming That I’m Not In Love’, saw them gain worldwide recognition, having been featured on some of the internet’s most reputable blogs, channels and Spotify playlists: as well as being chosen as BBC Introducing in the West’s ‘track of the week’. All of this attention has gained the track tens of thousands of streams since its release and the momentum looks set to continue following the release of ‘Not your Fight’ and ‘Immediately’. We are pleased to have Harry Leigh of Stay Lunar performing at the After Midnight Festival.
Anna Ingwardo
Anna Ingwardo is a 23 year old indie rock artist from Norway who’s music is heartfelt and upbeat. She draws inspiration from genres such as motown and jazz, and artists such as Amy Winehouse, Lauren Ruth Ward and The Doors. With two incredible EP’s out in the world, Millennial Tears and Vol II, Anna is looking towards the next step and we are excited to see where that takes her.
Oslo Twins
After meeting in a university seminar dream pop band Oslo Twins formed. “We have an electronic sound, but it’s often soft and psychedelic. Our inspirations include Beach House, Portishead, Susanne Sundfor and Massive Attack. We’re very influenced by where we live and the Bristol sound, so to speak. There’s still a lot of new music brewing. In the future we’d like to keep gigging in Bristol, and possibly dip our toes in the London scene too, covid permitting, of course.”
Courtney Jacobs
Courtney is known for hazy, synth heavy pop combined with her dreamy vocals. The 21 year old singer songwriter is originally from Houston, TX and is currently based in Charlottesville, VA. The moods of her songs vary from romantic too laid-back, mixed with jazz, hip-hop and funk influences. She blasted into 2021 with the powerful Miracle on January 8th, and a smooth R&B hit Truth Never Lies with ArmstrongWW only a week later. She plans on releasing a single every 4 to 6 weeks throughout 2021, connecting various genres with her signature velvety-smooth voice. This summer, Courtney plans on releasing an indie rock EP influenced by the likes of beabadoobee, of which two of those songs will be performed at the After Midnight Festival.
Sam Bishop
After seeing Sunset Sons in concert in 2016 and being amazed at their performance, Sam decided to form a band. The band, 98 Reasons, performed up and down the country, gigging in close to 100 pubs in the space of just over a year. It was with this band he wrote his very first song Never Too Late, which started his love for creating original material. After a few years of performing with several bands in different venues, Sam decided to focus solely on producing original solo work, allowing him to be far more personal and transparent with his writing style. Sam released his debut EP ‘Cold Kingdom’ in December 2019. Sam has released a collection of singles since, including Wild Heart, written with Toby Creasy who will be performing alongside Sam at the After Midnight Festival. In the near future, Sam plans to release a follow-up EP to ‘Cold Kingdom’, featuring Fallen Sky as well as brand new original work.
Toby Creasy
Toby is a guitarist and songwriter working closely with Sam Bishop. He draws his inspirations and style from the likes of Passenger and Ed Sheeran, displaying elements of acoustic pop and fingerstyle guitar.
Admissions
Starting in late 2019 in the heart of Essex, Admissions was formed. With the ear for writing energetic, upbeat head turning music, Admissions are the perfect example of what happens when music meets life long friends. This story can be heard and especially seen during live performances. With their alternative indie rock music full of punch and energy Admissions have been tipped by BBC Introducing as part of their ‘Sound of 2021’ and this is just the beginning.
Grace Bland
Grace Bland is an 18-year-old Singer-Songwriter who has a passion for writing and performing Indie Pop music influenced by the styles of Acoustic Pop, Folk and Rock. Her musical influences include artists such as Maisie Peters, Lana Del Ray, Gabrielle Aplin and Orla Gartland. She began writing original music at the age of eleven and has since performed in numerous locations around the UK. In 2019, Grace reached the Grand Final of Open Mic UK, competing in the final round of the competition at the O2 in February 2020. She was described as ‘a star in the making’ by the panel of industry judges, being praised for her ‘bags of songwriting ability’ and ‘authentic’ performance.Grace’s debut single ‘Pity Parties’ was met with a warm reception, being named a ‘Homegrown Hit’ by Voice FM and featuring on BBC Introducing Radio Solent. With the single having surpassed 10,000 streams on Spotify alone, ‘Pity Parties’ has helped to cement her as a popular musical figure in Dorset and Hampshire.
Natalie Grace
Natalie Grace is a 22 year old London born artist, whose music can only be described as an explosive amalgamation of soulful vocals, R’n’B riffs and pop hooks. Her inspiration stems from artists such as Jojo, Demi Lovato, Aretha Franklin and Jocelyn Brown, and her musical upbringing has helped to shape her own unique sound. Natalie Grace’s lyrics are raw, emotional and thought-provoking, taking inspiration from the highs and lows she experiences, and exploring the different stages of her life. Her music brings about a comfortable sense of familiarity for all the 90s-00s babies out there, with a fresh new twist catering to the later generations.
Pure Kate
Pure Kate is a singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Her music effortlessly crosses genres, fusing electronic elements and Motown style grooves and everything in between. She is inspired by the likes of Michael Jackson, Jamiroquai, and more recent artists such as Disclosure and Dua Lipa.
Alex Page
Hi, I’m Alex Page. I’m a singer/guitarist/professional sad boi from SW London. I study music production, write music and jam about, all of which you can witness on my Instagram and YouTube. You’ll never see me without a pint in hand, and I can provide tunes all day and all night. Big up After Midnight and all of these events organisers! They’re doing an amazing thing, so give them some love!
Mustard Swerve
Hello there, our names are Eliza Houghton and Evangeline Shadden and we make up Mustard Swerve. We primarily focus on an Alternative Folk style of music, taking influence from artists such as: Radiohead, Haley Heynderickx and Daughter. We are hoping to finish and release our debut EP soon but for now we are mainly focusing on writing new material. We are both so happy to be taking part in the festival that After Midnight has arranged and we hope you all enjoy xoxo
Hannah Butler
Hannah Butler is a 20 year old Musical Theatre student from Hampshire. Hannah’s love for music and performing goes back to when she was 5 years old and she hasn’t stopped singing since. Her favourite musical is Come From Away and she has performed in shows such as Grease and Guys and Dolls. Hannah looks forward to finishing her degree and fulfilling her dream of performing in the West End.
Some amazing artists there that you should definitely go check out, follow their social media pages and give their music a listen.
I have been wanting to put on a festival for quite a few years now, probably since I was about 13 or 14, before I even started working at a radio station, which has lead to everything since. I think because I enjoy going to festivals so much and discovering new artists alongside seeing some of your favourites it has always been something I’ve wanted to do. Initially I wanted to put on a festival in my back garden, then it became putting a gig on in some local venues, but something was always getting in the way. I know hosting a virtual festival isn’t quite the same, but I wanted to have something that people could look forward to in this lockdown, something for us to work on behind the scenes and something to help raise money for a great cause. I have also enjoyed watching a few of these events over the last few months and so I decided to put on my own. Of course, maybe that in the future it could become a real festival, however it is so much easier getting everyone in one place at once online.
And yes, I will be hosting…that’s something I haven’t done for a while, so please bear with me…
Thank you all so much for your support over the last year, it truly does mean a lot. Be sure to go and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you definitely don’t miss this event! You can donate on our Just Giving page linked below along with a link to the Music Venue Trust website so you can read more about their mission. Go and listen to all of our amazing artists, and I hope to see you on February the 20th, don’t miss it!
Subscribe to the After Midnight YouTube channel here.
Donate to Music Venue Trust on our Just Giving page here.
Go to the Music Venue Trust website here.
Follow After Midnight on Instagram here.
Follow After Midnight on Facebook here.
Follow me on Spotify here.
Follow me on Instagram here.
Music Submission and Enquires to aftermidnightblog1@gmail.com