Tucked away in the heart of the Derbyshire countryside Indietracks has established itself as one of the quirkiest and loveliest music festivals on the circuit.
Where else can you enjoy acts playing acoustic sets on the steam train that takes you to the venue? Where else can you sit in a renovated tin church as a congregation of corduroy clap enthusiastically along to perfectly sculpted pop gems from artists you’ll see standing next to you in the bar half an hour hence.
Celebrating its tenth anniversary it is a unique and wonderful slice of Indie heaven that is so picture-perfect it can sometimes feel like Telly-tubby land as imagined by Belle and Sebastian.
Everyone smiles and strikes up conversations as the main outdoor stage jangles to the joyous fuzzpop of The Pastels while in the workshop tent folk compete to make album covers out of lego.
It is as family-friendly as it gets and when the sun is beaming down there is nowhere quite like it on earth.
The headliners for this year’s event are The Spook School, The Aislers Set and Saint Etienne topping a varied and brilliant bill that will undoubtedly include a band you weren’t previously aware who suddenly become a brand new favourite.
Earlybird tickets are still available – though the offer ends after this weekend – with all the information you need right here
To whet your whistle further we spoke to one of the festival’s organisers Nat Hudson on what we can expect and how it feels to reach the big 1-0.
Will there be any surprises in store for the 10th anniversary?
We’ve hopefully got a few things in the pipeline, and we’ve announced a couple of things already. We’ll be showing a half hour documentary about Indietracks at the festival this year, made by award-winning director Jeanie Finlay. It’s a really lovely film about the railway and the festival, and we can’t wait to share it with everyone. The Indietracks organisers will also be DJing on the Sunday night and hosting a mini birthday party disco – hopefully with added extra cake!
When you guys started out could you have envisaged reaching ten years?
Indietracks was actually first started by a guy called Stuart Mackay, who used to restore trains at the railway. He originally started it as a fun way of bringing his own favourite bands to the railway, and we’ve all gradually become involved since. It’s an absolute honour to have reached ten years, and it’s great that people seem to love the festival and want to come back each year.
One of the things that makes Indietracks so wonderful is the loyalty of its attendees and seeing familiar faces each year…
Absolutely – we feel very lucky that people love the festival and come back every year. One of the best things about Indietracks is the chance to catch up with old friends every year – it feels just like a large family now. And of course it’s always a wonderful opportunity to make brilliant new friends as well.
What is the process involved in securing the headline acts?
As a team we have a long-standing wish-list of people we’d like to book as headliners, and so every year we agree who we’re going to approach that year. We’ve been really lucky with the bands we’ve been able to secure to date, and there really aren’t many left on the wish-list now!
In your opinion what makes Indietracks so unique and brilliant?
I’m biased of course, but for me it’s the mixture of the unique setting of the railway, the chance to discover brilliant new bands as well as see some of the established bigger bands that play, the opportunity to meet friends old and new, and of course the feeling we’re all in a special world far, far away from everything – even if it’s just for a short weekend.
This year’s Indietracks will have you dancing, smiling and drinking craft ales on the weekend of July 29th-31st
