HarFest: #HarFest2014

HarFest 2014

Rose Redd

Rose Redd is a beautiful contradiction. Twenty years in age but unfathomably older in soul, her music has its roots in darker days, experiences, and stories and finds its bloom in both release and connection. Her poignant verses and explosive choruses let you know that she makes music because she has to.

Born in the sleepy British seaside town of Eastbourne, at six months old Redd relocated with her family to the West Midlands. She was raised on a varied musical diet of everything from Ella Fitzgerald to Iron Maiden to Kate Bush, greedily consuming it all.

At the tender age of twelve she first found a kindred spirit in Depeche Mode's Martin Gore, whose lyrics spoke to her as a troubled young woman and gave her the inspiration to pick up a guitar for the first time and explore songwriting as a means of expression.

She's come a long way since portraying a singing sunflower in a kindergarten play. Now backed by a talented and equally as passionate band she is ‘ready to take on the world and with talent like hers, there's nothing that should stop her on her way.

The Rose Redd website is here.

Ceiling Demons

Ceiling Demons are an alternative hip-hop trio from North Yorkshire. The group first came toegther in 2011 to pay tribute to a lost friend, a theme that has permeated the music ever since.

Taking influence from The Streets' Mike Skinner and the production of DJ Shadow, Ceiling Demons seek to capture the rawness of human emotion in rhythms and rhymes.

The group comprises of identical twin brother MCs Psy Ceiling and Dan Demon, with production from Beat Demon.

The Ceiling Demons on Bandcamp is here.

The Ree-Vahs

The Ree-Vahs! were born and raised in the twin mining and steelworks towns of Stanley and Consett in County Durham, which run along the borders of both Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.

When Tommy o' Loan arrived in Stanley from Northern Ireland after the first world war he did two things. The first was to drop his o' and his Irish accent in the Irish Sea (to avoid prejudice and discrimination from the local population) and the second was, over time, to create a style of North Durham singing (practiced in the bars and clubs of Stanley & Consett) which he passed onto his grandson before his death.

Today the Ree-Vahs! write fresh folk songs about love, life and loss from the Durham borders, sung in an authentic Durham/South Northumberland accent by Tommy's eldest grandson Andy Loan.

The Ree-Vahs website is here.

My Little Brother

Apparently formed when a group of people met and drank gin, My Little Brother are creating quite a stir from their Kendal base. With one foot in the 60s and the other on today's music scene, they have a perfect blend of uplifting, sometimes humorous sometime sad songs which are a lesson in songwriting.

Front man Will Harris already has impressive name checks on his CV including working with The Charlatans and Teenage Fan Club, but it's as My Little Brother that success is undoubtedly just round the corner. Their album launch at The Geltsdale Brewery in Brampton in May was so well attended that people had to over-spill onto the car-park. This from a group who had yet to release the album they were promoting!

Already championed by BBC6s Gideon Coe, Cerys Matthews and Tom Robinson they have also been described as "capturing the spirit of the 60s" by none other than Laurie Beebe Lewis former vocalist with The Mamas And The Papas.

The My Little Brother website is here.

#HarFest2014 - 28 September 2014

Rose Redd and band.