Liverpool’s first and only independent online music festival The 2ubeXtra returns on 13th April 2016. Each week in the run up to the opening night we’ll be highlighting three acts that will performing at this year’s event.
This week we’re focusing on Sundogs, Aleks Grey & Her’s.
Sundogs
Over the past two years, the excitement around Liverpool’s Sundogs and their brand of kinky rock’n’roll has been steadily increasing, largely to their well-received single ‘To Be My Girl’. The band have graced the stages of Liverpool’s coolest venues such as The Shipping Forecast, Berlin Bar, the Zanzibar and the Aloft Hotel, and most notably the Kazimier as part of a scene-defining night in October 2015.
‘To Be My Girl’ made waves online over the summer when it was featured in DIY magazine’s Neu bulletin. The single received praise from Bill Ryder Jones in the NME, as well as and being presented on other national music blogs such as Shiny Shiny New, racking up over 2,000 views on YouTube and over 1,000 plays on Soundcloud.
Sundogs look set for a busy 2016 with more releases planned before their appearance at 2ubeXtra.
Aleks Grey
Inspired by the likes of Coldplay and One Republic Aleks Grey has earned worldwide airplay with his anthemic pop sound. His two latest singles gained radio play in 20 countries across the globe along with getting positive reviews and features in magazines and blogs. He’s appeared at festivals such as Malakoff Rockfestival (Biffy Clyro, Rival Sons, Kaiser Chiefs) and twice played on Norwegian national TV.
In 2013 Aleks moved to Liverpool where he’s now currently based. He embarked on first tour of his home country Norway in December 2014, and at the same time he gained radio play on BBC Merseyside. March saw him recording his first EP ‘SOULS’ in the legendary Parr Street Studios in Liverpool. In May he released the first single off the EP, ‘Feel Alive’ and the second, ‘Unstoppable’ in August.
To coincide with his releases, Aleks and his band played a live session for the BBC in Liverpool along with two video sessions for the largest student magazine in the UK ‘The Student Pocket Guide’.
Over the summer Aleks landed two sponsorship agreements. One with the London-based company ‘Plumen’ and the other is one of the largest mens-clothing companies in Norway, ‘Frislid’.
In November Aleks and the band toured in Norway again, and for the second year in a row appeared on Norwegian national TV.
On the 25th of November BBC host Dave Monks invited Aleks and his band to play at the world famous cavern club. The same month his debut EP, ‘SOULS’, was awarded ‘album of the week’ by ‘Norsk på Spotify’ (Norwegians on Spotify).
Her’s
Hailing from Norway and Barrow in Furness, Audun Laading and Stephen Fitzpatrick met while studying in Liverpool and formed dream pop duo Hers in the spring of 2015. with a mission to provide a new take on indie music.
Her’s made their live debut at Manchester’s Castle Hotel in January 2015, and have gone on to play alongside acts such as La Shark, Trudy and Gorgeous Bully at gigs across the northwest. The band are looking to take their hypnotic indie pop worldwide through their appearance at 2ubeXtra.
Once again, The 2ube are building up to this year’s festival by staging weekly 2ube Live shows every Friday night, but 2016 has brought an exciting new development… For the first time ever, The 2ube Live will be broadcast each week on Liverpool’s Bay TV. The weekly show on Bay TV consists of past highlights from 2ube Live events punctuated by live shows, the next of which is scheduled for Friday 18th of March. This event will also be streamed around the world via YouTube.
In the spirit of the iconic eighties Channel 4 television show, The 2ube Live and Bay TV are taking two hours of brand new music into the homes of over 380,000 viewers in the north west of England. This unique proposition places new music at the top of it’s agenda, highlighting the diversity and talent of the UK’s music scene, showcasing some of the UK’s hottest breakthrough acts and featuring interviews and exclusive performances from special guests.
LINKS:
http://www.lipa.ac.uk/index.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/The2ubeXtra
https://twitter.com/2ubeXtra
http://www.youtube.com/the2ubelipa
https://www.facebook.com/the2ube/
https://twitter.com/the2ube
http://www.baytvliverpool.com/
Notes:
- The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) is a specialist university level institution for performers and those who make performance possible.
- Co-founded in 1996 by Lead Patron Sir Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty RNOM OBE (LIPA’s Principal), it is housed in McCartney’s old school which underwent a multi-million pound renovation to transform it into a state-of-the-art performing arts higher education institution.
- LIPA is an acknowledged as part of the UK’s higher education provision for the performing arts and provides learning for the main skills needed for putting on a show, uniquely blending specialist and generic skills.
- The 2ube Live takes place every Friday inside Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and presents some of the best new music from within the institution and across the local scene, as well as playing host to some of the UK’s hottest breakthrough acts.
- Each month The 2ube Live is streamed live to a worldwide online audience showcasing band’s sets and featuring interviews and exclusive performances from special guests.
- The 2ubeXtra 2016 is Liverpool’s only independent online music festival which takes place across eight days. Bands sets and interviews are streamed live around the world from the Paul McCartney Auditorium inside LIPA from 17:00 until 20:40 GMT each evening from Wednesday 13th April 2016
- Bay TV Liverpool is a local internet television station which was established in November 2011 and provides video on demand content with a selection of programmes streamed live.
- On 21 February 2013, Bay TV was awarded a local TV licence by Ofcom to broadcast a linear channel on Freeview channel 8 in the Liverpool area including Halton, Wigan and parts of Cheshire. It also has ambitions to broadcast on Sky. The channel airs 10 hours of local content and two and a half hours of news a day.
- On 16 May 2013, Bay TV Liverpool was awarded Best Media Website in the Prolific North Awards, beating other more established websites including nationally renowned Skiddle.com and local rival Wirral Globe.
- Bay TV currently has 380,000 weekly views
- Bay TV can be accessed on Channel 8 on Freeview, Channel 159 on Virgin Media from 06:00 to 23:00 Monday to Sunday
