Cloudspotting tickets

Cloudspotting 2012

Cloudspotting 2012 takes place between the 27-29th July at the countryside location of the The Aspinall Arms in the heart of the Ribble Valley, with beautiful riverside camping by the River Ribble.

Capacity for camping tickets is restricted and after the wonderful time enjoyed by all last year, we suggest people buy their tickets soon. Day tickets are also available for just £20 per day.

Tickets are available (in person) from Official ticket outlets: The Aspinall Arms, Townsend Records (Moor Lane, Clitheroe) and Raffia, King Lane, Clitheroe.

FULL WEEKING CAMPING TICKETS: £50 / Under 16s FREE

FRIDAY DAY TICKETS £20 / Under 16s FREE

SATURDAY DAY TICKETS £20 / Under 16s FREE

**PLEASE NOTE, UNDER 16s go free but they must be registered, please email spottingclouds@gmail.com to confirm the attendance of your children.

Friday

Three Trapped Tigers
The idea of a trapped tiger conjures up something rattled, if not by excitement, then certainly of a need to be unleashed. It fits perfectly into the idea of what we think our Friday night headliner should be. A musical act of such intensity that to have anyone play after them would be disingenuous to both artiste and audience. We'll need some to catch breath after this trio. This sonic assault comes reassuringly after the watershed. For parents minding their children on the camping field, don't worry, you'll not miss a beat.

The Wave Pictures
Cloudspotting's DiY ethic fits very nicely with a band like The Wave Pictures. This English trio - David Tattersall, Franic Rozycki and Jonny Huddersfield Helm have released one of 2012's standout albums Long Black Cars, continuing an impressive run of six original albums in seven years.

Laura J Martin
Oh, not another contestant for stand-out album of 2012? Well at least stand out Debut album of 2012 at the very least? Laura is a sickening talent. Her extraordinary and diverse debut album The Hangman Tree came out on the excellent Static Caravan label in January. Full of flute, loops, mandolin and xylophone, the Merseyside creates a "genre neutral space of her own." She's got a cracking voice to go with a creative ambition so alive in her music.

Sunstack Jones
Sunstack Jones is always two, sometimes three, but mostly four maybe five musicians from the north of England (practically the North Pole). Forming in January 2011 and recording through the year, they have made an LP for your ears to swim in, it's called 'Surefire Ways To Sweeten The Mind' and is suitable for any weather. We liked the later afternoon summery feel about it, so we thought it'd be nice for them to perform late in the afternoon.

Kill the Captains
The more dastardly amongst you will recall the way Kill the Captains turned the first afternoon of Cloudspotting into a music festival last year. So well did they sound, such authority did they exert and such enjoyable people were they to have around, we booked em again for a repeat dose of what they are on. "Very clever and very winning. Tastes of sherbet and liquorice." Vanguard On-line.

Alpha Male Tea Party
We felt like ramping up the volume early this year to give the sheep something to chew on. I first saw AMTP propping up a line-up of far less quality bands in nearby Clitheroe. Their three-pronged quasi-math-currently-unintentionally-instrumental-rock sound developed in their Liverpool home, but now the band members have been split up by circumstance, of all the place he might have taken up residence, guitarist Tom Peters has moved back to the Ribble Valley.

The Ragamuffins
Kicking off proceedings on the main stage after recently reappearing in the regional sonic cosmos, The Ragamuffins (not a band of dancing muffs) are getting busy again, signaled by their new record, 'Irony Curtain'. Fronted by local boy David Jaggs, the lad also has a penchant for everything Liverpool, where the band indeed formed.

Tiny Ruins
Tiny Ruins is the project of Bristol-born, New Zealand-raised musician and songwriter Hollie Fullbrook. It grew out of writing the music for fringe theatre productions whilst a student in Wellington, recording by four-track and playing at live music and poetry nights in 2007-2009. Tiny Ruins' live shows began to attract attention and praise for soul-stirring, intimate performances and strange, hypnotic songs. Asked to support Alasdair Roberts in Sydney, May 2010, Tiny Ruins was then signed to Australia's Spunk Records.

Saturday

Ofay
It seems entirely appropriate that Saturday night ends with a performance from a group without whom, Cloudspotting would never have been conceived. For it was an impromptu post gig party after King Creosote and The Earlies' tour of Lancashire that sewed the seeds of a festival at the Aspinall. Such was the vibe on that long February night a combustible chemistry between inebriated musicians and joyous audience that a legendary gig forever in the annals of Aspinall folklore took place.

Jonnie Common
With more guile than Miss Marple and the energy of the National Grid, Jonnie Common brings his effervescent masterpiece Master of None to Cloudspotting. Armed with more gadgets than Tandy and a lyrical confidence of a poet laureate, Jonnie creates a soundscape that will light up the Ribble Valley with its economic craft and vivid imagery.

RM Hubbert
RM Hubbert has been recording, releasing and occasionally touring since 1993, having done three Peel sessions and earned swathes well earned critical acclaim. In 2008 he released his debut solo album First & Last, of which Uncut said "technically dazzling and deeply moving, a work of depth skill and real beauty."

Michael Chapman
Following his spellbinding set at last year's Cloudspotting, it would have been remiss of us not to invite Michael back. There's nothing new to tell of Michael's quality. His "Fully Qualified Survivor" tag appears to have reached a plateau. Since last year he has gigged with as much if not more frequency than ever before.

Jo Schornikow (The Shivers)
One half of New York duo The Shivers, whose early promise saw them snapped up by esoteric Fife-based tastemakers Fence Records, Jo, described by Fence as "your typical Australian travelling dreamer, virtuoso keyboard player, and part time church-organist " is currently preparing for a summer solo tour of some of the more musically interesting festivals ;)

Dean McPhee
Dean McPhee is a solo electric guitarist from West Yorkshire who plays a Fender Telecaster through a valve amp. He is a self-taught guitarist and his influences are drawn from a broad range of music including British Folk, Dub, Krautrock, Post Rock, Moroccan Trance and Modal Jazz. His material creates subtle and beautiful atmospheres we thought perfect for a summer afternoon. His recent collaboration with Michael Chapman on "The Resurrection and Revenge of the Clayton Peacock", an improvised album put out by Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), served to confirm him as a musician of finest stock.

Laurence and the Slab Boys
Laurence and the Slab Boys make noisy dream-pop with teeth. Their sound is a lyric-driven sonic-tapestry of fuzz-guitar, dulcet feedback and contorted, echo-soaked vocal harmonies. The band's debut album, Lo-Fi Disgrace (released June 2012), has already received repeated airplay on Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music (Steve Lamacq / Tom Robinson).