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BBC Radio 3’s flagship experimental music programme, Late Junction, returns to End Of The Road festival this year, following the partnership’s successful debut in 2017, curating a range of ground breaking and exciting artists from around the globe. Once again, four carefully selected artists will perform on the Tipi Stage as part of the festival’s Friday night line up, hosted by Verity Sharp. 

Moor Mother is the experimental music project of musician, poet and visual artist, Camae Ayewa. With ecstatic acclaim for her debut album Fetish Bones — named one of the albums of the year by the likes of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and The Wire — Moor Mother uses hip-hop, samples, spoken word and free jazz to create space-time bending sound, resulting in a DIY twist on the Afrofuturism of fellow Philadelphia artist-philosopher Sun Ra.

Ten piece psychedelic Sudanese Afrobeat ensemble The Scorpios first arrived in the UK in the 1980s as refugees and now consist of members from all over the world supported by an international backing band of musicians from Ghana, Jamaica, Poland and Japan. Influenced by traditional Sudanese songs and 1960s pop, their unique blend of Eastern funk, Arabic rhythms and reggae makes for an exhilarating live show.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and academic Annie Lewandowski is the beating heart of international ‘eclectic folk’ outfit Powerdove. Bolstered by band members Thomas Bonvalet and Chad Popple, Powerdove reference everything from the classical avant garde, 1970s prog folk and 1980s post-punk. Combining improvisation with unconventional instrumentation, the adventurous trio produce a wildly unpredictable and captivating live show.  

Zimpel / Ziolek is the coming together of two leading multi-instrumentalists from Poland’s fertile experimental underground. Fusing the modern jazz minimalism of Waclaw Zimpel with Kuba Ziolek’s traditional folk leanings, the duo’s extraordinary record What Goes Around is a masterclass in musicianship, filled with astounding clarinet solos and hypnotic guitar work. End Of The Road is thrilled to host Zimpel / Ziolek’s UK festival debut.

Recordings of all performances will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction on the 11th, 12th and 13th September from 11pm.

Sharpies at the ready… our 2018 Stage Times are here! This year the official clashfinder will be available as a handy pull out in our actual festival programme, available on-site. So no more printing and laminating your own, only to lose it on the first night.

With just six weeks to go until End of the Road 2018 opens its gates, we are thrilled to announce the final additions to this year’s already exceptional music line up.

Political post-punk outfit Shopping released their Edwyn Collins produced third album The Official Body earlier this year, showing off a band not only at their creative peak but also at their most vital and exhilarating. Since leaving Yuck, Daniel Blumberg has shown himself to be a restless talent. Some might have spotted him playing and recording at London’s Cafe Oto recently, where he met and collaborated with a range of musicians that led to his brilliant debut record Minus.

Swedish indie pop quartet Hater take their musical cues from the likes of Alvvays, The Pretenders and The Radio Dept. Their full length debut You Triedis an intoxicating mix of indie-pop, post-punk, and classic rock all led by frontwoman Caroline Landahl’s gorgeous vocals. Finally, the outrageous noise merchants born out of Australia’s East Coast punk new wave Amyl and The Sniffers, have quickly delivered a stockpile of grimy riffs and blistering live shows, while having as much fun as possible. And with the electric lead singer Amy Taylor at the helm, they’ll make sure you do too.

We’re delighted to reveal details of our Cinema programme for 2018, tailor made for cinephiles, film fanatics and those who believe the only true hangover cure is watching Tom Hanks in Big.

We’re very excited to welcome The Prince Charles Cinema and their wide selection of cult classics to Larmer Tree for the first time. They curate Saturday and Sunday’s billing, with Heathers, The Princess Bride (Quote Along) and a Wallace and Gromit double bill, followed by a Q&A with Senior Aardman Model Maker Jim Parkyn, just a few of many highlights.

Meanwhile, all four of Thursday night’s films have been hand-picked by mercurial pop genius Gruff Rhys, ahead of his Saturday night performance on the Woods Stage, including Jean Luc-Godard’s La Chinoise, whilst we’ve taken the reins on Friday’s offerings.

Thursday

La Chinoise [18]
Suspiria [18]
Belladonna Of Sadness [18]
This Unfortunate Thing Between Us

Friday

American Psycho [18]
You Were Never Really Here [15]
Lost In Translation [15]
Fish Tank [15]
Wasp [15]
Please Give [15]
Tomboy [U]
Persepolis [12]
The Danish Poet
Big [12]

Saturday

*Mystery Film* [18]
Dig! [15]
Lady Bird [15]
The Florida Project [15]
The Princess Bride (Quote Along) [PG]
Cinema Paradiso [PG]
Isle Of Dogs [PG]
A Close Shave (U) w/ Senior Model Maker Q&A
The Wrong Trousers (U)

Sunday

*Mystery Film* [18]
Hellraiser [18]
The Music Videos Of Spike Jonze
Heathers [15]
No Fun City [15]
20th Century Women [15]
Boy [15]
Mary And The Witch’s Flower [U]
Steamboat Bill Jr. [U]

We’re delighted to welcome some exciting new food faces this year, including the award winning Lebanese food and Antipodean coffee connoisseurs Wholefood Cafe, Thai street food specialists Bangwok and from the people behind The Breakfast Club comes The Little Green Trailer, offering hangover busting breakfasts to make you feel like a champion after a night lost in the Woods. There will also be lots of familiar faces too, with the enduringly popular Rac Shac bringing their signature giant wheels of Raclette cheese, the tantalising breakfast kedgeree from The Goan Seafood Company and deliciously addictive and healthy Happy Maki who make innovative vegan sushi rolls to order.

One of End Of the Road’s corner stones Pizza Tabun are sadly not coming to the festival this year. But fear not as we have invited another award winning pizzeria to join us, Made Of Dough, who serve the most delicious Neapolitan-style sourdough base concoctions we’ve ever tried.

We’re also proud to host Beavertown Brewery for the third year running at End Of The Road this year, with all their sublime beer and ill behaviour. The Beaver Bar will return with the craft beers you know and love, with Gamma Ray, 8 Ball, Smog Rocket and festival favourite Lupuloid all making appearances, as well as Neck Oil available on draft at The Black Crow bar for the first time. And we’ve heard there will be some surprises in store as well… so keep your eyes peeled. If you can keep them open.

In addition to the Beaver Bar, we’ve got lots of real ales returning the Bear Tavern as usual. We’re very lucky to have some of the country’s best real ale breweries located close to the festival and for the fourth year, we’ll be sourcing our real ale from local breweries. Real ales from Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and the New Forest covering a wide selection of styles, colours and flavours will be available to tickle your tastebuds throughout the weekend. The Black Crow and Peacock Bars will be serving the annual End Of The Road Ale, made differently each year by Milk Street Brewery, while The Badger Innis the place for early morning Bloody Marys, late night cocktails and a single malt and gin menu. Last but definitely not least, the infamous Cider Bus will be back with a bang, keeping the party going into the small hours.

We are very excited to reveal the 2018 Day Splits and the addition of Tirzah to our line up. We’re also thrilled that BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction will be returning to the Tipi Stage on Friday night, curating another evening of experimental and eclectic music from around the globe. We are also partnering with Prince Charles Cinema for the first time, who will programme Saturday and Sunday at The Cinema this year. More details on both these special collaborations coming very soon.

Headlining the festival on Thursday night are the indefinable and enduringly popular Yo La Tengo. Thursday’s opening act is still to be announced, while Loud & Quiet are set to host our first ever opening party with a late night Silent Disco, following the usual array of Thursday night surprise sets on The Tipi Stage.

We’re spoiled for choice on The Woods Stage with St. Vincent topping the bill on Friday, with strong support from the venerable Josh T. Pearson and rising star Lucy Dacus. Saturday night plays host to Vampire Weekend’s only UK festival this year, preceded by festival favourite and delicately demented storyteller, Gruff Rhys. Feist will close The Woods Stage on Sunday night, following the always welcome return of End Of The Road sweetheart, Ezra Furman.

Meanwhile, the iconic Garden Stage is an embarrassment of riches with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy on Friday and Velvet Underground John Cale on Sunday, assuming the mighty Oh Sees didn’t destroy it on Saturday!

The astonishingly musically dexterous White Denim provide our happy ending on Sunday night, following avante-pop composer Julia Holter’s End Of The Road debut. We’re also thrilled to welcome Mulatu Astatke to the festival on Saturday, The Garden Stage providing the perfect setting for his unique Latin rhythm influenced Ethiopian Jazz.

Friday’s Big Top line up is presented by Loud & Quiet with a staggering line up including the criminally talented Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Micachu collaborator and muse Tirzah, topped off by Detroit post-punk rockers Protomartyr. Uncut present Saturday’s bill, led by experimental electronic wizard James Holden And The Animal Spirits, with both Hookworms and Flat Worms closely behind. Sunday, hosted by our friends at The Line Of Best Fit, sees outlandish pop pioneer Ariel Pink bring the house down, with strong support from the wildly popular IDLES and Japanese Breakfast’s blissed-out guitar pop.

For the sonically adventurous, as well as the return of BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction on Friday night, The Tipi Stage welcomes a wealth of exciting new talent. Raucous indie supergroup Warmduscher (fronted by Clams Baker of Paranoid London and backed by members of Fat White Family and Insecure Men who are also appearing at this year’s festival) will perform a late night set on Friday. Plus we welcome rising stars Snail Mail, described by Pitchfork as ‘the wisest teenage indie rockers we know’ and Nashville native Soccer Mommy, whose debut album proper Clean is one of the finest we’ve heard this year.

In addition to all of this, throughout the four days, there will be the usual array of surprise performances, one-off collaborations and artist Q&As – presented in collaboration with The Line of Best Fit – that have become End of The Road’s trademark. There will be a variety of after-hours fun and dancing to be had at the Silent Disco, The Disco Ship and The Outlands, plus Loud & Quiet’s podcast series Midnight Chats recorded live on the Piano Stage.

We have a wealth of activities for the whole family this year, taking place every day on our Wonderlands Lawn. For the musically curious, you can enrol in the School Of Noise who will introduce you to a range of noise making machines exploring the science of sound, that Jarvis Cocker says will “bring back a sense of wonder and accessibility to music-making”. If singing’s your thing, or even if it isn’t, start the day right with the Wake Up Singing workshop led triumphantly by A Trio Of Men.

If you fancy exercising your creativity, there’s Sun Printing using light sesitive paper to create your own photographic prints, make your own jewellery with Copper Enamelling or try your hand at life drawing with Still Life For The Terrified. The kids will be kept entertained (and some adults, no doubt) with the ever popular HungaMunga’s Monster Mashup where you can make your own comic book or help make a giant comic strip. There will also be plenty of storytelling with Bird Stories and The Imagination Den with Tiny Wild Fox.

Family & Kids Activities highlights:

Aardman Animations – Model Making Workshops
Bird Stories
Circus Skills with Circus Kaos and Solo Circus
Doors of The Imagination with Complete Wasters
Enamelling with Medley Arts
Feminist Folk Songs
Giant Artwork
HungaMunga’s Monster Mashup
Lick the Pitch with Coda
Little Folk Nursery Rhymes
Magpie Qigong
School Of Noise
Spin-A-Mation
Still Life for the Terrified
Sun Printing
The Imagination Den with Tiny Wild Fox
Wake Up Singing with Trio Of Men
Yoga Games

And many more…

This year’s Comedy Stage boasts a strong line-up with the usual blend of stand up, sketch, character, podcasts and political satire. First up, we are  thrilled to welcome influential and satirical podcast The Bugle to End of The Road for the first time, where they’ll be recording live. The show created by Andy Zaltzman – also performing on the Comedy Stage this year and an EOTR favourite – and John Oliver, continues to broadcast with Andy and a host of international co-presenters. Joining him at the festival is comedian and frequent co-host, Alice Fraser, also performing a solo set this year, as well as a special guest to be announced.

Next, we have Bafta Award winning Dave Johns. Instantly recognisable from his lead role in Ken Loach’s critically acclaimed I, Daniel Blake, Johns has been performing stand-up for three decades and has honed his talents as a poignant and warm performer, a skilled storyteller and a natural joke-teller. Our special late-night headline show comes from panel show regular and sometime Tim Key collaborator, Mark Watson. Cluster-bombed with yoghurt on TV’s Taskmaster, half-killed on The Island, Watson returns to the calmer surrounds of the Larmer Tree Gardens to perform his most recent full-length Edinburgh Fringe offering, The Infinite Show.

Elsewhere on the bill you’ll find BBC Radio 4’s Newsjack presenter and Mock The Week regular Angela Barnes will bring her sharp-tongued comedy to the festival – tackling subjects like nuclear bunkers, aging and other people’s perceptions. Rising star Catherine Bohart’s engaging and distinctive stand-up has already earned her a place on the BBC’s New Talent Hotlist and fellow up-and-coming bright spark Bisha K. Ali, fresh from Radio 4’s Grownupland and The Guilty Feminist podcast, will showcase her laid charm taking on topics including race, politics, family and science.

We are also delighted to reveal another fantastic literature line up, showcasing some of the most acclaimed, fascinating and moving writers around. As usual, during the morning of each day of the festival, a selection of authors will read from and discuss their work alongside more workshops than ever before, at The Library Stage in The Outlands. The hugely popular and influential Blacklisted Podcast, who will be recording an episode live at the festival. Hosted by John Mitchinson (QI) and Andy Miller, it  has been garnering fans across the globe and they’ve promised a very special guest will be joining them too… Not to be missed.

Best selling author and ex Guardian music critic Tom Cox may be more known for his hilarious but poignant twitter account My Cat Is Sad, following lamentations of his cat The Bear, but he will be discussing his latest book at End of The Road. In 21st-Century Yokel he explores the way we are tied inescapably to landscape, whether we like it or not.

For the music writing lovers, Daniel Rachel’s critically acclaimed book Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge charts the pivotal period between 1976 and 1992 that saw politics and pop music come together for the first time in Britain’s musical history, while Tot Taylor takes us back further to question where songs actually come from and whether all songs are in fact just the ‘same song’.

Revered new author Caroline O’Donoghue brings her critically acclaimed debut novel Promising Young Women, a striking, gothic and witty story about being a young woman in a man’s world. Last but not least, writer, broadcaster and columnist Christina Patterson will help us hold it together after a long night at the Disco Ship with her new book The Art of Not Falling Apart. A joyous, moving and sometimes shockingly honest celebration of life as an adventure, one where you ditch your expectations, raise a glass and prepare for a rocky ride. Cheers to that.

Comedy Stage 2018 Line Up

The Bugle Podcast
Dave Johns
Mark Watson
Rob Auton
Angela Barnes
Andy Zaltzman
Laura Lexx
Catherine Bohart
Scott Bennett
Questing Time podcast
Sarah Keyworth
Running on Empty improv: Paul Foxcroft, Briony Redman & Richard Soames
Evelyn Mok
John-Luke Roberts
Bisha K Ali
Olga Koch
Alice Fraser
Universilly Challenge quiz: hosted by Bec Hill & Sarah Bennetto
Garrett Millerick
Jessica Fostekew
Alex Kealy
Ben van der Velde

Library Stage 2018 Line Up:

Tom Cox
Backlisted Podcast Live
Daniel Rachel
Sally Bayley
Ian Marchant
Caroline O’Donoghue
Christina Patterson
Mathew Clayton
Tot Taylor

Tickets are available here: http://endoftheroadfestival.com/tickets/

We are very pleased to welcome back White Denim, who were last seen ripping up the Garden Stage in 2014. The Texan foursome have gained a reputation for being one of the best live bands around and, through their ten years, have explored everything from soul, jazz, and country to psychedelia, punk, and prog without compromising on astonishing musical dexterity.

Danish band Iceage arrived in 2008 armed with the the most brutal punk rock we’d heard in a long time. They were just teenages then, and their sound has evolved over the years. Their upcoming album Beyondless is arguably their most accomplished, crafted, and moving record yet – the culmination of their three albums so far. We can’t wait to welcome them to Larmer Tree Gardens for the first time.

Also added to this year’s bill are cult grunge foursome The Posies whose extensive back catalogue stretches across four decades, the lovable purveyors of indie pop Sunflower Bean and London-based experimental post-punk trio built around the remarkable and distinctive voice and songs of Serafina Steer, Bas Jan.

We are delighted to reveal the winners of this year’s Play End Of The Road Competition, who this year were chosen from a list of well over 2000 hopefuls. It was highest number – and highest quality – of applications the festivals has ever had. The three successful artists have won the chance to play at End Of The Road 2018, with one bagging a filmed session on site with The Line Of Best Fit.

First up is Californian-born, Glasgow-based musician A. Wesley Chung, previously of Long Beach indie collective Boris Smile, makes blissful Americana befitting of his West Coast heritage. Lo-fi folk and fine artist StevieRay Latham charmed us with his melody-filled, poetic songs and last but not least London quartet Suggested Friends, who make effervescent and melancholic pop rock songs with catchy hooks and frenetic choruses.

New Line Up Additions:

White Denim
Iceage
The Posies
Sunflower Bean
Bas Jan
Kiran Leonard
Marc Riley DJ
Screaming Females
Laura Misch
A. Wesley Chung
StevieRay Latham
Suggested Friends

Tickets are available here: http://endoftheroadfestival.com/tickets/

Joining headliners Vampire Weekend, St Vincent, Feist and Yo La Tengo on the bill will be the singular Josh T. Pearson, artistic polymath Wild Billy Childish & The CTMF, rising star Lucy Dacus and many more.

We are thrilled to welcome back Josh T. Pearson, whose legendary band Lift To Experience has reached near-mythical status, their only album The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads inspiring a cult following while nailing the sombre mood of the time. After a decade of near silence, Pearson re-emerged with his acclaimed heart-wrenching debut solo record, Last of the Country Gentlemen. He played those songs at End Of The Road in 2011 to a mesmerised crowd, as Pearson seemed “truly to be wrestling for his soul” (The Independent). With a new solo album due this year for which he’s “got rid of the beard, cut my hair and started wearing colour”, Pearson is freeing himself from the mythology that has surrounded him since Lift To Experience’s implosion and we can’t wait to see it manifest on stage.

Over four decades, the endlessly creative and subversive Billy Childish has produced a breadth of brilliant, uncompromising work in a long and hugely eclectic career that has seen him explore music, art, poetry and more. As a musician he’s released albums at an astonishing rate (approximately 150 albums and counting) taking in punk, rock & roll, blues, spoken word, nursery rhymes and garage rock. He’s fronted a number of bands down the years and in 2017 Wild Billy Childish & CTMF released their fifth album in five years.

To mark the centenary of suffrage, Stealing Sheep are celebrating at End Of The Road with a brand new performance inspired by the suffragette movement. ‘Stealing Sheep’s Suffragette Tribute’ will bring together female musicians with design, AV and production students to create a marching band and procession featuring brand new music – all inspired by women, equality and empowerment.

Lucy Dacus was a 19-year-old songwriter with a day job in a photo lab when her debut LP, 2016’s No Burden, sparked a 20-plus-label bidding war and two years of constant touring. With a new album out on Matador released last week to wild acclaim, it’s clear all that attention was more than justified and we’re as equally eager for her return to End Of The Road.

Adding to the wealth of new talent on this year’s line is Nashville native Soccer Mommy, AKA Sophie Allison, whose debut album proper Clean is one of the finest we’ve heard this year. Infamous for their visceral and raucous live sets, supergroup Warmduscher (fronted by Clams Baker of Paranoid London and backed by members of Mutado Pintado, the Fat White Family, Paranoid London, Childhood and Insecure Men) join us for some wild rock ‘n’roll. With Flat Worms and Hookworms already in the bait bucket we’ve also bagged Cut Worms, the brainchild of singer-songwriter Max Clarke. The beautiful, transportative soft rock that makes up his debut EP was produced by Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado and we can’t wait for him to bring his springtime tunes to Larmer Tree for late summer.

New Line Up Additions:

Josh T. Pearson
Wild Billy Childish & CTMF
Titus Andronicus
Jonathan Wilson
Lucy Dacus
Shannon and the Clams
Stealing Sheep
The Limiñanas
Warmduscher
Soccer Mommy
Cut Worms
Haley Heynderickx
Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker
The Orielles
Warhaus
Saba Lou
Honey Harper
Plastic Mermaids
Zulu Zulu
Boy Azooga

Tickets are available here: http://endoftheroadfestival.com/tickets/