Sheffield Pop Weekender 2023

Event Information

SHEFFIELD POP WEEKENDER 2023

Friday 25 August : Sidney & Matilda
Opening night disco party, Offbeat DJ (9pm-1am)

Saturday 26 August : Sidney & Matilda
The Just Joans | Fightmilk | Panic Pocket | Breakup Haircut | ¡Ay Carmela! | All Ashore! | Dream Phone | The Verinos

Nightowls DJ til late

Sunday 27 August : Shakespeare's
The Catenary Wires | Living Body | Vanity Fairy | Mayshe-Mayshe | Count Jaakola | Avital Raz | Vom Vorton | Alexander Christopher Hale

Don't go to those hideous massive festivals with sponsors' logos everywhere and leery lads setting fire to tents! After a year off to recover from the glorious but strenuous 2021 edition, the Macho Music is Stupid team are ready to give Sheffield another pop weekender in 2023!

We're rested, we're ready, we've got a SPREADSHEET OF ROCK to organise everything, and we've even bought a card reader, although we're yet to reply to any of Eventbrite's polite emails asking to discuss our growth strategy. Anyway. If you're up for two days of sheer pop loveliness in England's coolest city, you know what to do.

THE JUST JOANS
Gorgeously gloomy Glaswegians The Just Joans have been a cult presence on the indiepop scene for almost 15 years since their festival debut at Indietracks in 2008. Noted for their mischievous lyrics, tender melodies and overwhelming Scottishness, the band were best described as "the missing link between The Magnetic Fields and The Proclaimers". New album Romantic Visions of Scotland out soon on Fika Recordings.
https://thejustjoans.bandcamp.com/

THE CATENARY WIRES
Indiepop royalty Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey (Heavenly, Swansea Sound, Marine Research etc) return to Sheffield as The Catenary Wires in stripped-down two-piece format, as heard on debut album Red Red Skies (Elefant). Arrangements and line-ups have expanded on subsequent albums Til The Morning (Tapete) and Birling Gap (Skep Wax). The band have recorded a session for Marc Riley, and are regularly heard on BBC6Music, with a fourth album in the pipeline and will continue to alternate between their near-acoustic and full band line-ups.
https://catenarywires.bandcamp.com/

FIGHTMILK
Forged in the beer gardens of south London, Fightmilk is Lily, Alex, Healey and Nick, and they write spiky, hefty pop songs about such universal concerns as body image, death, and being fired from bridesmaid duty. They played a belting headline show for MMIS in 2021 and we couldn't wait to ask them back! Fightmilk are currently writing and recording their third album.
https://fightmilkisaband.bandcamp.com

PANIC POCKET
Expect indie-punk-pop exuberance, monster hooks, killer harmonies and lyrics that are so truthful they hurt. Long-term BFFs Sophie Peacock and Natalie Healey formed Panic Pocket in 2017 and soon became a DIY sensation, releasing their debut EP Never Gonna Happen with Reckless Yes in 2019. Awesome debut album Mad Half Hour is out now on Skep Wax.
https://panicpocket.bandcamp.com

LIVING BODY
Leeds' immigrant-led double-drumming harmony-laden anti-capitalist hook machine performing a unique stripped-back set for the Sheffield Pop Weekender. Described by Louder Than War as "the epitome of the modern supergroup". Described by Macho Music is Stupid as "chuffing ace, let's put 'em on!"
https://livingbodylife.bandcamp.com/

ALL ASHORE!
Prepare to fall in love with music all over again. Sheffield's own All Ashore! are a fuzzy, crash pop, indiepop band comprising Meriel, Chris, tonieee, Elodie and Ian. Their debut single Perfect Popsong was described by no less an authority than Helen Love as "a solid gold smash hit", and she even added three heart emojis. Debut album Stayin' Afloat is on 10-inch vinyl with Daytrip Records (UK) and CD with Jigsaw (USA).
https://allashore.bandcamp.com/

¡AY CARMELA!
Inspired by the likes of PJ Harvey, Nilüfer Yanya, and Warpaint, ¡Ay Carmela! combine guitars and vocals rooted in 90s alternative rock with hints of jazz in the bass and drums. After releasing their first album Working Weeks back in 2016, they've now relocated from London to Bristol and changed the line-up a bit, but they still sound ace and their new album Tokens will be out in November 2023.
https://aycarmela.bandcamp.com/

BREAKUP HAIRCUT
London pop-punk band formed in 2019 and made immediate waves on the DIY scene, winning friends and solving mysteries left and right. Their music is defined by humorously relatable lyrics and boppin’ basslines - and their two releases so far have had ace reviews all over the place. It's their first time in Sheffield and you're gonna love 'em, is what we're saying.
https://breakuphaircut.bandcamp.com

MAYSHE-MAYSHE
Alice Rowan's solo project blends dreamy art-pop with rich storytelling, skittering percussion and infectious melodies. Using loop pedals, vintage synths and the occasional hairdryer, her deceptively simple songwriting ranges across such subject-matter as mental health, nature and folklore. A unique and spellbinding live experience.
https://mayshe-mayshe.bandcamp.com/

THE VERINOS
Smart-arsed old women punk band *tunes*, brilliant energy and a fun approach to putting the world to right. The first Unglamorous band - always from Leicester, the all-women band capital of the world.
https://unglamorous.bandcamp.com/

DREAM PHONE
Dream Phone are Hannah and Jenny from Oxford. They began as a pop-punk guitar and drums duo, but got bored of that and decided to make excellent synth-driven glitch-pop music instead. They write songs about people they fancy, Buffy, and social awkwardness, which they record at home fuelled by Pepsi Max and Chinese food. Their debut self-titled EP is out in May on Divine Schism.
https://wearedreamphone.bandcamp.com

VANITY FAIRY
A sparkling starlet of the underground East London scene, Vanity’s debut EP Love From Above spins a nostalgia-laden world that plays with kitsch-pop tropes and revels in the hedonistic indulgences of classic disco, it says here. We've fallen in love with the playfulness and commitment to absolute joy in evidence here, and we think you will too.
https://vanityfairy.bandcamp.com/

VOM VORTON
Vom Vorton spent ten years in and out of Derby's most robot-/monster-obsessed indiepop band, Lardpony, while also writing, recording and performing solo songs influenced by the likes of Hefner, the Magnetic Fields and Grandaddy. For some reason the 'performing' part hasn't happened for the best part of a decade but now he's back! To share old songs and new ones, all driven by the same basic ethos of 'can this be sad AND funny?'
https://vomvorton.bandcamp.com/

AVITAL RAZ
A vocal artist who travels across many genres, Avital Raz's songs may resemble old English lute songs, Indian classical ragas, cabaret, clues or eastern European Jewish melodies. A multicultured get-together of many strange characters, all rolled up into one quirky singer-songwriter who puts on an understated but utterly captivating live show.
https://avitalraz.bandcamp.com/

COUNT JAAKOLA
Count Jaakola dreams up her DIY pop songs mostly in a bedroom surrounded by houseplants, occasionally retreating to analogue studio heaven. The console is set to dreampop and sunshine gets bottled, but wistful remains the MO.
https://countjaakola.bandcamp.com/

ALEXANDER CHRISTOPHER HALE
The leader/father of Alex and the Christopher Hale Band abandons his aural safety net for one afternoon only to present some selected snippets from his catalogue of more than 200 songs.
https://achband.bandcamp.com/