"Yes, yes, yes, it's the summer festival/The truly detestable summer festival."-- Edwyn Collins, "The Campaign For Real Rock"
The second weekend of July is nearly here, so that means the annual T In The Park festival is upon us. Now in its 13th year, the two-day event, held at the former Balado airfield near Kinross, attracted nearly 140,000 people last summer with more than 170 bands playing on 10 stages. A similar sized crowd is expected for this year's T In The Park, as tickets sold out in a record 40 minutes (though many have attributed that to the absence of the Glastonbury Festival this summer).
As usual, the main stage is a mixed bag: bands such as Kaiser Chiefs (meh) and the ubiquitous Arctic Monkeys (slightly less of a meh) jostling with the likes of Maximo Park and El Presidente. The acts gets a bit more tantalizing beyond the main stage: Richard Ashcroft and "The Modfather" himself on the Radio 1/NME stage; Primal Scream and The Futureheads at King Tut's Tent.
Then you have those groups which have earned promotion to the festival's higher divisions -- groups such as My Latest Novel, a five-piece outfit from the Glasgow/Gourock area making the jump to the Pet Sounds Arena (they're playing Sunday). Since performing on T In The Park's Futures stage in 2005, My Latest Novel has toured with Arab Strap, did numerous gigs on the Continent, and released its debut album, Wolves.
My Latest Novel's music is inspired by acts such as Smog and Low, its lyrics by men of letters such as Jack Kerouac and Aldous Huxley. They've also earned the reputation as being a bit on the quirky side, thanks to incidents such as this.
Hear it for yourself. Download: "Pretty In A Panic" by My Latest Novel.
