Pokey LaFarge

Pokey LaFarge is an American musician and songwriter known for his focus on the American roots genre. Born in 1983, he has gained recognition for his captivating performances alongside a talented band consisting of Joey Glynn on bass, Adam Hoskins on guitar, Ryan Koenig on harmonica, washboard, and snare drum, *TJ Muller* on cornet and trombone, and *Luc Klein* on clarinet and saxophone.

Leeds Lit Fest - The Invisible Worm: Hannah Stone

Join poets and fellow Dream Catcher editors Hannah Stone and Joe Williams in conversation on Hannah's most recent collection, The Invisible Worm (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2023). 

'Part threnody, part celebration of friendship’, these poems celebrate Hannah’s friendship with Rosemary Mitchell, and explore how we face end of life.

Hannah is Poet-Theologian to Leeds Church Institute, and convenes poetry/music collaborations. Last year she featured in the Guardian’s Poem of the Week, and won the David Oluwale Memorial Association Writing competition.

Los Bitchos

Los Bitchos is back and better than ever! Since the launch of their much-loved debut album, 'Let the Festivities Begin,' with City Slang in February 2022, the London-based, pan-continental female instrumental four-piece has captivated audiences worldwide. They've performed over 200 shows, including legendary appearances at Glastonbury,  and supporting tours with King Gizzard, and a legendary stint to Australia. Their dynamic live presence remains unparalleled.

CLAMM

Melbourne punk power trio CLAMM released second album Care in August 2022. The album was thrashed by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music, its first single Bit Much the #1 most added track to US college radio, and has been covered by the likes of Line Of Best Fit, The Chicago Reader, Paste Magazine, DIY Mag, So Young and elsewhere. CLAMM’s music was already concerned with the woes of the world, but the last two years have added extra urgency to their blown out, dystopian punk power. CLAMM explore the confusion of what it is to be a young person trying to live an honourable life in this world.

Sam Evian

It was New Years Eve 2022, the night before Sam Evian started recording Plunge, his fourth LP, now set for release on Flying Cloud Recordings via Thirty Tigers – his first album on his new imprint. He invited his friends and fellow musicians to his property in the Catskills, where he’d just painstakingly relocated and revamped his Flying Clouds Studios into a new barn on the property, restoring a vintage console and tape deck from 1974.

Kit Sebastian

Mr Bongo signed London-based duo Kit Sebastian (aka Kit Martin and Merve Erdem) captivate their audiences with moments of pure pop bliss, timeless nostalgia and seductive complexity. Their unique sounds weaves a psychedelic tapestry of global influences, vintage synths and melancholy élan from the beaches of Bahia to the streets of Istanbul and Paris. A joyous expression of vibrant grooves and sophisticated lyricism that transcends boundaries, borders and social-cultural preconceptions.

Cassandra Jenkins

Cassandra Jenkins, a veteran musician who’s played in the bands of Eleanor Friedberger, Craig Finn, Lola Kirke, and rehearsed to tour with Purple Mountains in August 2019 before the tour’s cancellation, spent months meticulously making her debut LP Play Till You Win. For Phenomenal Nature, she arrived at engineer Josh Kaufman’s (The National, The Hold Steady) studio with ideas rather than full songs – nevertheless, they finished the album in a week.

Championing Women of Leeds

Nearly 400 inspirational Leeds women, voted for by members of the public, are being celebrated with a new sculpture in the heart of the city’s cultural quarter.

Created by artist, Pippa Hale, Ribbons will be located at the top of the gardens between Leeds City College’s Quarry Hill campus and Leeds Playhouse at the gateway to the SOYO development at Quarry Hill, from July 2024.

The Lemon Twigs

Following the release of Everything Harmony, which garnered acclaim from Questlove, Iggy Pop, Anthony Fantano, The Guardian, and countless others, The Lemon Twigs — the New York City rock band fronted by brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario — have once again captured the attention of the music listening public. Set for release less than a year after their last album, A Dream Is All We Know is a joyous affair. As the title suggests, it’s less of a sober look at the darker side of life, and more a hopeful sojourn into the realm of dreams.