Swindon Music

Sorry for the late notice (work has taken over my life a bit!), but it only requires an email...

This year's Swindon Shuffle will take place between Thursday 11th and Sunday 14th August, and will be the 5th anniversary of the festival! As usual, it will take place at venues in the town centre, and this year all door money taken will be given to the Goldenhar UK Support Group and the Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

In an attempt to freshen the festival a bit and involve more of the local music community, various days / venues will be programmed by different organisations including BBC Introducing, The Ocelot, Green Man Music and Songs Of Praise. That said there will be the usual submissions process to allow acts the chance of possibly playing at the festival, with a list of submissions being circulated to the programmers for consideration when selecting their line up.

To submit all you need to do is send an email to swindonshuffle@live.com with the following information:

- Your / your acts name
- Your rough musical style(s)
- A bit about your act

And most importantly...

- A link to an online site with a couple of your tracks (eg: Reverbnation, Myspace, Facebook Band Page, etc)

The closing date for submissions is the end of Thursday 31st March.

Paj, Andy at Riffs is up for putting something on as part of The Shuffle...might be worth giving him a shout....the more the merrier, eh?

When do the lucky people hear the good news?

Dont take this out of context, this is just meant to curb my ignorance.
BUT.. how exactly do you get to play on the shuffle, Jonestown have applied 2 years running, and have filled out the relevant paperwork each time but to no avail. the question is, am i doing something wrong, or are we just shite.
please help me understand the nuances , as we would dearly love to play, but never get so much as an email in response.
I know Calne is a bit backward , but we do have computer technology, heck , i even got broadband.
i guess it's the latter. ho hum.

and still no response. I guess your either in the scene or out on your ass

Surely that is a given?

Out on my a*s everytime for me. I have my own scene, right here in my head

Sorry if this sounds harsh but you don't get slots on things because you've applied time and time before. That'd make it a pity booking. If you're playing and doing exactly the same thing you were doing last year, and haven't progressed, then maybe you'll still struggle to get a show. Repeated applications and persistence alone is not a passport to a slot at any show.

If you're not ever getting booked (and this is universal NOT specific to the shuffle) it's probably because:

a) the promoters don't like your stuff/don't think it's of the caliber they want
b) don't think you can draw in a crowd (happens more in London)
c) You'd fallen out or annoyed someone organising/promoting/engineering

For festivals with a lot of applicants,like the Shuffle, it may take years to get in. But remember, people owe you nothing. You make your own work with music.

As much as I agree with certain aspects of that, Shaun, I think it's inevitable that there is a certain degree of favouritism in the organisation of events like The Shuffle. Mentioning no names, there have been a handful of distinctly not-very-good bands play over the past few years - most likely due to them being pally with someone or other. Having said that, complaining about it isn't going to get you anywhere.

Just for the record, I've never applied to play the event, and respect those who make it happen.

well, if you displayed an attitude like that when you applied, it's hardly surprising you don't get a slot.

There will ALWAYS be an element of nepotism with these events. But that is because it's easier to tell a stranger to f**k off. Anyone in the same situation would do the same thing.

I am banned from this event. It was originally called the swindon big gig but apparently after I got caught wanking over pictures of all the bands, The Swindon Shuffle sounded more apt...

Jurgen was indeed one of the founders of the Swindon Shuffle

I founded your face.

Still no announcements???

well, there was a launch party at the Vic a few weeks back where the line up was announced plus there is a FB page showing the line up


here

a page on The old Green man blog page here

a page on this very forum here

so I guess you could say that the line up has been announced.