First acts revealed for EuroSonic Noorderslag

Showcase festival focuses on Norwegian music

EuroSonic Noorderslag is Europe’s biggest and most important live music industry conference and showcase festival and following on from the success of artists such as Ida Maria and Casiokids this year’s edition will focus on Norway.  Taking place in the Netherlands from 14th – 16th January 2010, EuroSonic Noorderslag will transform the city of Groningen into a melting pot of Europe’s best new European talent, ready to be discovered by both music lovers as industry professionals.

Each year EuroSonic Noorderslag focuses on a particular European country featuring performances by the best artists and dedicating conference topics to its music industry. 2010 will be the year of Norway. With its vibrant music scene, Norway offers a wide variety of the best music, ranging from hard rock to pop, from indie-dance to Norwegian metal. Confirmed artists so far are: Audrey Horne, Bernhoft, Donkeyboy, Monolithic and Rockettothesky.

In addition to the Norwegian focus, over 200 bands from all over Europe are scheduled to play at the event, all hoping to impress the festival promoters and booking agents in the audience. Confirmed acts include;  Agent Fresco (IC), Choir of Young Believers (DK), Deolinda (PT), Everything Everything (GB), Go Back To The Zoo (NL), Gösta Berling Saga (SE), Jasper Erkens (BE), Joensuu 1685 (FI), Lee Everton (CH), Lucy Love (DK), Moke (NL), Rigby (NL), Sliimy (FR), So I Watch You From Afar (IR), Svjata Vatra (EE), Tim Knol (NL), Waylon (NL) and Wickeda (BG).

As the exchange and support of new music in Europe is one of the main goals of EuroSonic Noorderslag, the special European Talent Exchange Program (ETEP) was introduced in 2003. Each year ETEP brings together the leading European festivals, radio and other media and stimulates them to ‘exchange’ a selection of artists. 2009 set a new record! 214 shows, with 75 European artists from 18 countries performing at 54 ETEP festivals in 20 countries.  A grand total of 965 shows by 346 European artists since 2003. More information at www.etep.nl

Acts that have gone onto success and gain numerous festival gigs after performing at EuroSonic Noorderslag include; Blood Red Shoes (GB), Goose (BE), Kaizers Orchestra (NO), Lykke Li (SE), Pete Philly & Perquisite (NL),  Seeed (DE), Yelle (FR) with the White Lies (GB) clocking up a massive fifteen bookings from ETEP member festivals.

 “We didn’t feel any pressure at EuroSonic Noorderslag this year. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what job title each member of the audience has, they are still potential fans and still have the ability to be moved and excited by your music. The whole event is in the beautiful town of Groningen and has a great vibe that comes with all early shows in bands careers. It just so happened that after our show, some of the audience became fans and thus asked us to play on some of the festivals and shows that they book and that was very flattering. From that show we were allowed to discover some beautiful areas of Europe over the summer. Parts of Southern Norway, Sweden and even as far as the Czech Republic and Poland. We feel lucky to have played, and proud we won some new fans.”  Charles Cave, White Lies (GB)

'EuroSonic Noorderslag is an important event for any band who wants to get gigging in mainland Europe. Tonnes of fun and seriously worthwhile.'  James Yuill (GB)

"EuroSonic Noorderslag is one of those weird showcase things you do but feel uncomfortable about because it's crawling with music industry types and not many real people, a bit like SXSW. But much like SXSW, if you do a good job of it, you get some way cool stuff out of it. We found that we got offered a lot of good festival slots and started to sell out our Dutch club shows really quickly after doing it, so I reckon it was worth it. It’s also in a really fucking cool town."  Blood Red Shoes (GB)

“It's quite simple: we made a car called De Staat, and EuroSonic Noorderslag was our ticket to the freeway. Sure, we've done our share of dirt roads, playing local bars and small festivals. People might have heard of De Staat, but EuroSonic Noorderslag really got the thing moving. After our showcases we started playing clubs, and before we could hear one bird whistle, we were set for the summer. Festivals like Pinkpop, Lowlands, Dour, The Great Escape and Sziget are now gigs we can proudly brag about.”  De Staat (NL)