First Acts Revealed For EuroSonic Noorderslag

[nicholasg980]

Url: http://www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl

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 http://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)

For more information, please visit http://www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl