Gardenback set to woo home fans

EXCITEMENT builds for Gardenback, who will be performing at the forthcoming Cotton Clouds Festival, taking place at Saddleworth Cricket Club on August 12. Pictured, from left, are Jacob, Luke Stanley (one of the festival directors), Ellis and Neil.

SADDLEWORTH stars-in-the-making Gardenback are determined to put on an epic show as they bid to woo their 'home' fans at next month's feverishly-anticipated Cotton Clouds Festival.

The hotly-tipped, tight-knit alternative indie rockers - vocal/bassist Ellis, guitarist Neil and drummer Jacob - are due to step out onto their doorstep, so to speak, on August 12 where they will join artists like The Coral, Nick Heyward, the Sugarhill Gang, the Whip and other top names in helping deliver what promises to be the event of the year for Oldham music.

Tickets have been flying out for the Cotton Clouds festival - very few remained available at the time of going to press - so it's little wonder Neil appears to be genuinely relishing the prospect of Gardenback making a huge impression on the thousands of festival-goers.

He said: "We're really excited for it now. We don't know stage times or anything yet, so we're just planning for now.

"We're already thinking about the set for Cotton Clouds, and actually we already know that we want to play our best-ever gig for that one.

"Because it's in Saddleworth and that's our home, we just want to do our best to win over a home audience if you like.

"I don't think we've ever actually played Saddleworth before, but for this to be such a huge gig for us here right here, it's going to be phenomenal."

Asked about nerves and possible pressure to deliver in front of what is guaranteed to be a sea of impressionable faces, Ellis added: "None of us tend to do that bad dealing with the pressure side of things.

"There are no real nerves about gigs until the day itself usually, and I've generally found myself weirdly more comfortable with a crowd I maybe know a little less.

"Sometimes it's kind of liberating to not have certain people you know in there - it makes me feel more freer sometimes.

"The only thing we might be a bit nervous about is that we've not really done many festival stages before.

"There could possibly be one or two issues with the sound, but I'm sure it'll be great at Cotton Clouds on the day so we'll be okay.

"We just want to play a good gig and win over as many people as we can.

"Right now we're focusing on the way we're going to play, but after that the day itself is just going to be great.

"Whatever happens, there is such a buzz about the festival now, and it is brilliant just to be part of it."

Prospects remain on an upward curve for Gardenback at present.

Fresh from a successful headline gig at Jimmy's in Manchester last weekend (see review below), reflections of what were also barnstorming shows at two other recent city centre gigs were extremely positive.

Ellis added: "Both the gigs at the Night and Day and Aatma were great, and to be honest progress has been good.

"We have been writing a lot over the past month or so, adding more and more to the set list, to the point where we can decide which songs we want to include and which ones we can maybe leave out.

"We do work hard on trying to get our live shows as tight as possible, and I think it has been getting better gradually - I'd like to hope anyway."

Next up for Gardenback is an appearance the Liverpool International Festival on July 22, before the Cotton Clouds extravaganza kicks in.

Meanwhile, the band have been in the Voltalab Studios with Jamie Allsopp again recording awesome quickfire track 'Bulldog'.

That should be released before Cotton Clouds, so keep an eye on Gardenback's Facebook page for the latest info.