It’s the End Of The Road Festival, and it will nearly be the end of the summer when the artist roll into Salisbury’s Latimer Tree Gardens on 29-31 August this year. However this is no musical cul-de-sac as founder and director Simon Taffe shows with this Playlist of his favourites from the 2014 bill. “I’m very excited about this year’s line up. It feels like all the way through there are bands to get excited about – it’s not just about the headliners,” he explains. “I have tried to programme the stages like a really good mixtape. You can go to one stage for example and watch White Denim, Black Lips, Hookworms, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Archie Bronson Outfit all in a row. It’s a full on party. I’m also very excited to have one-off shows by St Vincent, Yo La Tengo, Stephen Malkmus and Flaming lips. I try to book as many band who are not doing other festivals. It’s a decision I took when starting the festival, having become getting bored with always seeing the same line ups on the circuit year after year. This year we have a lot of artists doing special shows that you might not usually see, for example Yo la Tengo will also play a freewheeling improv comedy set. Expect a lot of pop up shows in the forest.”
Ezra Furman – I Wanna Destroy Myself
“I saw him live a few weeks ago. He channeled the energy of Bruce Springsteen,The Pixes and the Clash in the most exciting live show I have seen for a while”
Cate Le Bon – Are You With Me Now? (pictured)
“I’m so happy that she is finally getting the attention she deserves. I really think she is one of the best songwriters around right now.”
St Paul And The Broken Bones – Call Me
“This reminds me of soul of the old school. I played it so friends recently and they thought it was Ottis Reading – not bad for a white guy.”
Gene Clark – Life’s Greatest Fool
“The headline show from the Gene Clark No Other Band, an all-star group with members of Beach House, Fleet Foxes and Grizzyly Bear, will be a show not to be missed. Clark is one of the most overlooked songwriters of our time. I put him up there with Gram Parson and Neil Young”
Woods – Is It Honest?
“I get them back at End Of The Road whenever I can. They have played at least three or four times. Each album gets better: dream, pop, psych.”
NB Call Me is currently unavailable, so we’ve selected some replacements
Yo La Tengo – You Can Have It All
“This will be Yo La Tengo’s third appearance now. They are still one of my favourite live bands ever because you never know what you’re going to get.”
The Black Lips – Bad Kids
“Dirty punk surf rock from one of the true great rock and roll bands around today.”
Kiran Leonard – Dear Lincoln
“I love this 17 year old whizz kid from Manchester. He’s hard to categorise. There are so many influences going on from 1940s blues to Sonic Youth to Jeff Buckley.”
John Cooper Clark – Readers’ Wives (John Peel session)
“No need to say anything. Just listen.”
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – So Good At Being In Trouble
“From one of my favourite records of the last year, this track reminds me of Curtis Mayfield.”
For more, including the full line-up and latest ticket news, head to Endoftheroadfestival.com.
