2026 has been the year The Guest List stopped being “one to watch” and became a band people genuinely believe in. The Manchester five‑piece have spent the past eighteen months building momentum the old‑fashioned way, sold‑out rooms, word‑of‑mouth devotion, and songs that land with emotional clarity. Today, they arrive at the next milestone: the release of their ambitious debut album, Something Real, a record that cements their rise and shows just how far their songwriting has evolved.

Well folks, it’s that time again for a good ole’ dose of Country, Americana and Roots — so it’s off to The Long Road Festival at Stanford Hall, Leicestershire. The sun was shining, spirits were high, and for a moment it felt like nothing could possibly go wrong.

Whilst at the BIG FEASTIVAL this year, we wanted to chat to as many bands as we could who were lucky enough to perform there.

We caught up with Devon based band TORS after their performance on the main stage.

Whilst at the BIG FEASTIVAL this year, we wanted to chat to as many bands as we could who were lucky enough to perform there.

We caught up with Sheffield based band THE ROSADOCS after their performance on the main stage.

Every so often, a band crawls out of the UK heavy underground with something that feels less like a record announcement and more like a warning flare. Altera Doomonica, a doom metal collective who’ve been quietly building a reputation for weight, atmosphere, and unflinching bleakness, have finally revealed their debut album, Angelic Doomology, arriving 25th September 2026 exclusively via Bandcamp.

Some singers tell stories; Mary Coughlan lives them. For more than forty years she’s taken the messier parts of life, heartbreak, desire, survival, the bits most people shy away from, and turned them into songs that feel less like performances and more like late‑night confessions. This autumn, she returns to the UK for a run of intimate shows that promise all the emotional force she’s known for.

Whilst at BEAUTIFUL DAYS FESTIVAL this year, we wanted to chat to as many bands as we could who were lucky enough to play there.

We caught up with Bristol based 5-piece art-rock trend setters EROTIC SECRETS OF POMPEII, before their spellbindingly fab performance on the main stage that opened up the festival on the Friday.

Whilst at BEAUTIFUL DAYS FESTIVAL this year, we wanted to chat to as many bands as we could who were lucky enough to play the festival.

We caught up with Swansea based band TRAMPOLENE after their appearance on the main stage.

We caught up with South East alt/punk/rock trio SNAYX, after their appearance on the main stage. We chatted about playing their first show at BEAUTIFUL DAYS FESTIVAL, their musical influences, what's been happening in their very busy lives, festival food, future musical plans and their top tips to surviving a weekend music festival.

Lindisfarne Festival has always felt like a pilgrimage — a late‑summer escape to the edge of the world where the North Sea meets the sky and music spills across the fields of Beal Farm. But in 2026, that pilgrimage comes with a new urgency. With just 500 tickets left and the festival officially celebrating its fastest‑selling year ever, the countdown to the North East’s most distinctive independent festival has never felt more electric.

If you thought Burn It Down had already carved out its place as one of the UK’s most essential alternative festivals, Torquay is about to prove you wrong. This September, the seaside turns seismic as Burn It Down 2026 rolls in with a line-up so stacked it feels almost reckless.

GANS are two long‑time friends from the Black Country finally making music for themselves rather than anyone else. What began in late 2023 as a need to create, has already grown into something louder, stranger and more emotionally charged than either expected, a collision of post‑punk abrasion, electronic pulse and the lived grit of the Midlands. Across our conversation, they spoke with disarming honesty about friendship, place, vulnerability, and the soul in human-made art, revealing a project that refuses to stand still and thrives on instinct, humour and the thrill of pushing forward.

Julia Jacklin has always written like someone trying to make sense of the emotional weather inside her own chest — but her new single ‘The Hardest Thing’ feels like she’s finally stepped outside to watch the storm from above. Premiered by Jack Saunders on BBC Radio 1, the track arrives as the third reveal from her upcoming album The Gem (out 25 September), and it’s accompanied by one of the most striking videos of her career: a single, sweeping helicopter shot drifting through the Melbourne skyline.

Beautiful Days once again proved why it remains one of the UK’s most singular festivals: a proudly political, resolutely grassroots celebration where crusties, punks, folkies and families collide in glorious harmony. Across the weekend, the site pulsed with radical energy — from Steve White & The Protest Family’s evidence‑based punk and Bar Stool Preachers’ barnstorming solidarity, to Lisa O’Neill’s haunting folk laments and Meryl Streek’s feral midday detonation. Big‑stage heavyweights like Gogol Bordello, Nova Twins and The Proclaimers kept the crowds roaring, while local heroes Sound of the Sirens and Samantics brought heart and humour. With killer food, zero screens, and a crowd more likely to be reading a book than filming a set, Beautiful Days felt defiantly analogue — a festival where community still matters and the revolution, blessedly, refuses to be televised.

Prince Buster – Blue Beat Hits (The Blue Beat Label, released August 7th 2026) is a lovingly remastered time capsule of ska’s formative years, Blue Beat Hits lands as both a celebration and a reminder, before 2 Tone, before Mod revivals, before British chart‑friendly ska, there was Prince Buster, the architect whose swagger, humour and rhythmic invention shaped an entire musical language.

She’s In Parties arrive at this year’s Big Feastival with momentum that most young bands can only dream of. Fresh from supporting White Lies, tearing through a slew of UK festivals, and earning a long‑list nod for Best Live Performer at the AIM Awards, the Essex/London outfit step onto the Feastival main stage with confidence, chaos, and a whole lot of charm.

The Association for Independent Music (AIM) has announced the final wave of nominees for the 2026 Independent Music Awards — and at the heart of this year’s celebration sits a moment of long‑overdue recognition. Drum & bass pioneers Fabio & Grooverider will receive the prestigious Innovator Award, honouring more than three decades of boundary‑pushing influence that helped shape UK club culture as we know it.

Levelling the Land is being reborn. For its 35th anniversary, the Levellers have gone back to the original tapes, unearthed lost demos, and rebuilt the album with the sonic weight it always deserved. What emerges is a definitive edition of one of Britain’s most important folk‑punk records, a release that feels less like nostalgia and more like cultural renewal.

Mallory Knox have never been a band that simply carried on. Every era of their career has been marked by intent, by a desire to push forward, to refine, to evolve. But their latest chapter feels different. It feels like a return, a restoration, and a reimagining all at once.

Manchester’s lo‑fi indie duo Succulents have always carried the charm of a band you feel you’ve known for years, the kind who could be rehearsing in the terrace house next door, windows steamed, guitars slightly out of tune, harmonies sweet enough to fog the glass. With their new single ‘Work It Out’, they take that familiar intimacy and fire it into a sub‑three‑minute burst of fuzzed‑up joy that cements them as one of the most quietly exciting DIY acts emerging this year.