We are delighted to announce the next wave of acts for The Wake on Saturday 23 August, in West Sussex.

Along with headliner, King Creosote, the Woodland Stage will include Yorkshire’s Chris Brain. Chris has carved his place firmly into the contemporary folk scene following his highly-regarded first two albums, ‘Bound to Rise’ (2022) and ‘Steady Away’ (2023). 

Garnering acclaim from Cerys Matthews (BBC 6 Music) and Mark Radcliffe (BBC Radio 2), he has since shared the stage with iconic acts Robert Plant, Jacqui McShee and Martin Simpson. ‘Golden Days’, the first single from ‘Steady Away’ is now prominently featured in the film ‘We Live In Time’, starring Oscar-nominated actors Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield.

Chris releases his new album ‘New Light’, in Spring 2025. ‘New Light’ brings a refreshingly contemporary sound as Chris contemplates transformation, nostalgia and tenderness in times of vulnerability - all woven around his familiar gestures towards the natural world.

Also added to the Woodland stage is Nottingham’s Rainingblue  AKA  Camille Christel.  Camille recorded music over the summer of  2024 in Tony 'Doggen' Foster (Spiritualized ) studio in Nottingham. Live music is accompanied by guitarist ASA, enhancing the textural layers to create a genre blurring sound. An EP will be released in early 2025 with the lead single ‘Nothing in the Morning’ getting released very soon.

More acts for the two stages of live music still to be announced.

D.J.s appearing in 2025 include the return of Richard Norris (The Grid) who performed last year with a wonderful mix of dub, psychedelia and folk. 

Making her debut at The Wake in 2025 will be Emma Anderson formerly of ‘90s shoegazers, Lush. Emma will be joining Richard D.J.ing on the Meadow Stage.

More D.J.s still to be announced.

Once again John Andrews will be hosting the Talks on the Meadow stage, where this August,  he will be in conversation with Simon Raymonde. 

Simon Raymonde is a British producer, musician and record company CEO and is the son of arranger Ivor Raymonde, who worked with some of the greats from the ’60s and ’70s, including Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Roy Orbison, the Stylistics and the Walker Brothers.

Simon’s first band the Drowning Craze, who released three singles, recorded a session for John Peel and then broke up. 

Simon joined Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Fraser in the Cocteau Twins in 1983 while he was working at the Beggars Banquet record shop downstairs from the 4AD Office and together they went on to create some of the most beautiful and memorable albums of the ’80s and ‘90s. 

As well as being a co-writer and co-producer for Cocteau Twins, Simon wrote seven songs for offshoot act This Mortal Coil.

In 1997 he co-founded Bella Union with Robin Guthrie. With Simon at the helm, the label has gone on to win the prestigious Music Week Best Independent Label Award (as voted by the UK’s independent record retailers) in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. Over the past twenty-seven years has discovered, developed and worked with globally renowned artists like Fleet Foxes, Flaming Lips, Beach House, Ezra Furman, Laura Veirs, Mercury Rev, Father John Misty and John Grant and helped to define the independent music scene. 

In One Ear, his new memoir published by Nine Eight, Simon Raymonde charts his extraordinary life and times in music.

Also joining John and Simon on the Talks stage is Will Burns. 

Will Burns was born in London and lives in Buckinghamshire. He is the author of two poetry collections, Country Music and Natural Burial Ground, and one novel, The Paper Lantern, for which he was named as an Observer debut novelist of the year in 2022. He is a long-time contributor to the online nature-writing journal Caught by the River and an editor at Rough Trade Books.

The Wake 2025 will also once again have a Children’s Area featuring story telling from the wilds of Sussex for the older children and music and movement classes for pre-schoolers.

In 2025 The Wake has added camping for the first time and once again there will be a bar and various excellent quality food stalls.

Organiser Jo Bartlett says ‘Danny and I are very excited about The Wake 2025! What a delight to have our old friend Kenny AKA King Creosote headlining and I am absolutely thrilled with these additions. It is going to be one heck of a festival!’

The beautiful woodland site is near Billingshurst in West Sussex RH14 0AL

Tickets are £37.50 adult, £10 for 7–13 years old and free to under 7-year-old children. 

Camping tickets can only be purchased with a festival ticket and cost a further £20.

Tickets  https://thewake.uk/

Event information and travel details - https://thewake.uk/information/

About - https://thewake.uk/about/