Top Stoke acts compete for festival spot

Stoke of Genius:

The Stoke-on-Trent heat for Blissfields Festival 2013 comes to The Sugarmill today (April 5).

Five local acts will aim to impress the judges for a place at the third annual UK finals on May 6 at Surya in London.

Delamere, Faux Feet, Psyence, The Ruby Dukes and Troops of Mafeking will compete to perform on the Thursday night of the festival.

Delamere guitarist Ash Egerton, 27, said: "We are very much looking forward to it, it will be great to play alongside some of the best bands in stoke.

"It's tough to describe our style of music. We really struggle to give it a style, it's somewhere in the alternative indie category. 

"Our influences are Local Natives, Radiohead, Foals, The Temper Trap and Everything Everything."

Acts wanting to participate entered themselves into the competition and were then chosen by the organisers.

Since its formation in 2001, Blissfields has featured current Glastonbury headliners Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling and Super Furry Animals and will this year host Mystery Jets and Bastille.

Twenty-four-year old Samuel Woolley of Troops of Mafeking said: "We always look forward to a Sugarmill gig and there are some great bands on too!

"Our music is always a tricky one to describe. Firstly, we're pretty loud. But I guess we're just a mixture of alternative-rock, indie, heavy stuff, punk, quiet, loud and the odd hip-hop beat thrown in. 

"We like people to make their own minds up about us."

The Judges on the night will be Alex Thomson of Blissfields, Steve Dale of Music Mania, Rob Adcock of BBC Introducing from Stoke and Dave Knapper of The Sentinel.

The musicians spoke of their chances of reaching the final.

"I would say our chances are around the 20% mark! We are up against a really good group of bands," added Ash.

Lead vocalist and guitarist Samuel said: "With these sort of competitions it could be anyone, there are so many different factors. Plus we're up against some good bands, the pressure is on!

"We'll just go out there and do what we do and see what happens."

Delamere released their debut singles 'Heart' and 'Vampire' earlier this year.

Troops have recently recorded their EP at the UTC Studio and new single 'Chugg Norris' will be available for free download tomorrow.

Blissfields Festival takes place at Vicarage Farm in Winchester on July 5-7.

The Stoke Heat is at The Sugarmill tonight from 7.30pm. It is a 14+ event and tickets are £5 on the door.