ORGANISERS of Oxfordshire’s longest-running festival of new music have announced the line-up for this year’s event, declaring it as the best yet.

Indie-rock bands The Cribs and White Lies will headline this summer’s Truck festival, which takes place at Hill Farm, Steventon, on July 18 and 19.

They will be joined by an array of rock, pop and folk acts, including Oxford band Stornoway, Worcestershire indie-rock group Peace, pop six-piece Los Campesinos, Welsh rockers Kids In Glass Houses and hard-rocker Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier – better known by his stage name Andrew WK.

Also booked are Swim Deep, Cerebral Ballzy, Itch, Eliza And The Bear, Lonely The Brave, Darlia, Circa Waves, Flyte, Nothing But Thieves, Nordic Giants and Black Moth. More names are yet to be announced.

Oxford Mail:

  • White Lies

Festival organiser James Goodall said: “I think this could be the best Truck on record.

“We have just unleashed this brilliant line-up but we still have many more things ready to be announced, so watch out.”

He said a record number of early tickets had already been sold, and predicted another sell-out.

The Cribs, formed around the nucleus of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and younger brother Ross, are no strangers to Hill Farm, having played the festival 10 years ago.

The band, which previously featured former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, are currently touring in Florida.

Truck festival will host six stages offering everything from rock and hip-hop to folk, blues, reggae and roots.

This year’s event will also see the return of the Veterans and Virgins Stage, programming favourite acts from former Trucks and up-and-coming bands.

New bands are voted for on the Truck Facebook page – more than 600 submissions have already been received.

Truck festival was established in 1998 by musician brothers Robin and Joe Bennett, from Steventon.

It is now organised by the team from Derbyshire’s Y Not Festival.

Stornoway are a perennial Truck favourite, having made their name at the festival.

The band’s Oli Steadman, said he was delighted to be returning after a three-year gap.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail from Istanbul, where the band performed two shows, he said: “We are delighted to be going back to Truck, and it’s great to be so high up the bill.

Oxford Mail:

  • Stornoway

“To see The Cribs playing is also going to be a real treat as I’m a huge fan.”

He added: “It’s a real pleasure to be playing Oxfordshire again – the last time was Oxford Town Hall a year ago.

“It will also give us a chance to showcase some brand new songs.”

“We owe a lot to Truck. It was the first break we had and the Oxford music scene still has an innate link with it.

“Even though it has changed, the energy of the festival continues and it is an annual event for Oxford musicians who get to go and see what each other are doing.”