Rip Curl Boardmasters 2007

ASP 5 Star WQS Mens Event
ASP 3 Star WQS Womens Event
Fistral Beach, Newquay, UK
6 - 12 August 2007

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

MORE BIG NAMES ANNOUNCED FOR RIP CURL BOARDMASTERS FESTIVAL!

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 17 May, 2007 : - - The countdown to Europe’s biggest surf, skate and music festival is officially on and organiser’s are thrilled to announce that British Rock Band ASH are set to headline Friday10thAugust at Unleashed!  Following the recent announcement of Paolo Nutini, Ash complete Unleashed’s two-night headline line-up however, some huge support acts are still to be announced.

This year’s music offering at the Rip Curl Boardmasters will be held over two sites in Newquay; Unleashed at Watergate Bay and Beach Sessions on Fistral Beach, and promises more music than ever before as over 35 bands and a number of DJ’s have been lined up to play at the week-long festival, now in it’s 26th year. Music Phenomena Enter Shikari will kick-start the first of music in the Foster’s Beach Bar for Beach Sessions on Monday 6th August.

ASH BIOG…

After a couple of years break, the mighty ASH returned last month with the hard hitting “You Can’t Have It All’’ their first single to be taken from the forthcoming fifth (!) album “Twilight of The Innocents” (due for release 2nd July).

Having recently completed their first UK shows since Glastonbury 2005, the band celebrated their return with a countrywide tour of universities, where they road tested several new tracks scheduled to be on the new album…

“I realised we needed some big changes,” says ASH front man Tim Wheeler. “We needed to shake things up. Not just in the band, but in our lives, in everything.” After five Top 10 albums, including their 2002 singles collection, 16 Top 40 singles and countless storming gigs, Northern Ireland’s premier power-popsters had reached something of a crossroads. Or, as Wheeler's bass-touting school friend Mark Hamilton puts it, “We needed a kick up the arse”.

In late 2005, Tim and Mark relocated to New York and immediately began searching out a suitable recording space. Once found, they embarked on fitting out the space and decided that, rather than using a producer, Tim would wield the stick with the assistance of an engineer and basically self produce the LP.

Historically, ASH tend to unleash a poppier LP followed by a harder-edged collection. This time the band have thrown a curveball into the mix with what could be described as their most ‘complete’ LP to date. Their slimming down has led to a rejuvenated trio returning with some of the best songs in their fourteen year career - yeah, count ‘em …

“The title really sums it up,” says Hamilton. “There's no wide-eyed wonder or innocence. I guess in a lot of ways we’ve grown up. But luckily because we started so early, we’re still young enough to rock too.”

Having only just hit 30 this year, ASH are in a virtually unique position. They’ve been doing this long enough to get really good at it, without getting so long in the tooth that they’ve lost their hunger or relevance. That’s how they've ended up with an album as good as TWILIGHT OF THE INNOCENTS, which contains what could well become ASH’s biggest hit.

Having begun life as a simple riff played by Wheeler on the piano at Bono and Edge’s house in the south of France, POLARIS has developed into a spine-tingling tale of confusion and heart-break with a chorus the size of a small country. So expect a mix of old (“Girl From Mars”, “Oh Yeah”, “Life Less Ordinary “,“Orpheus”) and new from ASH, who will be joined by some very exciting names (to be announced!).

ENTER SHIKARI TO OPEN THE RIP CURL BOARDMASTERS FESTIVAL!

New pioneers of hardcore trance and fresh from six month of sell out tours and a number four album Enter Shikari undoubtedly one of the hottest rock bands in the country right now will be returning to Cornwall to headline this year's opening night of music at the Rip Curl Boardmasters 2007!

Opening on Monday 6th August, the Foster’s Beach Bar on Fistral Beach will host some of the country’s hottest new festival acts over seven days of live music.  First headliner, Enter Shikari, present an eclectic fusion of many different genres and styles of music to form their own sound. They essentially mould together the passion of hardcore and punk with the passion of euphoria and trance amongst many other influences.

Primarily a hardcore punk band with strong DIY ethics, they toured solid for 3 years with no press, no agents, no management, no help whatsoever.  As word of their manic live shows began to spread around the underground scene however, people were returning to shows and attendances were notably increasing up and down the country. This quiet growth in popularity continued under the radar of media attention and hype.

Then in the second half of 2006 things began to take off when they played Download Festival. With the Gibson tent overflowing they rose to the challenge and killed it. The media then began to pay attention. After a few more UK tours, they then became the second ever unsigned band to sell out the London Astoria.

Following the massive selling debut album ‘Take to the Skies’ and an awesome display at the Give it A Name Festival this month plus a further performance due at Download Music Festival, Enter Shikari will be performing on Newquay’s Fistral Beach on 6th August. 

Tickets for Unleashed are from £25 each night or £45 for a weekend ticket.  Tickets can be purchased online at ticketweb.co.uk (search for Rip Curl) or call Ticketweb’s 24-Hour charge-by-phone on 08700 600 100  For further information on the Rip Curl Boardmasters visit us online.

www.ripcurl.com
www.ripcurlboardmasters.com

Previous reports:
# 1 : Rip Curl Boardmasters returns to Newquay this August
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

www.aspeurope.com
www.ripcurlboardmasters.com

New! B2B News ASBE-Surf   |  Receive News-Alerts

  Updated & Revised European Surforecasts
  More European surfing news available here

James Rodd

WQS Contests - Surfersvillage