Slam Dunk 2016 add Beautiful Bodies, Creeper and more to the line up!

slam dunk festival 2016

Slam Dunk Festival are excited to announce the Kerrang! Fresh Blood stage. Nine of the most exciting new bands around will be gracing the stage on the May bank Holiday weekend.

Having kicked off the year with two tours of the UK (supporting Motionless In White then Escape The Fate), NEW YEARS DAY return to headline the Kerrang! stage at Slam Dunk for this exclusive festival appearance. Armed with gothic tinged, hard rocking anthems from 2015’s ‘Malevolence’, Ash Costello and her band of not so merry men will remind the crowds at Slam Dunk why they are one of the hottest new bands in the US right now. Check out their latest video for ‘I’m About To Break You’ HERE.

CREEPER, one of the breakout British rock bands over the past year have been added to the lineup.  Will Gould, singer of the band says “We are extremely excited to be performing at this year’s Slam Dunk Festival. It is a festival we’ve been attending for years and has become a staple of the summer for the UK scene. We’re going to be pulling out all the stops to make sure our Slam Dunk debut is something to remember.”

Pure Noise records & UK punk-rockers BOSTON MANOR are also announced. Building a name for themselves with their modern day emotive punk anthems, Boston Manor have toured with the likes of Moose Blood and As It Is. They are set to become one of the stand-out gems in the UK’s burgeoning rock scene & no doubt at the festival itself.  “We’re excited to be playing one of the fastest growing independent festivals in the UK along with so many of our friends. There’s a host of some of the best up & coming bands in the country as well as bands we’ve looked up to since we were teenagers. It should be a really cool few days” says the band.

Epitaph Records’ BEAUTIFUL BODIES will be taking to the Slam Dunk stage for the first time.  The female fronted alternative rock band from Kansas City have an unapologetically loud-and-hooky style while their fabulously chaotic live shows stem directly from an all-consuming desire to tap into the cosmic power grid, and channel it full-force to the world at large. Slam Dunk fans are in for a treat!

As far as young rock bands go, CANE HILL are certainly one of the most exiting.  The raging New Orleans rock outfit will be making their live UK debut at the festival. The highly anticipated full-length album, ‘Smile’ will be out via Rise Records this Summer.

“We are all very excited to be playing Slam Dunk this year alongside so many amazing bands” says Kaya Tarsus of BLOOD YOUTH. “Playing this festival has been one of our main goals since we started, it’s going to be a very good time!”

London punks DEAD! have been causing a stir of late, exciting media and fans alike.  Alex Mountford, lead singer of the band says “To all the people who have been hassling us to play Slam Dunk…..well, here you go! You ask, we listen!”

Next up, Texans WATERPARKS, who have just released their new EP, Cluster, via Equal Vision Records. Cluster was recorded with producers Benji Madden (Good Charlotte, 5 Seconds of Summer) and Courtney Ballard (5 Seconds of Summer, All Time Low).  Expect ‘killer hooks and killer attitudes’.

Finally, WITH CONFIDENCE will be making the trip from Sydney, Australia to play the festival for the first time.  The band have toured with many SDF favourites and recently signed with Hopeless Records.

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED- PANIC! AT THE DISCO TO HEADLINE, OF MICE & MEN, NEW FOUND GLORY, FOUR YEAR STRONG, EVERY TIME I DIE, ISSUES, MEMPHIS MAY FIRE, REAL FRIENDS, MALLORY KNOW, THE STARTING LINE, SET YOUR GOALS, ZEBRAHEAD, CAPDOWN, WE CAME AS ROMANS, MISS MAY I, THE STORY SO FAR, YELLOWCARD, MAYDAY PARADE, HIT THE LIGHTS, ROAM, NORTHLANE, HACKTIVIST, CANCER BATS & NORMA JEAN, YOUNG GUNS, COLDRAIN, AS IT IS, TRASHBOAT, WSTR, KING PRAWN, SPUNGE, HEART OF A COWARD, ASTROID BOYS, THE ONE HUNDRED AND THE QEMISTS.

The dates and sites for next years’ SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL are:

Saturday 28 May 2016 – SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL North – Leeds City Centre

Sunday 29 May 2016 – SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL Midlands –Birmingham, NEC

Bank Holiday Monday 30 May 2016- SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL South – Hatfield, University of Hertfordshire

Tickets are on sale now and priced at £42 or £47 including afterparty. The festival is for Age 14 + (festival only) or 18+ for the afterparty tickets.

For the first time, due to popular demand, there is also a limited edition Mega Ticket on sale for £150. This ticket includes admittance to all 3 events and includes afterparties, wristband exchange queue jumps and a limited edition t-shirt.
Visit www.slamdunkmusic.com for all ticketing links.

This year will see some huge upgrades to the event, continuing the huge year on year growth the festival has experienced. Following the success of last year the Leeds site will remain in the City Centre, with a new site being announced at the Birmingham NEC and the Southern date will remain in Hatfield, at the University of Hertfordshire campus for the fifth year. This will bring the capacity up to a huge 40,000 fans across the weekend.

SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL has won ‘Best Festival’ at the Kerrang! Awards in both 2014 and 2015. Widely regarded as the biggest awards in rock, the festival beat strong competition from major events such as Reading /Leeds and Download. Slam Dunk has also been in the final shortlists for ‘Best Metropolitan Festival’ at the UK Festival Awards, in 2013, 2014 & 2015, and ‘Best Festival’ (up to 15,000 daily capacity) at The Live UK Awards 2015.

slam dunk festival 2016

Danny Peart
Danny Pearthttps://www.dannypeartphotography.co.uk
Editor / Live Music Photographer / Journalist at Soundcheck-Live

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