Spoken word indie hip-hop star Antony Szmierek joins Gathering Sounds 2024

Going from strength to strength each year, Teesside's rapidly expanding inner city style one-day festival – The Gathering Sounds – has today confirmed the line-up for its latest stage announcement as well as a very special guest.

As part of a wave of new announcements for this multi venue event – taking place in Stockton on Saturday September 28th – one of the UK's leading shining lights on the world of hip hop and spoken word will be traveling up the A19 to close the region's festival programme in style.

What started as poetry performances on intimate stages in Manchester, led to skilfully crafted melodies to accompany his words – and from there, a dance-driven blend of hip-hop and UK garage to back them up. Now, Antony Szmierek is one of the world's most captivating storytellers.

A lover of poetry and literature, it was Antony Szmierek's song 'A hitchhiker's guide to the fallacy' that got him national acclaim.

The 33 year old teacher from Hyde in Greater Manchester is shocked by his sudden success and radio play but the nation, it seems, have taken him into their hearts.

If you’ve watched an episode of Jools Holland, listened to BBC Radio 6 Music or went to Glastonbury last year, you’ll have likely heard spoken-word artist Antony Szmierek. His breakout hit ‘The Words To Auld Lang Syne’ became an optimistic anthem for getting through dark times.

“Tomorrow’s never promised / But neither was today / And when you need a friend, I’ll be there,” he repeats throughout the chorus, as though he’s directly reaching out to the listener.

The track quickly caught the attention of new music fans, who compared Szmierek's direct, impactful delivery to The Streets’ Mike Skinner.

The Gathering Sounds festival organiser Jimmy Beck said today: “We're delighted to welcome Antony to this year's festival, our biggest and most ambitious to date. We're committed to showcasing the best emerging talent here in the region and placing them alongside established touring acts. We're working with some of the UK's best promoters and agents right now and we've got loads more exciting announcements to come. Stay tuned!”

Having already confirmed that the likes of The Royston Club, South London’s Fat Dog and British indie rock duo Wings of Desire will take to the Gathering Sounds stage this year, the event also has a new stage reveal complete with stellar acts to shout about.

Stockton's much-loved indie haunt The Social Room will again have its own stage this year and will welcome the likes of Scottish three-piece rockers swim school, Glasgow's indie high risers Gallus and the beloved North East DIY punk force that is Pit Pony.

Based in Edinburgh, Social Room Stage headliners swim school are a 3 piece indie-pop band making huge waves right now. They already host an eclectic collection of songs featuring the inspired tones of The Cure, Wolf Alice and The Night Café.

They dived into Scotland’s burgeoning indie scene with their debut single ‘sway’ which turned heads and attracted the attention of both Vic Galloway and Janice Forsyth at BBC Radio Scotland, Tenement TV, Record of the Day, The Sun Newspaper and Jim Gellatly at Amazing Radio. Since then Swim School have released the singles ‘take you there’ and ‘too young to know’ which have been equally accredited.

Also performing on The Social Room Stage this year is North East heart on your sleeve rockers Gone Tomorrow, Blackout The Arcade, Stan Buckroyd, TV Death and Sugar Roulette.

For more information about The Gathering Sounds Festival and to buy tickets head to: https://www.fatsoma.com/e/osvb93m8/the-gathering-sounds-2024

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