Playlist: high as Kites
A trio of rising stars from the bill at this weekend’s Redcar Kite Festival
It’s Redcar Kite Festival this weekend, with skies over the Teesmouth town’s sandy beaches given over to all manner of aerial derring-do. Closer to sea level, it’s also a great chance to catch some rising local bands across two days of live music backed by BBC Tees Introducing …
But if a handful of unknown bands looks a bit daunting, fear not – here’s a quick playlist to highlight a few of Talking Northeast’s favourites.
Isabel Maria - Did I Deserve It?
First up, in the 1pm Saturday slot, it’s a distinctive brand of pensive pop. We first wrote about Isabel Maria’s music back in 2024 she was rocketing to the top, collecting awards, making headlines – and looking forward to going to uni to continue that journey.
A couple of years on, uni came and went; the next step proved to be a slight misstep. What to do? Turn the experience into music: “Hallowed halls, but I don’t fit through the entrance,” to quote the first verse of Did I Deserve It?, one of the tracks on her recent Because I Care EP.
While this track is the tale of a golden child suddenly crashing into a stark reality, it’s pretty clearly not the end of the story. There’s more than one way to build a career, acing academia isn’t the only way forward and studious setbacks haven’t halted Isabel’s flow of banging tunes. Did I Deserve It? sifts the wreckage to find a strong and relatable single. Lyrically and musically there’s a strong Swiftie vibe to this – in a good way, rather than derivative – as well as the strength to look back on adversity and laugh at it. Someone clearer gave her back her thunder.
The Last Time – Getting Older
Another hotly-tipped act, I caught this Sunderland band during the Mercury Prize Fringe and again more recently at another BBC Introducing event at the Glasshouse. The real highlight here is the vocal work. Scarlett Cullen and Ollie Regan produce the harmonies that enliven some indie sounds with a strong nod to the great 90s Britpop surge.
If that description conjures unfortunate flashbacks to sub-Oasis boorishness, think again. The Last Time is more in line with the Britpop-adjacent likes of Geneva; gentle rather than swaggering, reflective instead of bombastic. Back in April the band released Getting Older, only its second single, and it’s another track full of promise. Definitely worth keeping an ear on, this lot are playing the Munro festival in Stockton on Saturday before heading to Redcar for a Sunday afternoon slot on the beach.
Vice Killer - Frankie
Hailing from Peterlee, East Durham’s much-maligned new town, Vice Killer form part of an unlikely cultural resurgence on the coast. There’s a political bite to their music, giving voice to the anger that bubbles under the surface of communities that had their industrial lifeblood ripped away 40 years ago and replaced with neglect.
And that sense of thwarted dreams underpins their most recent single, Frankie. Lyrically, it’s a song of what might have been and of what can’t be any more: the not unfamiliar problem of feeling pushed out of home but unable to settle elsewhere, something recognisable across our region. But if the subject matter sounds a little heavy, rest assured that it’s all delivered with the band’s trademark dramatic sweep.
Not for the first time, there’s a video worth checking out as well: jerky handheld footage from a recent tour of France forms a stark contrast with the theatrical reinvention of Easington Colliery that accompanied The Dark Side of the Railway. That was the first Vice Killer track I wrote about, back in 2024, suggesting the combination of kitchen sink drama and delirious Friday night dancing absorbed the best of The Smiths’ epics of daily life. So it’s nice to hear a raucous chorus of Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now to close the clip. Vice Killer has the Saturday 4pm slot at the Kite Festival, and promises to be well worth checking out.
Redcar Kite Festival is a free two-day event. Check out the Facebook page for the latest updates. Public transport is advised, but motorists can use the park’n’ride from Kirkleatham (£3 for adults, £1 for kids) to beat the congestion.