Fest 15: Preview 4

This is my fourth and final preview of The Fest. This week I'll be taking a look at the solo acts that will be playing the festival. Since planning this column I have discovered that some of the acts that I thought were playing as solo acts are actually playing with a full band but I'm going to include them anyway!

First up is somebody that Emma is extremely excited to see - Australia's Lincoln Le Fevre. Le Fevre is one of the artists I thought was solo but will actually be playing with his band The Insiders. Definitely falling into more of a acoustic rock sound than punk rock, Le Fevre's music is full of heart and is sure to mesmerise and captivate his audience.

Legendary Avail frontman Tim Barry is a firm favourite at Fest and all over the world. His stripped back country-tinged acoustic punk stories will delight, entertain and move whoever listens. His latest album is named Lost & Rootless and saw Barry completley strip back his sound with just acoustic guitar, vocals and a little violin. At Fest Barry will be playing an hour long set at 11pm on the Friday night - a wonderful way to come down after the first day of the festival. Or give you a bit of a rest before Strike Anywhere knock your socks off.

Mikey Erg, Joe McMahon and Chris Farren all come from popular punk bands before forging careers as solo artists. As well as performing with the reformed Ergs, plus a long list of other bands, Mikey Erg will be taking to the stage to perform songs from his new solo album titled Tentative Decisions. Mikey's distinctive vocals really make him stand out as a performer and his lyrics about girls are likely to break your heart. Punk celebrity Chris Farren (of Fake Problems, Antarctigo Vespucci and The Smiths t-shirt fame) recently released an album named Can't Die. Farren is sure to draw a big crowd at the Civic Media Centre. There is an uplifting quality about his music that really will make you bounce along and put a big smile on your face. Joe McMahon, of Smoke Or Fire, also recently released a brand new solo album - Another Life. Going down the route of Americana, Another Life is one of Emma's favourite albums of the year and it will be fantastic to see some of those songs performed live, alongside some of his older solo songs - plus some classic Smoke Or Fire tracks.

Erica Freas has one of my favourite voices in the world of punk rock. I can't wait to see her perform with RVIVR as well as playing solo, also at Civic Media Centre. I had the pleasure of seeing Erica play live in London a couple of years ago and was completely captivated by her performance. It's certainly a lot softer than what I'm used to with RVIVR but it's just as good. Watching her perform live always puts a smile on my face as she performs with a big one on hers. Australia's Georgia Maq of Camp Cope is a performer very highly regarded in her homeland so it's great to see her being able to bring her beautiful voice to a bigger audience. Back in April Camp Cope released a brand new self titled record on Poison City Records so I am looking forward to hearing many songs from this at Fest.