EppyFest, the eclectic music festival is back for its tenth year, and we're very excited to be celebrating 10 years of this live music event in fine style and with a typically vibrant line-up. EppyFest 10 will be happening on the weekend of Saturday 29th July and Sunday 30th July in 2023. We will be returning to our venue, Smokey Joe's Diner, at 16 Bennington St, Cheltenham, GL50 4ED. Below are our current planned timings and line-up, though these may change.

On the Saturday doors will open at 6:30pm and we aim to finish by around 11:30pm.

Our big Saturday headliner announcement is The Utopia Strong, the psychedelic, electronic trio of Kavus Torabi, Michael J York, and Steve Davis, who will be bringing their Medical Grade Music to EppyFest 10. Kavus and Steve have been at EppyFest before - Kavus played with Gong at EppyFest 7, and Steve was in the audience for that performance, but we're ecstatic to welcome them both back, along with Michael, for this triumvirate who create immense and evocative sound-worlds. You can hear their latest and brilliant album here.

Performing as the 'middle act' on the Saturday, we'll be welcoming back Schnauser, a band that mix Canterbury prog, 60s psych and melodic pop. They've previously played at EppyFests 2 and 6, so we'll be very keen to see them back in 2023. You can hear their latest and typically enjoyable album here. 

And as for who will be kicking off the Saturday, well we're very excited to welcome a new name to EppyFest, as part of our attempt to make the 10th EppyFest a little more international in flavour. Jerboah are an art-rock/improv-funk/post-pop/world beat/genre-bending quartet from Amsterdam. They are, in their own words, musical explorers. We're very much looking forward to seeing them perform in the UK (we think for the first time). You can hear some of their older music via https://jerboah.bandcamp.com/ but they've been working on new stuff, which you'll hopefully be able to hear at EppyFest.

Then, on the Sunday, doors should open at 4:30pm, and we aim to finish by around 9:30pm.

Opening the Sunday of EppyFest 10 will be Longstone, the experimental, electronic music collective formed in 1996 in Cheltenham, coalescing around the core duo of Mike Ward and Michael Cross. Longstone have played EppyFest before - they opened the 8th edition back in 2019 and were very well received - and people may remember their adventurous sound as well as their quirky visual elements. It's always great to welcome back old friends to EppyFest, plus it's great that we have a local band kicking things off on the Sunday. You can hear their latest and great album here.

The afternoon will continue with the duo of Richard Wileman and Amy Fry, who will be travelling over from Swindon to perform. Songwriter and composer Richard will be joined by long-term mercurial collaborator Amy for a selection of music perhaps best described as arcane acoustica. We've long been trying to get Richard and Amy on an EppyFest bill and fortunately the stars have finally aligned. You can get an idea of their sound by listening to the terrific album 'Arcana'.

Our Sunday headliners are new to EppyFest but we're overjoyed to welcome Mitsune, an all-female, folk fusion, shamisen trio based in Berlin, with members from Japan, Australia & Germany. For EppyFest they will be joined by a rhythm section of percussion and double bass. Mitsune mix Japanese folk songs with eastern blues, jazz, rock and cinematic music influences, to awesome effect. I can heartily recommend both their studio albums, including their latest, the brilliant 'Hazama'.

Advance tickets are available now for the whole weekend, as well as day tickets for just the Saturday or the Sunday, plus Sponsor tickets, for those of you willing to pay a little extra to support the festival this year & for the future. Sponsor tickets come with an EppyFest 10 poster & maybe something extra (TBC).