Northampton acts to play at Marburg's StäPs festival

​Two acts from the Northants music scene will be heading to Marburg at the end of this month to play the German city’s StäPs-Festival.

Beings and Mrs Pilgrimm will both be playing gigs across the city during the three-day festival which begins on Thursday, May 29.

Northampton has been twinned with Marburg for more than 30 years, with a musical exchange dating back to the mid-1990s.

Acts from Germany - as well as acts from Poitiers in France – also head to Northampton annually in a reciprocal partnership to take part in Twinfest in July.

Paul Brown from Stalkers rehearsal studio helps to run Twinfest and co-ordinate the acts playing in both European cities.

Talking about StäPs-Festival and Marburg, he said: “Marburg is a beautiful medieval city, with an amazing castle and stunning wooden framed ‘chocolate box’ buildings throughout.

“It’s an extraordinary city, the proud home of the Grimms Brothers and there are references, statues and art relating to fairy tales wherever you go, it really adds to the magic of the festival.

“StäPs-Festival is similar to Twinfest as in there’s a lot of venues, pubs and clubs and loads of bands.

“It probably has in the region of 10 venues, so a little bigger than Twinfest.

“Marburg have a few more twinned cities involved including cities in Romania, Solenvia, Tunisia and an Eastern German City and the festival is fully funded by the local authority.”

Representatives from France and Germany always pick the acts they’d like to perform at their festivals – taking advice from those involved in Twinfest.

Beings are a guitar and synth indie band, influenced by the likes of Foals, Squid, Dry Cleaning and Interpol.

They released their latest single Fists & Feet in March and the EP Shutdown/R in 2023.

Mrs Pilgrimm, the project of musician Sophie Williams, melds vocals, cello and electronics. Her latest album A Trade In Love was released in 2016.

“Alex is an amazing vocalist and front man. Beings are going to go down an absolute storm in Germany,” says Mr Brown.

“Mrs Pilgrimm is an extremely unique and quirky artist, with outstanding and incredibly original songs.

“Her skills with the cello are both ethereal and engaging, mixed with electronics predominantly via a loop pedal, her performance is a true mix of ‘voice and artistry’.

“It’s not uncommon for us to take an acoustic artist over to Germany, but we’re really excited about offering them something a bit difference this year.”

Mr Brown has joined acts in both Germany and France for a number of years and describes both as very different festivals but each with their own unique qualities.

Talking about Les Expressifs in Poitiers which was held in October last year, he said: “Twinfest is really a relatively small part of Les Expressifs which is a large arts and music festival.

“There are elements of visual arts, theatre, dance, as well as music and it pans across the city centre with numerous stages, both inside bars and on outdoor stage in the squares.

“Arts completely consumes the city, you can be buying ice-cream from a stall and a conga of clowns will come past, you can be walking down an alley and a man on a phone will break into a dance routine, you can be at a restaurant and the waiter will suddenly burst into an act.

“This is a festival on a much larger scale than Twinfest and is fully funded by their local council so the stages, the lighting, the flamboyance and variety of the acts is something quite different to what we’re used to seeing in Northampton.”

Dozens of acts from Northampton have been able to play in both Marburg and Poitiers as part of Twinfest’s link to both festivals.

In recent years, Phantom Isle, Fountain, Sarpa Salpa, Eddz, thistle. are among the acts to have represented the town.

While Apewards, LDMR and Hyll from Marburg and Tituba and Elektrik Girl from Poitiers have played at Twinfest.

Talking about the partnership, Mr Brown said: “The exchange we have is something pretty unique and it’s a truly interesting thing to be a part of.

“It’s not just about experiencing the music from other countries - meeting people and experiencing the cities is all part of what makes the festivals great.

“Without going too far down a political rabbit hole, we feel the connection between these European cities has become even more important post-Brexit.

“What has always surprised us, is the depth of the connections we make.

“We see the organisers of these festivals two or three times a year, at most, but they are true friends and lifelong connections.

“We see it with our visiting bands too, people keep in touch, continue to visit outside the festivals and further gig exchanges take place outside of the festival.”

For more information about StäPs-Festival visit https://www.staeps-festival.de.

Applications are open for acts from Northampton who are interested in playing at this year’s Twinfest.

For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/twinfest.northampton/