Summer 2023

West Midlands Council Pop Kings, THE ASSIST, have taken their party on a tour of festivals this year.

Image: Sarah Gibson https://www.instagram.com/opia_photos/ Truck Festival

Our photographer, Sarah Gibson, caught up with them at Truck Festival’s happening This Feeling Stage.

'Council Pop' is the debut album from The Assist. Released in 2022, it lives up to it’s name and from the dance shapes that we saw fans cutting to the tunes, there’s a lot of people who love to sing along.

This is one of the bands who have organically woven into TheZineUK documentary, itself an ever changing landscape of the ups and downs of alternative music world lives.

We’ve witnessed The Assist on stages - initially via This Feeling live music club nights - and even on football pitches where they have been champions and runners up of the Music Industry Soccer Six Fest.

It’s been a while for this tale, since the riotous album launch shows last year, though, and so it was great to catch up. The Assist are a gang who live in the moment.

It’s fair to say that this band are having the time of their lives and living the rock n roll dream every time that they get on a stage!

Truck Festival turned out to be another big occasion where their reality-lyrical, indie-psych rhythms hit the happy spot for yet another crowd.

Shout out to the festival, as a live music presentation, was tweeted by key vlogger, Tim Senna: “full crowds across the tents especially for smaller/unsigned bands is a rare & beautiful thing to see but they did it.”

True. Truck Festival DID do it. A bonus being that there is always a genuine community - The Zone - out to play for and with This Feeling. If you go to enough grassroots music venue events and enjoy meeting people, even shyly, it’s as good a route into the alternative rocking music industry/media as any.

Now watch out because The Assist have got more lnews to come - when they get their minds (and breath) back from all this festivity!

https://linktr.ee/theassistband

Sarah Gibson https://www.instagram.com/opia_photos/