~ Matt Abbott ~ The Fake Thackrays ~
21 year-old Matt Abbott began performing spoken word at the tender age of 17. Spontaneous occupation of the microphone led to bookings, and before long he had several regular compère slots throughout Yorkshire. Using the stage name of Skint & Demoralised, his peculiar style often made an impression and in May 2008 he began writing songs with Sheffield producer MiNI dOG. Within 6 months, demos of their songs were played by Steve Lamacq and Colin Murray on BBC Radio 1 and within 9 months they'd signed a deal with Mercury Records at Universal. Their debut album 'Love, And Other Catastrophes' was recorded in New York City with soul legends The Dap-Kings (Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson) and RAK Studios in London over the summer of 2008. Despite travelling to New York, playing Glastonbury and being played on day-time Radio 1, Abbott cites the highlight of his career as supporting John Cooper Clarke in York in main 2009. "JCC was the reason that I started writing performance poetry. The man changed my life, and I genuinely believe that he's the greatest lyricist/poet of all time. I can't wait to see him again at Latitude." Currently riding high and his sharp, witty and lyrical poetry will continue to build a dedicated following.

John Watterson and Paul Thompson are The Fake Thackrays, they have been performing the songs of Jake Thackray for many years in venues across the UK. They are joined by Alex Watterson on bass. Jake was a singer-songwriter from Yorkshire, whose songs are painfully funny, sad, tragic, rude, irreverent, incisive and happy, and often enough all these things at the same time. Like all great poets, Jake Thackray's words are beautifully chosen and assembled with the skill of a real craftsman. Here was a man who knew how to use the English language, whose rhymes defied the rules yet worked perfectly. Come see what you think!