Kimya Dawson, Paul Baribeau, Hamell On Trial, Roger Manning, Toby Goodshank

Kimya Dawson was born and raised in Bedford Hills, NY. After meeting Adam Green in a record store in upstate New York, the duo formed a band called the Moldy Peaches. They began playing the anti-folk scene in New York City, and slowly built a very loyal following. Since the Moldy Peaches went on hiatus a few years ago, though, she's opened for artists like They Might Be Giants, Regina Spektor, Third Eye Blind, and the Butchies.

She's leant her voice to recordings by Ben Kweller, The Mountain Goats, and others. Dawson released her first solo album in 2002. Both as a member of Moldy Peaches, and as a solo artist, Dawson has toured extensively throughout the US and Europe. She's released four solo albums. Some work the Moldy Peaches did years ago was picked up as the soundtrack to the major motion picture Juno in 2007.


The musical alias of New York­based anti­folk hero Ed Hamell, Hamell on Trial is a one­man punk band that plays loud, fast music informed by politics, passion, energy and intelligence.

His caustic tongue and devil­may­care attitude has long been a favorite of anti­establishment musical icons Henry Rollins and Ani DiFranco and the critical elite and incited Rolling Stone to call him "bald, bold and superbad", describing his signature sound as "attack­dog protest folk and ferocious staccato strumming (think Husker Du on Folkways Records)."

He has been described as "Bill Hicks, Hunter S. Thompson and Joe Strummer all rolled into one" by Philadelphia Weekly and a "one­man Tarantino flick: loud, vicious, luridly hilarious, gleefully and deeply offensive" by the Village Voice.

His ninth album, The Happiest Man In The World, has just been released on New West Records. The album sees Hamell still as uncompromising, fearless, insightful, absurd, hysterical and as poignant as he was when he descended upon the music world with his debut 25 years ago. The LP is chock full of Hamell's biting wit, rapid fire strumming, motor mouth rants, spoken word interludes, genre hopping and comedic one­liners and features collaborations with Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches and longtime friend and mentor Ani DiFranco.

Hamell spent several months on the road last year supporting The Uncluded, the project of Kimya Dawson and Aesop Rock and will be touring extensively in the U.S. and Europe in support of the album and performed at this year's SXSW. In July he comes to the UK for a tour and in August will be world premiering his one man show The Happiest Man in the World at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where he previously won the coveted Herald Angel award.

Armed with a battered 1937 Gibson acoustic guitar he strums like a machine gun, a politically astute mind that can't stop moving and a mouth that can be profane one minute and profound the next, Hamell sets his sights on some classic subjects (sex, drugs, and rock and roll) and some personal ones, too. His performances invoke thoughts of the great rebelliouscomedians and social commentators of the past: Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks, and even a bit of Sam Kinison. Hamell is a great mind; acoustic punk rock mixed with a traveller's soul. There's no way around his obscenity, but in that is a willingness to fight for the freethinkers of the world. Hamell On Trial is a refreshing punk rock bomb on the unsuspecting folk singer-
songwriter world and above all else a preacher of common sense and truth.


Toby Goodshank made his high-profile musical debut playing acoustic guitar in The Moldy Peaches. He has a prolific solo career, recording 14 albums in a five-year span and touring Europe with artists including Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson. Goodshank's style, while usually centered around his solo guitar and singing abilities, draws from a variety of pop and underground art and musical influences and employs many instrumental textures. Unconventional song structures, humor, innuendo, and wordplay are staples of his music and artwork across the variety of forms they take. He recently toured in support of his latest album Truth Jump Fall and co-founded the 3MB art collective with Adam Green and Macaulay Culkin.