Afternoon everybody, We hope you're enjoyed this week of May sunshine, this could go down as the start of the Monster Summer we've been talking about! We've been busy listening to the 1290 artists who applied to fill the 20 remaining slots at the festival; we've been amazed by the quality and variety of the acts out there. We'll be publishing a shortlist of 100 from which our panel, including BBC Introducing in Oxford and record labels Clubhouse, Big Scary Monsters and Alcopop, will choose 20 to play at the festival, with an extra slot going to one you think we've missed out on. Keep an eye on our Facebook page and Twitter feed for the announcement of the shortlist! One act will also be given a day’s recording, a mastering session for the finished track, artwork assistance and a band photoshoot from a top photographer. Truck is known by some as a kind of warped village fete; this year we are glad to welcome the Bureau of Silly Sports, who will be encouraging you to join in with some twisted Village Green activities such as welly-wanging, broom hockey, and of course Aunt Sally! As we mentioned previously, the Rotary Club is running a Food Festival, a dedicated space hosting a new range of dishes and flavours. Rather than being staffed by an Oliver or Ottolenghi, volunteers and local groups will be serving a new, much wider range of foodstuffs, with all profits going to charities and good causes. Like last year, Truck runs on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th July at Hill Farm, Steventon. Headlining on the Friday are The Horrors, supported by Ash, and on Saturday, it’s Spiritualized supported by The Subways. Also on the bill are: Ash, Dry the River, Gaz Coombes, Dan le Sac & Scroobius Pip, The Joy Formidable, Rolo Tomassi and We Are The Ocean, amongst many more. The full line-up (so far) can be found at www.truckfestival.com; very soon we will be introducing a unique Line Up Planner to help you prepare for the weekend, and make sure you see all the bands you want to - and perhaps some that you hadn’t thought about. More on that real soon! We are keeping our weekend ticket price as low as we can, at £74, and food and drink prices will be equally affordable. If you enjoy good music on the countryside and a little bit of eccentricity, then best make sure you have your Truck tickets in hand - it's looking like it will be another sell-out year. Tickets are available from our website or from Truck Store, 101 Cowley Road, Oxford, and also by phoning 01159 597 908 if you prefer to do things that way. To get your Monster Summer started this Bank Holiday weekend, how about getting down to the O2 Academy Oxford to see a very special Upstairs night featuring Mr Gaz Coombes, warming up for his Truck set and testing out some new material with excellent local support from Candy Says, Vienna Ditto and Salvation Bill? More info and tickets here. Have a great Bank Holiday weekend folks! Love from all at Truck HQ x PS- To win our amazing Monster Summer prize including a VIP ticket upgrade, 50 CDs from artists playing, a tent, a bar tab, an acoustic guitar, all the mercy, and even a sleeping bag, head to our Facebook page and Like & Share the image! #amonstersummer

  Here's the latest news from the Truck Festival... As part of its mission to promote up and coming musicians, Steventon's Truck Festival is running a special programme to source the brightest and the best in new music to play at the festival this summer. With over 1,200 artists applying from all over the UK, it's going to be a fierce and well-fought battle for the exclusive 20 slots on offer at Truck. A shortlist of 100 bands is being finalised this week. Festival spokesperson, Ralph Broadbent, said, “We have listened to every single artist and we’ve had to make some hard choices – bands have put in a monumental effort and the quality has been exceptional.” The slots are awarded by a panel of industry experts. Teaming up with BBC Introducing and record labels, Clubhouse, Big Scary Monsters and Alcopop, Truck is intent on ensuring final decisions are fair and informed. The shortlist will be on their website by the end of the week. Ralph further explained that one act will also be given a day’s recording, a mastering session for the finished track, artwork assistance and a band photoshoot from a top photographer. Truck is especially sympathetic to the plight of new musicians because of its own history. Now in its sixteenth year, the festival at Hill Farm has grown up through some tough times, but in true Truck spirit has adapted and ploughed through. This year is a celebration of its new eclectic nature – the festival brings together different genres of music, mixing the old staple left-of-mainstream, with heavier elements, and now new indie. Nowhere is this clearer than in the line-up. Headlining on Friday are The Horrors, supported by Ash, and on Saturday, it’s Spiritualized, supported by The Subways. Also on the billing are: Ash, Dry the River, Gaz Coombes, Dan le Sac & Scroobius Pip, The Joy Formidable, Rolo Tomassi and We Are The Ocean. In recognition of Truck's established brand as a “warped village fete”, the Bureau of Silly Sports will be doing their best to keep punters entertained and the Rotary Club is running a Food Festival, a dedicated space hosting a new range of dishes and flavours. Rather than being staffed by an Oliver or Ottolenghi, volunteers and local groups will be serving, with all profits going to charities and good causes. Truck is clearly holding onto its moniker of the “godfather of the small festival scene”. We think it will be another sell-out year for this old-school festival which is running with the hashtag #amonstersummer and staying true to small festival values of good music, open spaces and a little bit of eccentricity.

Truck has a new home and it's right here. We will be making some pretty exciting announcements over the coming weeks so be sure to check back for all things Truck. Until then have a snoop around and get get acquainted with our new place of residence. Here's to Truck 2013!