Blessed by the mark of Peel: The Crimea (SkinnyFest, Issue 1 or 2)

You know that recurring dream you had as a teenager? No, not that one. The one where John Peel (last seen blasting out a ska rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone on the Archangel Gabriel's Celtic harp) declares that your first single is "the best song he's heard in years?" Well it's not as equivocal as you may think. Just ask The Crimea, considering that's precisely what transpired when Lottery Winners on Acid first earwigged its way into Mr Ravenscroft's brain.

Lead singer Davey MacManus lets SkinnyFest in on the details. "We were all doing terrible jobs. I was quite literally sweeping the streets outside Radio 1. We gave John Peel the demo and over the next two weeks he played all 9 songs on there. It was a miracle." Miracle is a strong word.

Since that fateful enlightening of the enlightened, The Crimea (partially constituting ex-Crocketts) have proceeded to validate Peel's acumen by forging some of the jauntiest, most desirable tunes this side of Wayne Coyne's pigsuit. So what galvanized their sound? "It had to be original," affirms Davey, "the instruments are supposed to sing parts as well, each song has hidden secrets which you only discover months later. And the lyrics were an obvious point where most modern musicians have glossed over."

And the influences? "Buffalo Springfield and Leonard Cohen, and Dusty, songs that told stories and weren't frightened of melody." But the songs themselves have an edge to them that lays testament to the band's early struggles. "Someone didn't just give us the record for Christmas; we had to beat it out of ourselves." And SkinnyFest is glad they did. Pained debut album 'Tragedy Rocks', released last year, did exactly what it said on the tin. Boasting song titles such as the aforementioned Lottery Winners on Acid and Gazillions of Violins, it's not the most orthodox collection you'll hear, but MacManus explains, "the bizarre song titles are not us leaping to be bizarre but just the most obvious thing to call the song. It was a definite choice not to have mundane titles, but it is fine line between bizarre and wacky." Fancy seeing first hand how close to the line the London boys are?

The Crimea play a full acoustic set at Pleasance Courtyard on August 25th. But what does it mean to the band to perform at the biggest festival in the UK? Well, quite a lot in fact. Drummer Owen Hopkin recalls bopping up with an ex-squeeze, "it's that combination of the inspired, bonkers, brilliant and bollocks that makes it such an amazing festival. There's so much on offer, the possibilities are mind-boggling - you'll either have your night ruined or you'll be buzzing with the power of it all." Bit of a fan then Owen? "Plus, it's one of the few places you can get plastered and feel vaguely high-brow about it." I'll drink to that!