5 Bands You Might Not Have Heard Of Before Kendal Calling 2025, But You’re Going To Hear A Lot More Of Soon

Alongside the main stage headliners, the vast majority of any festival line-up is made up by many other bands, who you might not have heard of. Or maybe you’ve heard of them, but don’t know what they sound like. Or maybe you’ve heard of them and know their music. Whatever, here are five of the best of them from Kendal Calling 2025, in no particular order.

Keo

They might look like they’ve emerged from the early 90s grunge scene, but London based youngsters Keo brought their alt-rock sound to Woodlands on the Saturday evening, to an audience very much a product of the 21^st Century. In truth, Keo aren’t grunge, and owe more musically to the ‘Pumpkins than they do to Pearl Jam. The sound is clear, urgent and exciting, the audience heavily invested and dutifully throwing themselves around, while chanting Finn Keogh’s lyrics back at him with all the fervour and piety of true believers.

There’s not much recorded output from the fourpiece yet, there’s not too much of an online presence either, save for Soundcloud and Tik Tok, and it’s deliberate. There’s a big difference between someone streaming your song on Spotify once, and them searching you out; the latter will create an organic and powerful audience base, while the former will earn you half a gnat’s bollock more than nothing. For such a young band, it’s an analogue approach, and one that will be familiar to those who would tirelessly search out material from bands they’d only heard whispers of, in the pre-internet era. And it’s working, word is spreading, the audience is finding the band, and by the time they record their debut album, they will have gained an awful lot of traction. Public Enemy may have implored us not to believe the hype but, sometimes there might just be something worth taking note of.   

Polly Money

Having spent quite some time effectively being the fifth member of The 1975, Polly Money released her EP ‘T-shirt Nothing Else’ in March of this year. Coming out of the shadow of the Glastonbury headliners, Money is deserving of time in the sun; her sun soaked acoustic pop sound drenches the Calling Out stage on Sunday afternoon, with silky vocals bathing an adoring audience. The lyrics are punchy and sometimes seem at odds with the tunes, juxtaposing tales of heartbreak and betrayal, with light and breezy indie pop tunes.

Money has a big autumn ahead of her, as she goes out on tour and continues to write and put together her debut album. Although she was recording before linking up with the biggest band that are named after the year that the Dutch band Teach-In won Eurovision with ‘Ding-a-Dong’, Money has gained admirers through her work with The 1975. She wasn’t just a session musician on stage, Money’s vocals were integral to the show throughout their ‘At Their Very Best’ tour, and she became a firm favourite with fans. Couple this with the fans that she is bound to gain through her festival appearances and tour, and 2026 looks bright for Polly Money.

STONE:

Liverpool four-piece Stone headlined Woodlands on the Sunday night, and whilst they have picked up admirers from their tour supports for Yungblud and The Kooks, their profile is surprisingly modest. It was a small, but perfectly formed crowd who welcomed them to the stage on the final night of KC25, and one which grew as the set progressed. Fin Power stands tall on the central monitors, drawing the audience closer as the band belts out a breathless set- it’s much more urgent than their indie rock recorded output, and the audience responds in kind with a frenetic mosh pit that’s kept energised by the lead man. Power has a heritage, his father is former Cast frontman and The La’s bassist, John Power, but the Prince has become King; he commands his subjects as he roars his vocal from anywhere the mic lead will allow. The band publicly turned down an invitation to take part in Britain’s Got Talent, and it has to be a good thing- some acts can’t be tamed, even by Simon Cowell, and to take away any of the wild and visceral nature of STONE would be criminal. No surprise then that they parted company with Polydor earlier this year, less than three years after signing with the Universal Music subsidiary. As Power and friends continue to negotiate their way through the music industry, it’s not difficult to envisage them using their newfound artistic freedom to produce music that will bring the success they deserve.

Luvcat

Luvcat’s debut album is due to be released on Halloween this year and, if her Friday afternoon performance on Calling Out at KC25 is anything to go by, it’s going to be a treat that is well worth getting your hands (or ears) on. Luvcat (the artist previously known as Sophie Howarth) takes to the stage in a lacy black and white number that’s half bridal, half haunted house- there’s a strong Miss Havisham vibe here, or almost like Tim Burton has been tasked with reimagining pop starlet Sabrina Carpenter.

Luvcat’s sound is just as dramatic, and the audience sways and gyrates along with her, as she delivers ballads dragged from the most mysterious, deepest and darkest ends of pop music. ‘Matador’, the debut single from last year, is an early highlight; the lyrics drip with suggestion and regret, Luvcat hypnotic as her arms gently twist and wind around her body, and the audience is entranced. Penultimate track, ‘He’s My Man’ is wonderful. Described by some as a ‘murder ballad’, it’s a tale of a woman, so in love that she poisons her other half so he can be with her forever, as you do. It’s the delivery and melody, the romance and the tragedy, the sheer awesomeness of Howarth’s alter-ego, that means this really is a stone-cold banger. If there’s one act from this list that seems destined for a breakthrough year, Luvcat is it- she’s heading out on a European and US tour in the Autumn and, like the rarest of moths emerging from their chrysalis, is going to head into the new year with audiences desperate to catch a glimpse of her show.    

Soapbox

The crowd that welcomes Glasgow punk act Soapbox to the stage may be small, with many others preferring to watch a bunch of Lancastrian chaps in flat caps, but the band are mighty. Lead singer, Tom Rowan seems to spend almost as much time whipping the crowd up, as he does delivering the vocal; lyrics spat with venom into the mic, he stalks the stage and camera pit, before eventually launching himself head-first into the audience. The push pit reacts accordingly, Rowan bouncing from punter to punter, whilst still clutching his mic, as the tech crew try to ensure that there’s enough lead and that nobody gets it wrapped around their neck. Returning to stage and taking sustenance from the nectar that is brewed by the good monks of Buckfast Abbey, Rowan and the band smash through their set, the crowd left dizzy by songs including ‘Private Public Transport’, ‘Fascist Bob’ and the fantastically Glaswegian ‘Yer Da’. The band’s aesthetic may unsettle some- Rowan sports a skinhead, and the cross of St Andrew is proudly displayed on stage, but this is no return to the unsavoury nationalism which was intertwined with skin culture in times past. As much as there may be politics in the titles and lyrics, and there’s no shortage of anger from Rowan, nihilism is the order of the day here, and- for those who like their gigs on the chaotic, frenetic and loud side- it’s a clear standout set from the weekend.

Article - Jm Stokes