Legendary punk heroes Buzzcocks have been added to the line-up for the ninth Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival (3rd & 4th August 2012; Beauly, Inverness-shire). With a string of hits such as ‘Ever Fallen In Love’ and ‘Harmony In My Head’ to their credit, the band are sure to have a wide appeal amongst the Bella crowd and will headline the Hothouse stage on the Friday night.

US soul and rock band from Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, Vintage Trouble will wow the Belladrum audience for a second year running with their speakeasy style music. Also added to the bill are New York singer-songwriter Willy Mason as Friday night headliner on the Black Isle Brewery Grassroots Stage and, in a Scottish festival exclusive, smoky voiced folk and soul singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas.

These are joined by plaintive Newcastle sextet Lanterns On The Lake who fuse folk melodies with light electronic instrumentation, and by Carrbridge artist Rachel Sermanni who makes a return to the festival after last year’s triumphant appearance. 

Jiggery folkery six piece Mad Dog Mcrea bring their folk rock, gypsy jazz ‘shake your ass’ mix to Bella for the first time as do Red Sky July, an alt-country band formed by Texas guitarist Ally McErlaine and Shelly Poole of Alisha’s Attic. 

Glasgow ska band Bombskare play the main stage, and Pink Floyd tribute band MacFloyd play the whole of ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ plus Aberdeen blues band The Jerry Jablonski Band make their first appearance at the event. Inverness band Little Mill Of Happiness will also be at Bella, as will Skye electronic fusion act Niteworks and Ullapool’s Grousebeater Sound System. 

Belladrum has sold out each of the past three years and tickets to this year’s event continue to sell at well ahead of last year’s rate. Co-op and Young Scot discounted tickets have now sold out, and printed tickets have sold out at: the Booth; TicketScotland Glasgow, and Sound & Vision in Elgin Tickets can still be purchased on line at www.skiddle.com and dwindling supplies of printed tickets are available at: Eden Court, Hootananny, Ironworks and Mania in Inverness; Sweet Treats in Dingwall; TicketScotland Edinburgh; Groucho’s in Dundee; One Up in Aberdeen; Morrison’s in Beauly, and Kiltarlity Post office. 

A limited number of Saturday tickets go on sale on Tuesday 1st May on-line on at Skiddle and printed tickets at Eden Court and Ironworks, Inverness. 

The new additions to Bella’s line up join Scots indie stars Travis and Liverpool rockers The Wombats who are to headline the festival, and numerous other acts including: UK award-winning queen of soul Beverley Knight; Glasgow-based indie rockers Frightened Rabbit in an exclusive Scottish festival appearance; up tempo US songsmiths We Are Scientists; introspective pioneers of indie folk Slow Club and crafters of beautiful folk rock Fink; Celtic tune’n’groove folk artists Treacherous Orchestra; singer/songwriter hot tips Juan Zelada and Ryan Keen; new indie tyro’s Bastille and To Kill A King; Edinburgh singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt; hip hop duo Stanley Odd from the same city; Glasgow three-piece Fatherson; Borders Celtic rockers, The Dangleberries; Highland artistes James Mackenzie, Ian McLaughlin & The Outsiders, Whisky River Band, and The Red Kites whose front-man Moteh Parrott hails from Inverness.

Belladrum 2012 takes place in the beautiful Highland surroundings of Belladrum Estate, near Beauly in Inverness-shire. The independent festival has built a reputation for its eclectic line-ups, its off beat non-musical entertainments and its all-ages approach. The festival won a VisitScotland Thistle Award in 2009 and is a past winner of the Grassroots Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards, the festival industry’s ‘oscars’.

Advance adult weekend tickets are £95. They include parking and camping, except for campervans and caravans which will be charged £50 per vehicle or £130 to include electrical hook-up.. As in previous years, tickets for children 12 & under are free.