Next event 31 May - 2 June

Drawsome! is an annual music and illustration festival in York

Drawsome! 2024 Tickets now live

31st May - 2nd June at Young Thugs, The Crescent and Artsbarge will see nights of music featuring performances from Dana Gavanski, Bonneville, ICHIGO EVIL and many more, alongside the usual array of exhibitions and workshops over the weekend, including art from Rowan Jackson, Bits n Bots Recycled Robot Making with Tom Brader and mask making with Wintercroft design.

Get Tickets

What’s going on

Friday 31 May - Young Thugs

ICHIGO EVIL
Plantfood
Mickey Nomimono
Drooligan

Tickets
Saturday 1 June - Crescent Community Venue

Bonneville
Lou Terry
Captain Starlet
Leafcutter John

Tickets
Sunday 2 June – Artsbarge

Dana Gavanski
Kindelan
Moongate
We Are Hannah

Tickets

Live Music:

Dana Gavanski

Born in Vancouver to a Serbian family, but relocating to Montreal to attend university, Dana originally planned to pursue a career in film. However, she shifted her attention back to music when her then ex-partner left her his guitar before moving to NYC. Having known only how to play ‘Diamonds and Rust’ by Joan Baez, Dana picked up a Travis Picking technique book and started re-learning how to play. When in the Summer of 2016, she took a job with her father as a producer’s assistant on a horror film in the Laurentians, she made enough to focus solely on developing her music for a year. With that came her first EP, Spring Demos.

In 2019, Dana signed with Full Time Hobby and released two 7" singles ("One By One", "Catch") and announced her debut album "Yesterday Is Gone", a co-production between Sam Gleason, Tunng's Mike Lindsay and Dana herself. The critically acclaimed album was released in March 2020, followed by an EP of covers titled "Wind Songs", released in August of the same year. Dana's second album "When It Comes" was released in April 2022, followed by headline tours around UK, Europe and north America, and is followed by third album LATE SLAP, due for release in April 2024.

ICHIGO EVIL

THE EVIL USSES make a kind of undefinable, instrumental, protopunk, jazz not jazz, noise that reaches extreme euphoric moments on stage. Inspired by the nonsense poetry and music of Ivor Cutler and angular altrock groups such as Deerhoof. They have been touring across the UK and Europe for nearly a decade to drools of cult like extasy. Releasing records via Bristol ‘Stolen Body Recordings’. On bills including Paddy Steer, Henge, Part Chimp, The Comet is Coming and Melt Yourself Down.

ICHI is the Japanese One-Man-Band dadaist instrument maker, songwriter and performance artist. Releasing music with Pictish Trails ‘Lost Map’ Records, ‘Kit Records’ and ‘Sweet Dreams Press’ in Japan. He has performed his hugely unique show to metal heads, grandmas, folkys and crying toddlers across the world including performances at Green Man, Glastonbury, Supersonic as well as an art instillation at End of the Road festival which virilized.

Earlier in 2022 The Evil Usses and Ichi got together to work on some tracks, a few weeks later they formed for the first time as Ichigo Evil, performing a bounce-off-the-walls-bonkers part improvised set to a sold out Bristol Psych Festival.

2023 saw the guys put out their first release, a cassette of demos and home recordings. They have since taken their live show to WhereElse in Margate and Wanderfal Festival in Cornwall. The band Squid saw the Evils live at the festival, recommended them via The Guardian and have invited them on tour this Autumn.

Plantfood

plantfood are a 6 piece blood-pumping jazz force summoning an intricate mix of electronic and acoustic layers with influences all the way from spiritual jazz to contemporary club music. plantfood’s sound takes inspiration from artists such as The Prodigy, Mulatu Astatke and John Coltrane. From the mosh pit to serene soundscapes and back again, the journey plantfood takes you on is an unforgettable one.

This year at Glastonbury festival, plantfood headlined the Croissant Neuf stage on Saturday night, credited as Gabriel Francis aka Papaoul’s “best discovery of Glastonbury 2023”.

Other festival features include We Out Here and Beatherder amongst others. plantfood have toured all over the UK with sell out shows in London, Leeds, Falmouth and Todmorden.

The band were also selected for playlisting on Tina Edwards’ British Airways radio show ‘Next Big Thing’ as well as Spotify’s ‘Fresh Finds Jazz: Best of 2022’. plantfood’s momentum continues to grow as winners of the 2023 Drake Yolanda award. They are now poised to release their debut album.

Bonneville

UK singer/songwriter and proud feminist Bonnie Milnes, aka Bonneville has recently released her debut album New Lady. The album reflects Bonneville’s diverse taste in music, with a nod to the nostalgia of noughties pop soul, including notes of country, neo-soul, jazz, and compelling sonic influences throughout.

Kindelan

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Kindelan explores jazz-infused alternative soul with unwavering authenticity. Kindelan’s highly anticipated debut EP titled 'you can reach me if you try’, dropped in May 2023 and quickly established her as an “enchanting, head-turning force” in the independent UK music scene. Often likened to Lianne La Havas and Hiatus Kaiyote's Nai Palm, her EP features guitar driven compositions dripping in rich vocal arrangements, layered organic instrumentation, and poetic lyricism. Kindelan’s "simply stunning" sound (Jericho Keys, BBC Introducing) has gained both local and national support from DMY, Atwood Magazine, and BBC Radio One's introducing show with Gemma Bradley, hailing ‘Feast’ as the "perfect chill-out song”.

Originally from York but now residing in Leeds, West Yorkshire, Kindelan took the time to explore her sound through self-production and work with close collaborator & producer Ed Allen. The aim was to build her own signature sound, while enjoying the process along the way. Kindelan happily professes to feeling the success found in her production of a body of work that “sincerely feels like me in WAV format”.

Performing live is an important space for Kindelan. Her captivating live set, which showcases intricately woven stories and fluid musicianship while deeply resonating with her audiences, has been recognised with a nomination for ‘live performance’ at the Youth Music awards 2023. Notably her UK headline tour featured an unforgettable full-band show at Leeds' Brudenell Social Club that “many people will look back on as one of the best gigs they have seen”. She’s honoured to have been asked to join BBC Radio 6 in celebrating ‘Independent Venue Week’ 2024 at ‘The Fulford Arms’ back in her home town, on one of the first stages she ever played; A poignant full circle moment.

Captain Starlet

Captain Starlet combine the breezy harmonies of 1960s L.A. with a power-pop sheen to bring you thoughtful and well crafted pop songs. They are formed out of deep roots - Tom Carroll (guitar/vox) and Sam Festenstein (bass) have both been in bands together since the early 2010s whilst Cameron Baker (drums) and Ethan Carroll (guitar) have also been playing in York’s thriving music scene for a number of years. This connection and camaraderie forms the basis of a memorable liveset, with which they have already supported Jim White, Love, and H Hawkline.

Mickey Nomimono

Delivering visceral honesty over hard hitting, electronic punk out of Sheffield UK: This is Mickey Nomimono.

Cutting through the mundane and tackling modern problems with relevant, tongue in cheek solutions. Mickeys, high energy, genre bending tracks that bridge the gap between the club and the pit.

A strong character lead performance and confident delivery on stage has him regarded as “easily the most entertaining live performer in Sheffield”.

Mickey Nomimono is the new HS2, Mickey Nomimono is the ultimate livener, Mickey Nomimono lives, kitchen sink realism.

Leafcutter John

Bradford-born, Wakefield-raised John Burton grew up fascinated by sound, and as a young boy would often drift off to sleep to the diffuse tones of his dad’s progressive rock collection emanating from the room beneath him. He tried piano, guitar, and a short stint playing mouth organ but they failed to captivate him. It wasn’t until halfway through his painting degree at Norwich School of Art and Design that he discovered the computer he bought to write his dissertation could take him on new sonic adventures by recording and manipulating sound.

His first recordings reached the offices of Planet Mu Records in 1999 where its founder and Aphex Twin collaborator Mike Paradinas encouraged John’s more experimental efforts. During this time, he acquired his artist name, suggested by a friend who compared his creativity and industriousness to that of a leafcutter ant. Working with Planet Mu, John released three critically-acclaimed albums which culminated in the release of The Housebound Spirit, an album which combined elements of musicconcrete and electro-acoustic music with voice and guitar work more commonly found in folk music. It won an Honorary Mention at the 2004 Ars Electronica Awards, and was featured in The Wire's top 50 records of 2003.

Lou Terry

Lou Terry is an up and coming South London-based musician, genre-mangler, and music software builder.

The 2023 Black Country, New Road UK support and Radio 2-tipped artist fuses strange technology with timeless songwriting. His music has received support from John Cooper Clarke, Matt Wilkinson, Steve Lamacq, Line of Best Fit, Dazed, Loud and Quiet, NTS Radio, The Most Radicalist, Hard of Hearing, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2, New York Village Radio, International Times and BBC Introducing.

Moongate

York Dreamgaze (coined from shoegaze and dreampop) artist, Moongate perform haunting and dreamy melodies specifying detailed moments in mundane life. From the smell of the air after gigs, to anxiety at 3am, project Moongate incapsulates perfect imperfection in its production amplifying themes of commonality.

We Are Hannah

We Are Hannah perform acoustic songs with an ethereal sound on guitar and ukulele. Expect haunting intertwined harmonies and a gothic indie influence with folky roots.

Drooligan

Three technicolour disco miscreants beating electro-pop bangers out of a dusty old clubland organ.

What is it?

Drawsome! is an annual family friendly and accessible music and illustration festival in York, featuring live performances, creative workshops and exhibitions, aiming to bring people together around a shared love of the arts and celebrating emerging local talent as well as established national and international artists.

Drawsome! is in aid of Bowel Cancer UK, donate here. This year we’re also supporting St Nicks and Palestine Aid.

Drawsome! is run in collaboration between YT Social CIC, Kaizen Arts CIC and Dogeatcog, together with independent venues SPARK York, The Fulford Arms, Crescent Community Venue, Artsbarge and The Golden Ball.

Past events

2019
2020
2021
2022

2022 saw the biggest Drawsome! event so far, spanning 5 venues over 5 days, with music from acts such as LIFE, Haiku Salut, Yama Warashi, ICHI, Mollie Coddled and Bull and loads more, alongside exhibitions and creative workshops.

Video Paul Richardson Music Stuck! by Bull