Crowds at last year's Camden Crawl. Picture: James Perou.

Glasgow rockers will back The Cribs during live music carnival set to accommodate 25,000 fans

Glasvegas.

»From humble beginnings, the Camden Crawl has come a long way since it began in 1995.

What began as a sprinkling of performances from a handful of acts across five venues has evolved into a carnival of live music spanning three days and accommodating up to 25,000 music fans.

Past line-ups over the May bank holiday weekend have featured Amy Winehouse, Plan B and Kasabian.

This year’s festival includes around 300 different artists and events, with headline performances from Death In Vegas and The Cribs.

Crowds enjoy a set from band Johnny Foreigner during last year's Camden Crawl. Picture: James Perou.

Warming up the crowd at KOKO, Camden High Street, in a rare support slot ahead of The Cribs’ festival-closing performance on May 6 are Scottish indie band Glasvegas.

The Glaswegian four-piece, whose 2008 debut album reached number two in the UK Album Charts and garnered a Mercury Music Prize nomination, will be appearing at the festival for the first time.

Guitarist Rab Allan said: “I remember around the time of the first album, I really wanted to do the festival. Everyone knows about Camden Crawl, it will be exciting.

“We don’t do a lot of support gigs and I like them because it takes the pressure off.”

Glasvegas approach their Camden Crawl debut off the back of a four-date tour of Sweden in late March followed by a handful of UK shows.

Crowds at Koko next week will be treated to brand new material from their forthcoming third album.

“We are hoping it comes out before the end of year,” said Allan. “We’ve got about 15 demos and we feel quite good about all the songs.

“Everything we’ve been recording has been played live and it’s completely different to what we’ve done before. We are trying to get a bit more of a live feel – we’ll probably record the whole thing live.”

The 29-year-old, who helped form the band with cousin and lead singer James Allan in 2003, admitted their success still sometimes “seems like a dream,” adding: “I guess we’re all very lucky that we are still friends and we still want to make music together.”

Speaking of the “bad times” that have accompanied Glasvegas’ triumphs, he explained: “It’s the cliches you always hear – people not talking to each other, people indulging in too much alcohol and stuff.

“You forget the people in a band are also your best friends. We used to party hard and we’ve calmed.”

Besides the top quality live music on offer next weekend, the festival also boasts comedy acts, performing arts shows and interactive workshops across more than 35 venues.

Camden Crawl co-founder Lisa Paulon, 44, said: “We appeal to a wide demographic, it’s not really targeted at one individual. There’s a lot of alternative artists - it really represents UK culture in general.”

Camden Crawl takes place between May 4 and 6. For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.thecamdencrawl.com.