Festival Founder Ruth Murray On Neck Of The Woods Festival’s Fifth Anniversary

Manchester, UK’s beloved grassroots music event, Neck of the Woods Festival, will celebrate its fifth anniversary in 2026 with its biggest edition yet. The festival takes place across two venues: Fuel Cafe and Cafe Blah in Withington, on Saturday 26th September 2026, the festival brings together fresh emerging talent, alongside a host of returning favourites from previous years. Founded by Sam Brunt and Ruth Murray, Neck of the Woods was created with the aim of building a community-focused festival that champions grassroots culture and showcases the very best music Manchester has to offer. Since launching, the festival has built a reputation as one of the city’s most exciting independent music events, known for its welcoming atmosphere, eclectic line-ups and close connection between artists and audiences. We caught up with Ruth Murray ahead of this years event

Ruth this is the fifth anniversary of your bespoke Neck of the Woods Festival. Last year was excellent and we saw all the bands at the Star & Garter, but there’s a change of venue this year. Could you tell us why that is and a little bit about the venues?

“We would’ve loved to have continued with Star and Garter this year, but unfortuantely, it was not to be. We’re very excited to be running the event across two venues. We feel this move is the right development for the festival in creating a real “two stage” feel. The staff at Blah and Fuel have been incredible and a delight to work with. Withington is an area particularly rich in  musical heritage and it has some incredible, creative spaces. It seems like the most likely next step!”

The band’s you have tend to be in my opinion alternative rock with a good smattering of punk. What is the artistic policy of the festival and who have you got on this year for the fifth anniversary?

“When we began programming for the festival, we had a real mix of different genres of music. We would still like to try and continue this to a certain extent, although we have been leaning into the punk and rock scene a little more. We still believe there to be a great balance of styles of music. We strive to be inclusive of all voices in the grassroots Manchester scene. This year we welcome back Tay Temple, who played for one of our very early festivals. We have included some of the bands both Sam and I have worked with across the years, such as The Battery Farm, Sia, John Denton and Mark Kelly and thrown in some new bands too!”

Mike Bennett from the Blockheads is on this year, he also produced a lot of punk bands. What will he be performing and how long is his set?

“We’re very priveleged to have formed a connection with such a wonderful musical legend. It really has been a humbling and incredible process. Mike has been very gracious in giving up some time for us and is very supportive of what we do. We have formed a backing band from some of the musicians playing the festival this year to support him for the performance. It feels like the perfect way to present such a legendary performer. The set itself will be a mixture of Blockheads tracks and those Mike produced in the past. There will be some surprises, for sure!”

Your own band are playing, and I gather opening up the proceedings. I absolutely love the band but is it going to be tricky juggling the organisational side of the festival with playing your set? Does multitasking come easy to you and are you an adrenaline junkie?

“Both Sam and I have our bands playing. Sam has a very successful band, called Big Cat Chic and is a pretty busy musician generally! It’s the first year my band, Dig Up Her Bones, is playing. and we can’t wait! We’re playing fairly early, which means I’m free to help run proceedings with Sam, afterwards.  I’m pretty accustomed to the chaos that comes with running a music event, through We Are Manchester’s music events, (which is where I met Sam) and Sam is very much skilled at the ‘keeping cool’ end of the madness! I would say there is certainly a wonderful ebb and flow of energy on the day and it can easily turn you into an adrenalin junkie! It could be easy to run out of energy before 6pm! However, we just love running the event. For us, it can be a bit of a reunion of the music community! We love the surprise of seeing who turns up. Sam and I have worked together for some time and I believe we are quite percerptive and aware of each other’s strengths and we compliment each other pretty well. We are fortunate enough to have a wonderful team of people around us, who give their time for the love of the grassroots scene. We simply couldn’t do it without them!”

How do people get tickets and what time of the doors open? 

“Tickets are available through Fatsoma. The festival doors for both venues will open at 1.30pm.”

Will you be recording any elements of the event?

“We hope to. We will certainly be aiming to grab some footage of the live music to create a record for everyone. We will also have several photographers coming down.”

If push comes to shove, which band are you looking forward to seeing the most at the festival? 

“There are so many talented people there on the day! For me, I’m looking forward to welcoming back Tay Temple, seeing The Battery Farm again, Mark Kelly. With the venues being across the road from each other, it’s super easy to flit in between and catch quite a few!”

Thank you Ruth, it’s been great talking to you