After thirteen years and countless performances from the best in homegrown musical talent, we bid farewell to our annual home at Eagle’s Rock at the weekend in truly unforgettable fashion. Amongst many other acts on the bill, headliners And So I Watch You From Afar, The Japanese Popstars and The Answer delivered storming performances, the latter act wrapping up our annual showcase’s final year on the main stage late on Saturday night.
Arguably our most exhilarating showcase to date – expanding to a two-day event for the first time in Glasgowbury history – the event marked our ‘Small but Massive’ transition into new territories after over a decade providing an unparalleled platform for up-and-coming and established artists throughout the country. Earlier this month it was announced that we are set to relocate to an expanded creative hub in Draperstown’s Cornstore, where the continued promotion of homegrown talent and expansion of new educational and creative enterprises will thrive.
With festival organiser Paddy Glasgow asking festival-goers “to look out for a Small but Massive stage near you” on the main stage following the Answer’s set on Saturday night, the future of Glasgowbury is very much in the process of redeveloping, rather than ending. New challenges lie ahead as well as a wider and more varied programme of arts and community development that will continue to provide year-long tuition programmes and performance opportunities. We will strive to foster local talent while developing new audiences for the arts.
To the innumerable cast of volunteers, crew, artists and all the festival-goers involved in positively ensuring that the festival’s final send off will live long in the memory, we would like to express our deepest gratitude and thanks. The next stage in Glasgowbury’s forward-thinking regeneration has only just begun.
Six of the acts playing the final ever Glasgowbury festival this weekend have teamed up for three unique collaborations as part of the Nerve Centre’s Resonate project.
Taking place throughout 2013, Resonate is an ambitious recording initiative which hopes to capture the musical talent, energy and spirit of Derry during its tenure as City of Culture by providing a range of recording opportunities, such as locally based professional facilities and roving, mobile ‘pop-up’ recording studios.
Check out the three – excellent – tracks and photos from the sessions below. Who knows? Festival-goers might just hear one or two of thee collaborations performed live up the mountain!
Festival set for final send-off at Eagle’s Rock, Draperstown
On the eve of the thirteenth Glasgowbury festival, the organisers behind Northern Ireland’s premiere celebration of homegrown musical talent have announced that this year’s showcase will be the final full-scale event at its home at Eagle’s Rock, Draperstown. Having started back in 2000, the festival and charitable social enterprise has spearheaded Northern Ireland’s live music culture whilst working closely with various local groups and enterprises to bring the arts to the heart of rural communities. Progressing to the next stage of its forward-thinking development, the organisation aims to conquer exciting new territories and develop new audiences.
With “Small but Massive” very much at the heart of the mid-Ulster organisation’s mantra, the announcement marks Glasgowbury’s relocation to an expanded creative hub in Draperstown’s Cornstore, where the continued promotion of local talent and expansion of new educational and creative enterprises will thrive. Building on the not-for-profit team’s varied community arts and development programme, opening up new opportunities in the creative industries is at the very core of Glasgowbury’s future. The story of the group’s success is not ending: it’s very much beginning.
With And So I Watch You From Afar, TheJapanese Popstars and The Answer headlining at the festival’s swansong at Eagle’s Rock across the weekend of 19-20th July, plans are already afoot to break new ground and create innovative platforms to showcase our local artists to new domestic and international audiences. Glasgowbury has created a sustainable event delivery model which has transferred successfully to other communities. Now located to its own creative hub, Glasgowbury will deliver a wider more varied programme of arts and community development continuing to provide tuition programmes and performance opportunities. Glasgowbury will foster local talent while developing new audiences for the arts.
Having played a crucial role in the promotion and development of Irish music for over decade, consistently re-affirming its reputation as a pioneering organisation that welcomes and cultivates artists, volunteers, and participants of all ages and backgrounds; the latest chapter of Glasgowbury is only just beginning. Watch out for a Small But MASSIVE stage near you!
Proving to be one of the most memorable, comprehensively crowd-pleasing highlights of last year’s festival, Northern Irish electronic duo The Japanese Popstars return to Glasgowbury this year as one of the most highly-anticipated acts on the bill. Despite being down a member in Declan McLaughlin, Gary Curran and Gareth Donoghue headline the Small but Massive Stage on Friday night a genre-defining, world-renown act very much at the top of their game. What does second trip up the mountain hold in store this year?
Marking the band’s first live foray in playing brand new material, there is clearly an added impetus to their performance up the mountain this summer. “It’s an exciting time for us,” says Donaghue, who hails from Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. “We are releasing a new album during the summer called Disconnect:Reconnect and we have not been doing any live shows in order to get that finished, so this is going to be the first time playing lots of our material. So we are excited and nervous.”
Having won a small legion of fans of all ages and dispositions at last year’s festival, the profile of the Japanese Popstars has shown no signs of dissipating over the eight years since their inception in 2006. What are their memories of last year? “It was a lot of fun,” reveals Gareth. “As Gary is from Derry and I am originally from Dungannon it’s kind of a home town gig for us both. Lots of our friends came along and we partied hard. The response from the crowd was immense. We arrived on site a couple of hours before the show so we went exploring the site and thought it was really good,” continues Donoghue. “The scenery is spectacular and the whole festival had a very friendly feel.”
With their new album – their third – poised for release on July 15 via Bedrock records, the Japanese Popstars will be hitting the road across the likes of Asia and America to support the release, building upon a fanbase that’s seem lauded in every corner of the globe. Not before their headline set at Glasgowbury, of course, where the band’s preview of new material is sure to stand out on a bill bursting with homegrown talent, both establishing and upcoming. In their view, what ensures that Glasgowbury stands out in a field of its own when it comes to an annual showcase of local talent? “I guess the setting is pretty spectacular. That and the fact that it’s bringing together dance music, rock, pop and comedy. It gives young bands the chance to be heard which is the biggest struggle these days with so much free music, so I guess that’s the most important thing.”
With fellow headliners And So I Watch You From Afar on the top of the duo’s must-see acts at this year’s festival – “any time I have seen them they are blown me away” – what would the duo say by way of advice or advice to anyone who might be interested in checking their set at this year’s festival? “Prepare to sweat.”
With just over two weeks left to this year’s two-day event, Dermot ‘Mod’ McBride has unveiled his half-hour documentary looking at the thirteen year history of Glasgowbury festival titled A Culture of SmallButMassive.
Filmed as part of his University final project, the documentary looks at the history, legacy and important of the festival by getting the thoughts of members from the likes of LaFaro, Fighting With Wire and And So I Watch You From Afar, as well individuals involved in BBC Radio Ulster, Oh Yeah Centre, Derry’s Nerve Centre and Smalltown America Records.
Watch the video below.
For info about tickets for this year’s festival, go here.
Two of the most forward-thinking and thoroughly exciting female Northern Irish singer-songwriters of a generation, Alana Henderson and Katharine Philippa both make their debut performance at this year’s Glasgowbury festival. Having encountered a considerable, ever-increasing amount of praise for their equally enchanting, it is no exaggeration to say that both artists are bound for very big things indeed. Easily two of the most unequivocally “must see” acts in this year’s line-up, we talk to the girls individually about their plans for the summer and all things Glasgowbury…
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This is the first year you’ve played Glasgowbury. Are you excited about playing? What’s the gameplan?
Alana Henderson: Totally. I actually thought I wasn’t playing up until very recently. An email from the festival had gotten trapped in someones outbox so my invite came late. But luckily enough i’m all about delayed gratification so I’m now extra pleased at the prospect!
Katharine Philippa: I think, like all things, I feel many emotions that intertwine and lock together; ‘excitement’ is one player! I have no particular gameplan – other than to play, with my usual desire to be honest to myself and the music.
Alana: The gameplan is to play with more of a band behind me, as opposed to my usual solo set-up, going with the slightly bigger vibe that Glasgowbury has, i think i should step things up a gear! I’ve already managed to persuade a really great violinist called Chris Heron to join me. He plays some great stuff with a loop station, so maybe we’ll even incorporate that into my set a bit. Definitely some percussion. A bigger sound basically.
What has been your experience with Glasgowbury as a festival-goer?
Katharine: This will actually be my first time as fully fledged Glasgowburian! I have played one of the G-Sessions and on my journey there traveled through some beautiful scenes of NI; so I’m looking forward to playing in Draperstown outside, rather than inside.
Alana: I have never been before, though I’ve heard great things!
In your view, how important are the likes of homegrown festivals like Glasgowbury to Northern Irish music generally?
Alana: So important. The fact that we have a strong enough music scene to warrant a festival like Glasgowbury is testament to the quality of musicians here in Northern Ireland and that’s really heartening. There is often a bit of a defeatist attitude that Northern Ireland’s music scene is ‘too small’ for a band to ‘make it’, which i think is completely not true. Glasgowbury is a serious, professionally run festival providing a platform for musicians at the start of their careers as well as bigger names.
Katharine: Northern Irish festivals to Northern Irish musicians are like veins for blood. ie. very necessary!
Alana: Personally I feel really proud to play at a local festival that has such a great reputation far and wide and that I know has grown from grassroots level based on a bunch of hard working individuals with belief in the value of what we have here, lots of great local bands and great local fan who are willing to support homegrown music.
What do you think makes Glasgowbury unique, if anything? Any particular highlights in mind?
Katharine: Each experience is unique, I guess. Glasgowbury, under the guise of ‘festival’ is unique by having its own mountainside location and its own conjuring atmosphere. Every festival is unique; yet every festival replicates a mingling of people, music and experience…
What other acts at this year’s festival are you looking forward see?
Alana: It’s so hard to narrow it down. Little Bear, Ryan Vail, Rams’ Pocket Radio, Runaway Go, Silhouette… and bands I haven’t heard yet. I look forward to being surprised!
Katharine: I’m just looking forward to just hearing good music – whoever that comes from. I’ll come from lots of acts I’ve already seen live, I’m sure; but I’m looking forward to catching Miss Alana Henderson and her cello for the first time.
Aside from the festival, what are the plans for you over the summer?
Katharine: My current interest lies in creating power from minimal human numbers; it’s not about me – it’s about the music. My band is currently myself, Korg, Zoom and Box. Occasionally, Loop and/or and other humans are brought in, but really it’s just that initial quartet. I am, and have been, squirreling away translating some new material, which I will hopefully release before entering into my final year, studying Music at Queen’s. Lots of growth, mistakes, learning and living planned for the summer months, too; lots of shapes.
Alana: I’m playing a few other festivals and I’m just back from playing in Hamburg and playing a few dates supporting Duke Special which was very exciting. I’m doing some traditional music stuff too as well as my own music, so the summer is a really busy time. It’s all music-related though: no holidays, just playing away like crazy and enjoying every minute of it!
Four years on from their triumphant headline performance at Glasgowbury ’09, North Coast quartet And So I Watch You From Afar are widely held as one of the most forward-thinking rock bands in the world today.Returning as one of our three headliners up the mountain this year – alongside Downpatrick rockers The Answer and electronic duo The Japanese Popstars – they have seen considerable changes in terms of sound, line-up and popularity in their meteoric rise since their formation back in 2005. We catch up with the band’s founding guitarist Rory Friers to get his thoughts on eight years of ASIWYFA and all things Glasgowbury-related.
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Your new album, All Hail Bright Futures, is evidently the distillation of many, many hours practicing, touring and songwriting. What do you think contributes to the energy so marked in the recording?
I think we were just in a good place in terms of how the three of us were working together, there was an absolute collective forward motion to make something new and progressive, which in turn made for a really open forum of ideas and sounds, the soul of the album really developed in the studio,the songs were skeletal fragmented pieces of music that we sort of crafted and decorated in there, it was like we’d arrived with a weeks worth of shopping and then had make this incredible banquet but there was no recipe book, it was a great feeling to be so engrossed an immersed in making music with out worrying about anything else really, thats such a big part of the band when we get into that time of making songs, I love it and it served as a sort of catharsis for any stresses going on outside of the recording process.
In terms of how you have progressed over the last couple of years – both musically and interpersonally – which moments stand out as being significant to how everything’s panned out?
I think there was a gradual shift into becoming a bit more fearless in terms of stepping into uncharted territory musically for the band, that was of absolute significance in terms of not worrying what people would think of our music and not having to fit into a certain peg hole, that was a great shackle to loose, it meant a great sense of openness toward making music. The result of that made the dynamic of the band even more intense and together, it’s like when you make the transition into being able to fart in front of your girl friend, haha. We’ve reached a whole new level of comfort in our relationship with each other.
You’ve travelled the world gigging, winning man fans over in the process. How important is it to tour with a local support?
A local support band is always cool, we usually bring one band we love out with us and one local band to open which we pick ourselves from the local promoters suggestions, it’s important to us that we are into all the bands playing on our bill, it needs to feel like there’s cohesion to a night. Having a new band to watch every day is nice, sometimes you find something you love, sometimes you find new friends, but you always find relief in seeing that’s there’s lots of people just like us living this weird music obsessed life just all over the world, its cool, it makes the world seem a bit more together
You have, of course, performed Glasgowbury before. It you could distil your memories of playing there to a handful of sights and sounds, what would they be?
Headlining the main stage will always be a real moment in time that will stick with me forever, the significance for us of playing in front of that many people and during the peak of that wonderfully rich time for local music, there was a sort of fever pitch to it. In my mind’s eye the crowd stretched to beyond Draperstown. As Graham Smith would say it was a tattoo worthy moment.
What’s the feeling in the camp about returning as one of our three headliners this year?
It’s a total privilege to get to come back and play again, when your away and you know that the festival is happening up the mountain it always makes us feel really home sick, I’m just so glad it worked out this year, and it makes for an interesting weekend of festivals, Benicassim in Barcelona the night before and Truck and Dour the next two days, so we’ll be tired boys by the end of that weekend. But it might be a blessing in disguise leaving after we play as it tends to get a little messy when we’re camping over as I’m sure it does for everyone.
In your view, how important is Glasgowbury to Northern Irish music generally, right across the year?
It’s huge. It’s a proper festival that bands have a real chance of playing, its an attainable thing that we looked to and thought “we could actually play this”, it was an aspiration of ours from day one and for all our friends who played in bands. Glasgowbury is one of those things that makes you stick your chest out that little bit more and make you proud of your home.
As festival-goers rather than performers, which personal Glasgowbury highlights stand out in mind?
Fighting With Wire in 2007 was just amazing, it was the first year we’d been and the vibe was insane. Fighting With Wire were unstoppable and everyone new every word, it was so good. Also seeing my little bro (Ewan, Axis Of) play the main stage for the first time was incredible, they killed it, I got all big brother and teary.
Despite what you have recorded, you are very much a band who are at the peak of their collective powers when playing live. Does any gigs stand out over the last few years?
There’s been so many, a lot of shows blend into this one huge ball of memories and flickers of places and people, but some shows stand out as significant or special every now and again, we recently sold out a few big shows in the UK a couple of months in advance for the first time, it was the first time we played to a bigger crowd than we would at home,that was a crazy feeling to feel that we had accomplished that.
But some of my favourite shows have been when we play some ones house party after a show, one that stands out was when we played this old shack in Kansas after asking on college radio if anyone wanted us to play there house. We got there, helped move all the furniture into the garden and at 9pm the house was full,people were standing up the stairs, behind the amps, crowd surfing, it was so much fun, though my guitar hit into the roof fan at one point and gave me and all the people underneath me a really hectic electric shock, but all in all it was such a collective vibe, everyone pitched in and made this amazing thing out of nothing.
Which acts – established or otherwise – are you excited about catching at this year’s festival?
Unfortunately we’re only gonna be on site for a really short time but I’m super excited to see Jetplane Landing again and hopefully hear some of the new album live, I love that band so much. Anyone staying the weekend has to catch Ryan Vail, he has an incredible sound.
Finally, Glasgowbury aside, what are the plans for the band over the next months?
We actually do our first shows in Africa this week which is really exciting and then we get into festival season which is great as we were recording last summer so we didn’t get to play any last time, we play some really cool independent festivals over UK and Europe as well as some of the bigger ones like Benicassim, Dour, Reading and Leeds etc, it’s looking like a fun summer. After that we do some more European dates in sept until heading to the states for a couple of months on a co headline your along side TTNG with support from the amazing Mylets.
We’re gonna stay on in LA for a while I think and do some writing at our labels new recording studio they built out in the dessert,that’s going to be cool. It’s going to be a good year I think. We really struggled for the passed 18 to 24 months trying to stabilise the band again, we had a lot of bumps in the road and bad luck, it took a lot of determination and work to keep pushing it all forward and we had to ask for some help from others too, so this year feels like a bit of a pay off in some ways, after all that stress we get to go out and enjoy this time.
The final acts set to play the 13th annual Glasgowbury festival at Eagle’s Rock Valley this July have been confirmed.
Joining headliners The Answer, The Japanese Popstars and And So I Watch You From Afar at our two-day celebration of homegrown musical talent include Belfast-based rockers LaFaro, hugely popular ska-punk troupe Pocket Billiards and critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Peter McAuley AKA Rams Pocket Radio.
Also amongst the final acts to be confirmed are Dublin’s blues-rock quartet The Mighty Stef, singer-songwriters Katharine Philippa (pictured), Alana Henderson, Rob Murphy, and festival staple Paul Casey. Dance DJs Deep Fried Funk, electro-indie outfit Don’t Fear The Natives, Derry rock outfit Wyldling, and fast-rising guitar-based indie-rock bands Hurdles, Aces Wild, Windings and The Last Generation.
In addition to established acts, participants of Derry~Londonderry’s City Of Culture’s Childrens’ Music Promise programme will also be performing on the Friday evening.
The announcement comes off the back of us unveiling the line-up for our G-Spot comedy stage. Headlined by BBC NI talent show Find Me The Funny winner Micky Bartlett, Belfast-born clown and comedian Paul Currie and Dublin funnyman Marcus Olaoire top the bill organised in association with Daly’s Comedy Club in Omagh. Paddy McDonnell, Sean Hegarty, Terry Keyes, Phil McEwan, Terry McHugh and Digger Browne will also perform.
For the first time ever Glasgowbury will expand to a two day festival across the weekend of July 19th – 21st, staging a County Derry showcase at Eagle’s Rock on Friday 19th in support of Derry~Londonderry’s City Of Culture celebrations.
The final line up is as follows:
The Answer / Japanese Popstars / And So I Watch You From Afar / Jetplane Landing / Little Bear /Axis Of / Ed Zealous / In Their Thousands / More Than Conquerors / Million Dollar Reload / Trucker Diablo / The Bonnevilles / Runaway GO / PigsAsPeople / Vanilla Gloom / The Wood Burning Savages / Pretty Child Backfire / Furlo / Robyn G Shiels / Rosie Carney / Ryan Vail / The Dead Presidents / Silhouette / Our Krypton Son / The Wonder Villains / VerseChorusVerse / The Clameens / Susie Blue / Those Ghosts / LaFaro / Pocket Billiards / Rams’ Pocket Radio / The Hot Sprockets / The Greased Palm / Paddy Nash & The Happy Enchiladas / Orchid Collective / Children Of The Son / Emerald Armada / Alana Henderson / Aces Wild / Hurdles / Wyldling / Rob Murphy / Windings / Don’t Fear The Natives / The Mighty Stef / Paul Casey / The Last Generation / Katharine Philippa / Rural Key Participants / Childrens’ Music Promise Participants / Deep Fried Funk / Radio DJ’s/Club DJ’s and Comedians Mickey Bartlett / Paul Currie / Paddy McDonnell / Digger Browne / Marcus Olaoire / Sean Hegarty / Terry Keyes / Terry McHugh / Phil McEwan
Creative Director, Paddy Glasgow, had this to say about the line-up:
“Every year, Glasgowbury aims to reflect the great success of our homegrown music scene and 2013’s line-up is arguably one of our best and most vibrant. The beauty of the festival is that we can have acts such as And So I Watch You From Afar and The Answer, who are representing Northern Ireland on an international scale, alongside bands and artists fresh on the gig circuit, playing their first festival slots.”
Hands down one of the finest bands we’ve ever produced, Derry quartet Jetplane Landing are on the verge of releasing their highly-anticipated new album, Don’t Try. As part of their forthcoming schedule in getting their new material out there and into as many ears as possible, the guys are also set to play this year’s Glasgowbury – undoubtedly one of the most exciting prospects this year’s festival. Talking future plans, the aforementioned new album and all things Glasgowbury, we catch up with the band’s bassist Jamie Burchill to get the lowdown on Jetplane’s summer.
Hi Jamie. It’s safe to say that Jetplane Landing are a rejuvenated band. How are things going at the minute?
Jamie: Rejuvenated? No, we’re always pure tense even when we aren’t making records. It just feels like we are rejuvenated to anyone who doesn’t have to spend the long, patient years in between the records living with us. You are set to release your fourth studio album, Don’t Try, in the summer. Can you tell us about both the songwriting and recording process? Was perfectionism involved at all?
Jamie: The album was written against all accepted logic. Right, take a deep breath, let me try to explain and give full credit to each and everyone involved. I’d been writing words since our last album, Backlash Cop, and had built up, what we jokingly referred to as: the motherload. Also Cahir had written the largest amount of riffs and musical ideas know to mankind during his protracted dealings with Atlantic records. I sent my lyric ideas to Andrew without knowing what he would use, what he would ditch, and on which songs he would use them.
Still, the melodies had to be written: Andrew and Cahir formed these. I was sending in suggestions from time to time on how each track might develop. Andrew then acted as conduit, organiser and leader of men so we could finish the writing process, bringing each and every disparate idea under control. Amazingly this was all mainly done between the three of us via email as I was living in France during the whole writing process. Even more amazingly it worked! Oh and I should say Andrew mainly wrote the lyrics for ‘Magnetic Sea’, the final track on the album.
Cahir, Andrew and Chris Cassidy recorded the album in Derry, in Smalltown America’s studio. Craig McKean of Fighting with Wire played drums. I just flew in and played my bass parts in a few days, like a make-believe rock star. Voila!
And yes, perfectionism is always involved.
You are, of course, playing this year’s Glasgowbury festival. How are the band feeling about getting out there and playing new material?
Jamie: It’s going to be interesting. How many new songs do you think we can get away with playing? I think we should do a perfectly cut down and rehearsed medley, just like Queen on Live Aid, where we just play all the good ones and a little bit of ‘Hammer to Fall’. In a broader sense, how important do you think Glasgowbury is to Northern Irish music, in general?
Jamie: I’m pleased to be playing there because it does seem truly independent. Did you read Richard Hawley having a dig at Glastonbury and V festivals? He was talking about what he saw as audiences at corporate festivals paying for the privilege of being ‘trapped in a field and marketed to’. He just about nailed that one. Richard, come on pitch up at Glasgowbury next year, you know you’re going to love it.
In your estimation, what, if anything, sets it apart from other Northern Irish festivals?
Jamie: The view for one thing. Also, see my previous answer.
Outside of performing at Glasgowbury yourselves, who are you excited to catch live this year?
Jamie: I’m looking forward to label mates More than Conquerors and Axis Of and hopefully someone’s selling breakfast baps.
As a gig-goer yourself, do you have anything particular fond memories of Glasgowbury?
Jamie: Being asked to play it about six years ago, it was as flattering at the time as it is now.
Finally, what are the plans for Jetplane Landing over the next few months?
Jamie: Our new album will come out. I can’t wait for people to get a blast of it! Also we’re going on a UK tour in September. There, I’m going to try and get a nice cuddle every night, just like the old days, back in the Travelodge with Cahir.
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Tickets for Glasgowbury 2013 are available to buy here.
Having grown in stature, fanbase acclaim over the last year, there can be no question whatsoever that Million Dollar Reload and Trucker Diablo are two of the exciting and accomplished hard rock acts in the country right now. Joining fellow rockers, headliners The Answer at this year’s festival, we catch up with their respect frontmen, Phil Conalane and Tom Harte, to get their thoughts on all things Glasgowbury.
___ This is the first year that both bands have played Glasgowbury. How are you feeling ahead of the show?
Phil: Yeah, Million Dollar Reload are very exciting about playing Glasgowbury, but to be honest I’d say we are all a tiny bit nervous. I’ll explain why. This is our first “mainstream” festival and we are used to playing at full on rock festivals such as Download Festival and Bloodstock festival in the UK. The audiences are full blown metal/rock audiences at those festivals and they know exactly what they are going to get in an Million Dollar Reload set.
Tom: Yeah thanks for having us – really looking forward to it. It’s a festival we always wanted to play and we can’t wait to get in front of a home festival crowd and really cook it up…
Phil: The Glasgowbury audience will be a lot more diverse – maybe 30-40% full blown “rockheads” – so we will have our work cut out to win them over but we are up for the challenge. We are not gonna “tailor” our set or “lighten” it up in anyway just to fit-in; we are just goin to do our thing and play our brand of rock n roll and make sure the Glasgowbury audience has a good time while we are on stage.
What has been the band’s experience with Glasgowbury as festival-goers?
Phil: It’s kind of unfortunate really. Every year Glasgowbury has been on we have been playing at other festivals or on tour. Although Finn (drums) has only been in Million Dollar Reload for less than a year I know for sure he has been at Glasgowbury loads of times. In fact, he has played at Glasgowbury with his previous band (Swanee River) and he tells us its a fantastic festival so that bodes well!
Tom: I have never been myself, but loads of friends have been and said it’s like a big party in your backyard with loads of mates around. So can’t wait to get involved in that!
What do you think make Glasgowbury unique? Why does it stand out?
Phil: It’s unique from the point of few that it has got bigger and bigger every year. The tag “Small but Massive” doesn’t really apply anymore I’d say – it has grown so much. It is without doubt the most important festival in Northern Ireland and probably the whole of Ireland. They seem to book the established bands and the upcoming bands too. I know for sure through our management and label in the UK that it is definitely an internationally recognised festival now and that can only be a good thing for all concerned. Paddy Glasgow and his team have done a fantastic job building the festivals reputation and prestige over the years.
Tom: Apart from being the only festival I know called Glasgowbury, it’s an awesome platform to celebrate all the great talent we have in our wee country. It’s becoming a bit of an institution. Years ago people would have been talking about looking forward to Feile or Sunstroke. But these days it’s all about Glasgowbury baby.
In your view, how important are the likes of homegrown festivals like Glasgowbury to Northern Irish music generally?
Phil: It is definitely very important, bringing all the best and biggest bands across all genres onto one festival can only be a good thing. It gives all the Glasgowbury festival goers the opportunity to see a lot of acts they probably wouldn’t normally get a chance to see. The Irish press, north and south, will all be there too, giving bands that normally would be overlooked a few column inches in reviews. That is also a good positive thing.
Tom: In my opinion, very important. For us, we almost had to go away to come back. We have been working hard on building our profile outside of the country to broaden the appeal. Our fans here have been amazing and to get a chance to showcase at N.I’s premier festival is a great opportunity. Also a great opportunity for other local bands, it’s a statement that says this is the cream of the crop of Northern Irish talent. It can open doors to better things and get their music out to people who may not have heard of them. People always say to me there are so many great bands from N.I. I couldn’t agree more.
With the Answer headlining and there being other rock acts on the bill, what do you think about the genre’s representation at this year’s festival
Phil: Yeah, that’s what pleases me the most this year. I definitely don’t think its just a token gesture by putting a few rock bands on the festival. Over the past few years the hard rock bands in Northern Ireland have been building international audiences and reputations and selling a lot of albums worldwide, so I think it would be just weird to ignore the rock bands in this country, on the biggest Northern Ireland festival. I mean, The Answer have sold tens of thousands albums all over the world, toured the world with the biggest band in the world, AC/DC. We have have played the biggest rock Festival on the planet Download Festival – three times in five years! We signed to the biggest indepentent rock label in Europe, Frontiers Records, last year and put out our second album A Sinners Saint with them and its selling really, really well all over the world. We’ve toured consistently over the past few years including the USA and mainland Europe and not too sound in any way arrogant, we deserve a spot at Glasgowbury this year. And with our buddies Trucker Diablo, who are also doing fantastically well, there is sure to be a slab of rock served up at Glasgowbury this year.
Tom: It’s awesome. Northern Ireland always had enough rock bands for its own festival and for Glasgowbury to sit up and take notice its shows that we are all doing something right and bringing focus on the country through our music and that is a great thing.
What other acts at this year’s festival are you looking forward see?
Phil: And So I Watch You From Afar is the one band I definitely want to see at the festival. I’ve heard so many good things about them that it would be a sin not to see their set. I’ve heard a few Japanese Popstars records so I think I want to see them too. I’d say we will try an get to see as many bands as possible over the weekend but those two are on the priority list.
Tom: Apart from Million Dollar Reload and The Answer, I am really looking forward to checking out newer bands I haven’t heard before. Also looking forward to seeing Furlo, my old mate Robyn G Sheils and ASIWYFA.
Aside from playing Glasgowbury what are the plans for the band over the summer?
Phil: We have a lot going on right now. We have a live album coming out at some point later in the summer, so a new release always brings a lot of press/promo stuff, interviews, radio sessions etc. We have a few European festivals to do, one in particular that we are really looking forward too is the GP Motorbike festival in Holland – that should be great! We have shows in France again and Germany also. Throw in a few home gigs with all that and we are pretty busy over the coming months.
Tom: Yeah we are pretty busy over the summer. We will are taking our second trip back to Europe at the end of June, then at the end of July we will be in the UK for a few festivals. After that we will be back home to play some local shows and festivals. In October we will be doing our first headline UK tour to promote the album and after that back to Europe again. See ya soon – trucker hugs.
Tickets for Glasgowbury 2013 are available to buy here.
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