Cancelled Festivals & The Near-Death of Damnation
21 UK festivals have been cancelled or postponed so far this year with up to 100 at risk without Government support, according to the The Association of Independent Festivals. It's grim reading, so how are ArcTanGent, Damnation and 2000trees coping in this brutal landscape and what can be done to help the situation? Gav and James have a plan and it involves you! We go again, every Thursday morning.
11 Apr 20241h 15min
Breaking Bands
Bob Vylan to Din of Celestial Birds, Idles to Amenra... have our festivals helped "break" bands to a larger audience in their scenes and if so, is that important to us or a byproduct of the job? Gav and James get in about it. We go again, every Thursday morning.
4 Apr 202448min
The Agent Strikes Back
After a month or so of agent bashing, it was only a matter of time before someone stepped up to put us back in our place. And that someone is the brilliant Mr Tom Taaffe, the man behind the bookings of the likes of Every Time I Die, Pallbearer, Spanish Love Songs, Deafheaven, While She Sleeps, Beartooth and Elder at our festivals. What's his take on the ballache of billing and A-Z line-up posters, the rising fees for bands and promoters asking US arena-level bands to play club shows in Engl...
28 Mars 20241h 37min
Do Promoters Discuss Band Fees? - Q&A 1
The mailbox is full and the questions keep coming in, so here's an episode dedicated to all your curiosities. Do festival promoters talk to each other about band fees? Have we ever got into a bidding war over a band we wanted? What other festival would we like to book? What are the marketing challenges in 2024? We answer them all, and plenty more, in the usual candid fashion. We go again, every Thursday morning.
28 Mars 202452min
Mogwai, Baby!
Ten years of increased offers, multiple snubs, endless fan demands and with almost all hope lost... Mogwai finally agreed to play the final night of the 10th anniversary of ATG. It had to be part of the masterplan, right? Or a chance phone call, "going big" with an offer over text and the dilemma of having no headline slots left. Turns out landing the dream band is never straight forward, as Bolt Thrower playing Damnation had its own unique quirks too. Gav and James get in about it a...
21 Mars 202437min
The Dark Arts of Booking Bands
Booking bands is the Wild West of music promotion, where cash, gamesmanship, ego and relationships clash in the process of sealing a deal. But it isn't as simple a just working out a fee. There's hotels, flights, catering, drum kits, video walls, billing and exclusivity to haggle over... and don't forget that nudity clause! Then, even if that's all agreed, it might not stay that way because half the contract doesn't make sense, or the agent might just "forget". Understand, no? Neither do w...
14 Mars 20241h 7min
(The Dummies Guide) To Starting Festivals
2,000 Trees, Damnation and ArcTanGent have carved themselves out solid reputations on the UK festival scene but not without almost two decades of graft, good fortune and the odd costly mistake, or twenty, along the way. Thankfully we fell into those traps so you don't have to. We go again, every Thursday morning.
9 Mars 202447min
The Hunt for Headliners
The right headliner can make or break your year, whether the rest of the line-up is excellent or not. But it's not as easy as just throwing heaps of cash at your favourite band to land the booking you need. With more events to choose from, competitive festival exclusive deals, fees going through the roof and bands booking further and further in advance, it can be a nervous time trying to get the right cherry on top. James and Gav get into it... We go again, every Thursday morning.
7 Mars 202441min
