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photo credit: RadioNowhere.org
Indietracks 2014
During our first visit
to Indietracks in 2009 we knew we had stumbled across something pretty special. Whilst many niche festivals and their
devotees might see those who joined the party later as some kind of
interlopers, the lovely people here just stretch out their arms and welcome you
into the fold. Being such a small,
distinctive scene there is huge potential for pretentiousness and cliquey
behaviour, yet we have found very little evidence of these amongst the hardcore
who you just know attend every single one of the indiepop events organised in
the UK, in Madrid, New York, Berlin, etc.
We have had the good
fortune to meet some wonderful people at Indietracks; the friendliness is like
nothing we have ever experienced at other gigs or festivals, and it is quite
normal to just start chatting with others in the Merchandise Tent, whilst
watching bands, and when going to and from the festival on the trains. Most of
the bands we have met at Indietracks have told us about a friend’s band that we
just must not miss, and most of the ticket-buyers at the festival have a
personal connection of some kind with at least one of the bands playing over
the weekend. Loads of people have
asked us for recommendations for people to watch and, whilst that might not
seem all that unusual as we do run a radio station, most of them don’t even
know that, they just want to chat and find out something about a new band. Pretty much everyone who goes to the
festival is incredibly open-minded about new bands and see more than a few
bands each year that they have never heard of before, meaning that most
performances have a really good crowd. This extends to the sale of merchandise, as the Merch Tent
offers a temporary shop-front to every band playing the festival following
their set and the merchandise just flies off the table – I have never seen so
many happy shoppers clutching new vinyl, t-shirts, stickers and badges. Not only is the Merch Tent for selling
stuff, it is also the venue for impromptu acoustic sets from artists performing
at the festival and from other artists who just happen to be there!
If you haven’t been, be
sure to next year. It has to be
the most relaxing and enjoyable festival experience in the UK, it is totally
family friendly, full of nice people, and all for a good cause – providing
funds for the Midland Railway Museum.
All of the artists
interviewed by RadioNowhere over the weekend will be featured in an Indietracks
special and some of those artists will also be serving time in The Vinyl
Dungeon very soon… visit radionowhere.org for more information or follow us on Facebook
and Twitter.
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