Livestream music festival to showcase Hull & Nottingham’s finest
SPECIAL GUESTS: Hull band LIFE
With live gigs off the cards for almost a year now, a new project has won Arts Council funding to showcase the musical output of Hull and Nottingham in one big event on March 20.
To Hull and Back is a response to the pandemic restrictions of the live sector that aims to boost promising musical careers that may have stalled due to the lack of touring opportunities on the indie circuit of small independent music venues; a rite of passage for upcoming acts looking to build their fanbases.
The livestream festival will showcase the best of each city to a wider audience to help artists reach fans outside their native cities. The curated line up features more than 20 acts, from ambient alt-pop to heavy blues and hip hop.
Conceived by Nottingham’s Fisher Gate Point partner Ian Gardiner (Offshoots/Fisher Gate Point) and indie promoter Will Robinson (I’m Not From London), To Hull and Back is being delivered in collaboration with Hull’s iconic independent music venue and long-standing champion of new artists, The Adelphi.
Among the diverse line-up are Nottingham duo Haggard Cat, who released their third album, Common Sense Holiday, via Earache Records to wide critical acclaim.
With their DIY ethic and propensity for pulling off memorable antics earning them a reputation as a band that push boundaries, a recent stunt involved the two musicians holed up in a small concrete box for 24 hours as a visual metaphor for how Brexit will impair British bands’ abilities to tour Europe.
‘MEMORABLE ANTICS’: Nottingham duo Haggard Cat
Appearing as special guests for the Hull live stream are post-punk band LIFE. The band made a splash with their 2019 album A Picture of Good Health picking up four playlisted singles at BBC 6 Music, and Steve Lamacq championing them.
LIFE have toured in Europe and America, appeared with kindred spirits Idles, Slaves and Nadine Shah, and made their Glastonbury debut.
Will Robinson said: “To Hull and Back builds on the work we’ve done over the last five years to establish musical links between the cities that we feel share a DIY spirit.
“We had been putting on nights in each city bringing bands from Nottingham to Hull and vice-versa. Covid stopped this happening but this project will help continue the momentum that had been building.”
Paul Sarel, general manager at The New Adelphi, and member of participating Hull band Bunkerpop, said: “As a musician as well, I know how tough it is for bands and artists not able to play live gigs for so long. I hope this experience will be a valuable chance for them to enjoy the feeling of playing for an audience again and ignite a spark of hope for the future.”
Bunkerpop
Music industry presenters in both cities will introduce the acts throughout the day, bringing them to the attention of new audiences, interspersed with interviews and guides to each city’s music scene. If Covid restrictions allow, there will also be an invited audience at both venues.
The audience will also be encouraged to interact with presenters Chai Larden, Jimi Arundell and Yazmin Coe to let them know which acts they would most like to see on the festival bill in their own hometown.
Some of those acts from Hull will secure a slot at I’m Not From London’s The Waterfront Festival in July, while Nottingham acts will play at The New Adelphi’s Fast & Bulbous Festival in August.
For the audience, a competition to win a pair of tickets for each festival next summer will run throughout the day.
To Hull and Back will be streamed on March 20 from 4pm and will be available to watch on various platforms.
The Hull line-up features Bunkerpop, Chubby Mam, LIFE, The Dyr Sister, Chiedu & Deezkid, Yasmin Coe Band, Black Salmon, and Sarah Shiels.
The Nottingham acts are Haggard Cat, Witch of The East, eam (Mae Monypenny), Local Healers and Louis Cypher, Concrete Rose, Chai6, Elmz, Desensitised, and ZeraTonin.
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