Independent festivals are driven by a desire for autonomy, a passion for the scene, and a need to ensure the quality of the live experience. Whether that’s just a bunch of mates putting on each other’s bands to create a space tailored for the DIYers or local promoters running independent shows that grow into a festival. With Midsommar Murder Festival’s origin being that of the former, festival organiser Jorge Nunes stated, “I always find myself in a position where I trust myself more than other people when I’m organising things… there’s been issues with promoters or venues where I’m like, ‘Oh, if I was doing this, I would have done it differently'”. Following a nudge from Jorge’s bandmate and festival co-founder Oliver Miles, the North London indie festival was born.
The importance of taking care of those performing was one of the key motivators behind Midsommar. Jorge went on to say, “I wanted the bands to have a really cool green room, and some drinks on the house, and dinner, like actually have dinner, because they’re going to be there the whole day”. This sense of helping those smaller bands and supporting them seemed to be a common theme for the start of other independent festivals as well, including Mangata Festival. Kris Graham-Martin, Director of Mangata Music, shared “the passion has always been there to champion all your up and coming national and international artists in the most action-packed one-day event that we can possibly do”. From their experience putting on a charity festival in Nottingham and raising over £50k for the Macmillan Cancer Support to shining a spotlight on emerging bands, you start to build a picture of love and support driving these festivals.
So how does that differ from your major festivals? When people talk about festivals like Download, a common topic, aside from the mud when the weather is against us, is how kind everyone is. Whilst this is also true of independent festivals, it would appear this aura of compassion runs right through to the centre. There’s also the fact that, at an independent festival, you, as an individual, are more likely to be considered. Now that’s not a critique on the majors necessarily, but from the simple reason that independents have more capacity to meet everyone’s needs because there aren’t 50,000 people descending upon your venue for you to try to keep happy for a day or two. Considering their attendees was something Midsommar Murder Festival did when exploring a date, “Oliver wanted to place it in summer, after Download, and before Bloodstock. It would be in a weekend where it doesn’t clash with anything, and it would still be cheap,” Jorge said. Offering an affordable option to fans to scratch the live music itch whilst they were between major festivals, or perhaps for some, instead of the major festivals, because let’s be honest, large weekend festivals are a financial commitment.
There is also the aspect that independent festivals can, and must, evolve. Whilst noise and traffic complaints can shake a major festival, for independents, it can be make or break. Kris reflected on their first Mangata Festival, “We lost about five grand, which made us have to really re-evaluate what we were going to do, how we were going to approach it”. He went on to say, “We had obstacles with the council and noise problems and other things”. Whilst this re-evaluation has helped to smooth things out for the following years, these types of challenges are things that don’t often phase the majors. An adjustment also took place for Midsommar, although in a different format. Following their debut festival last year, held at The Dev, they received a wave of interest from bands wanting to play. So much so that the expansion was inevitable. “We wanted to go slightly bigger, and I’m good friends with Charlie at Blondies Brewery, and as soon as I told him, he said, ‘I’m all in’, they’re always up for good old rock and metal”. Being able to adapt this quickly and almost double your venue capacity is something you just don’t, and can’t, do on a major festival scale. Receiving the feedback and being able to do something about it without running it past 20 people in the chain of command for approval is what makes these grassroots festivals so flexible.
The other aspect that helps independents stand out from majors, and something we’ve touched on already, is the fact that these festivals are born to support the underground. It’s their bread and butter. Now the majors try their best with the opening bands, smaller stages, and even offering their battle of the bands and competitions to the underdogs, but if you want to catch a true representation of the UK underground, down your local pub or at an indie festival is where you’ll find it. With Jorge outlining where some of the bands on Midsommer’s line-up have come from, “us playing and going to other cities and sharing stages with other bands, the network just grows, and honestly, half of these bands, it’s not just because I know they’re good, on top of that, I am really good friends with them”. At the end of the day, on the ground, this is what it comes down to, and this is how independents get that vibe of ‘we’re all friends here’ because that truly is the case.
And whilst this feeling is carried through other indie festivals, bigger independents like Mangata have a few more hoops to jump through, with Kris outlining just how many aspects come into play when deciding who to book for that year. “It’s never ‘if you do x, y and z’, you’re more considered, I think a part of it is timing”, he continued to talk about finding bands and the juggling act of finding a band that’s not oversaturated but is still exciting. “Okay, so what band hasn’t just played Trees, Bloodstock, or Download… ten56. for example, the only festival appearance they’ve got this year is at Radar Festival, and there’s a really big growing scene for them”. Part of that growth has been from them getting in front of as many crowds as they possibly can, and when touring isn’t an option, indie festivals fill in the gap. Opportunities like Midsommar, Mangata, Hammerdown, Radar, Takedown, Trees (I could go on), allow underground bands a chance to expand their reach in a way that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.
Okay, so big whoop, they’re rooted in the underground, are affordable and help small bands, why should I care about them? If none of the above was enough to convince you, consider this: one of Black Sabbath’s first festival appearances was at Hollywood Music Festival—an independent festival, mind you—back in 1970. This put them on the same stage as some major bands at the time, including The Grateful Dead, and exposed them to scenes beyond Birmingham, which helped them become what we know them as today. A more modern example would be Sleep Token; in 2023, they headlined Takedown Festival in Portsmouth. Only two years on, and they are headlining a major festival! You could claim the ultimate flex in music of ‘I knew them before they were big’. It’s like watching the Mona Lisa be painted. A lot of the time, these bands also hang out for the rest of the festival, so who knows, you could become mates with the future headliners.
Aside from all the brags, these types of events showcase something unique. There’s great music, sure, but there’s also community. A festival of the people, as Jorge relayed, “everything is expensive, it’s hard to go to gigs, it’s hard to buy merch… I want to make this very accessible, so the ticket is just £12”. It’s worth remembering that this community includes the organisers and the festival staff too (who are likely also in bands) which is something Kris touched on “we know that there are festivals bigger than us that don’t pay all the staff, we do take quite a lot of pride in that, like you’re not just supporting us, you’re paying the wages of people that actually support this event as well”. For many who frequent the scene or have friends who are in bands, this is helping those people pay their bills, record their band’s next EP, or help fund that support tour that they were considering turning down due to a lack of money.
Attending an independent festival is an investment into the scene, an investment into the music that you may have grown up listening to. So that in 10 years’ time, when a kid talks about their favourite band, you can tell them a story of how you saw them at some random indie festival before the lead singer dyed his hair their signature colour, or how you helped them fund that first ever album by buying their t-shirt. Headliners have to start somewhere, and most of the time, it’s at that little festival you’ve heard of but never gone to. So go to it.
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