ON September 14, a disparate group of bands from around the UK and beyond will join a selection of Scotland’s best underground outfits for Freakender, a three-day festival held in the city’s Old Hairdressers.
Top-rated US underground bands Holy Wave, The Blank Tapes and The Sueves will play the DIY festival, alongside London bands such as Ice Baths, Manchester’s MOLD and all-female indie rockers Melanas, whose Freakender appearance will be their first gig outside their native Spain.
Bands from closer to home include Glasgow’s rhythmic KAPUTT, the krautrocking Tomorrow Syndicate, slacker popsters Savage Mansion and punk outfits Objectified and Future Glue.
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Headlining the Saturday night will be Free Love (pictured), the new name of hugely popular synth duo Happy Meals.
“It’s almost a 50/50 split between the bands from elsewhere and the local bands,” says organiser Ian Crawford. “It’s quite a showcase for local bands. We were really thrilled to get Holy Wave and Melenas, who we saw play at [Texas music convention] South By Southwest. As soon as we got home we asked them to play, and they said yes.”
Music promoter Crawford, formerly of noted 2000s band Kain, says that many bands approach Freakender asking to play.
“It’s really difficult to get on to mainstream festival line-ups, and most of them are pretty ‘safe’ acts,” he says. “I can’t imagine Future Glue or Objectified being at a more mainstream festival. But it’s not that we don’t do pop – The Blank Tapes have a really melodic pop sound. We try to have a rounded bill.”
This will be the third Freakender, with bands taking over both the upstairs and downstairs of the Old Hairdressers. Pop-up record shop Roky Records will set up camp on the venue’s mezzanine, which will also offer fanzines, merchandise and records from the bands. Nearby vegan eaterie and music venue Stereo will provide hearty sustenance, and Sunday’s proceedings will start with what’s billed as a “bloody Mary hangover party”.
When BBC Radio 6 Music had their “Glasgow takeover” in March 2016, Freakender put on a fringe event, a more DIY complement to the performances by more established bands. Crawford, who used to put on gigs under his El Rancho alias, had then not long started Freakender with fellow promoter Holly Calder of Eyes Wide Open and Ross Keppie of local label Fuzzkill Records.
“We are three like-minded individuals who are frequent gig-goers and we’re all really passionate about music,” says Crawford. “We were all doing things individually. Then Holly and I began to do gigs together, putting on bands that we both liked. All three of us were at a gig one night and the idea just came to us kind of instantaneously. We all met up the following week and we decided to do it.”
Allying forces like this benefits fans who get to see a weekend chock full of great bands, and it’s also good for the bands, especially the lesser known outfits, as they get a chance to play to a bigger audience.
The bands and the music fans are what make Freakender a success, says Crawford.
“We’re just the organisers, but once the doors open, the bands and the people that come really make it work,” he says. “Everyone has been so responsive and enthusiastic. Everyone goes for it; everyone parties and enjoys the music and it makes the bands, no matter where they come from, have a great gig.”
September 14 to 16, The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow, 7pm, £18.50. Tickets: bit.ly/Freakender2018
www.freakender.co.uk
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