The Hinterland Festival 2009

I have just got back from a long weekend in Scotland with Elks. We journeyed up there via the usual hospitality of la famille Tat in Leeds to play at The Hinterland Festival in Glasgow, a new urban based festival dedicated to showcasing leftfield, up-and-coming and established multi-genre acts across a number of venues in the city over the course of two nights. Taking its lead from the likes of the Camden Crawl, Brighton's Great Escape and SXSW in Austin, Texas, it's a tricky formula to get right. First and foremost how much do you ask the 'music loving public' to pay for the privilege of running around the city trying to see as many acts as their legs will carry them to (there were far more hills than I remember to)? Hinterland was £23.50 a day (£42 for the two days) and although this in theory breaks down to something in the region of 50p a band, for many I spoke with it was just too much. This inevitably led to people swapping wristbands etc. in local pubs and within hours of the start of the festival there were large numbers of people enjoying it for free! This might not have been a problem for the bands - the bigger the audience the better - but for the organisers it's not so good.
Festivals in fields don't necessarily suffer from a ready-made crowd primed to storm the gates (Glastonbury being the exception to this rule, well maybe a few years ago at any rate), but for a bunch of twenty-somethings at a city centre event the temptation to wriggle their way in was too much to resist. This is in no way a reflection of the organisation of the festival itself, which seemed to cover the bases. Most bands played when they were supposed to play and the management of the wristband exchange at The Arches was faultless. It is, rather, systematic of peoples unwillingness to invest in such events - by this I mean that outside of the mainstream. As with the nonsensical practice of giving music away for free, this is yet another example of the belief that we all deserve something for nothing. The music industry doesn't always help itself, although it's the ones who can afford to give themselves away that are more than happy to perpetuate the scheme, but it's the little guys at the bottom - bands, artists and festival organisers alike - that suffer. Despite this being a genuine cutting edge or at best a challenging event, it appeared as if much of the audience treated it with a mainstream disposability that was rather sad to witness. There were NME cover stars (at least potential ones) involved, but they were the tip of the iceberg. The greater percentage of acts were little known but had all put in the miles to be there and deserved their place and the attention. These events need cash-cows to attract attention (some events take this to the extreme considering their supposed ethos'. The Great Escape being a prime example) but why have audiences become complacent to the extent they will not use their own intuition and perception to seek out great new music? And there was some great new music there, as there is at many other far smaller, far less promoted festivals all around the country. Elks were one of the lucky ones. We were playing with Jeffrey Lewis (a big pull) at King Tuts (a great, well-known venue), but I know many of the smaller venues on the hinterland of Hinterland did struggle to get going.
This is where lessons should be learned and these festivals are a great idea in principle, so they have good foundation to build on. They allow people to enjoy a massive array of music on their doorstep (The Camden Crawl has proved this, although again I would argue it's losing its focus to a certain extent) but I think Hinterland went too big too soon. They could have used less venues and kept them closer together and maybe either had less acts or added a third day to compensate. Ultimatley however what really needs to change is the culture of music consumption in this country - be it on record, download or live. Music as a product is becoming so devalued now that audiences are losing faith in its validity. Regarding live music the issue is made worse by idiotic and unreasonable ticket prices at the top end of the scale which has the trickle down effect creating the perception that events such as Hinterland seem expensive, when in reality for what was on offer it was very reasonable.
I sincerely hope this event happens again next year and that they stick to providing a platform for introducing genuine unknown, quality music, and not feel pressured into giving a larger piece of the festival cake to headliners doing the rounds. Events like Hinterland could play a vital role in shaking audiences out of their complacency by being a major player outside the mainstream if they keep their focus. The UK not only deserves events like this, it needs them!