Indietracks - Interview with Natalie and Andy Hudson

  by Dixie Ernill

published: 22 / 7 / 2015

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Despite being less than 10 years old, Indietracks is fast becoming every indie-pop fans favourite festival, Dixie Ernill goes behind the scenes to chat with co-organisers Nat and Andy Hudson

Set in the heart of Derbyshire at the site of an old railway yard, the location of Indietracks is certainly one of the more interesting ones on the festival circuit. Now in its ninth year and with a staunchly indie-pop (both old and new) slant, the festival is a must for C86 veterans and the new indie-pop kids on the block alike. Indeed, such is its appeal that is attracts fans and indeed bands from across the globe. Though it has grown over the years, the festival still remains intimate, laid-back and family orientated. Pennyblackmusic caught up with two of the festival’s organisers, husband and wife Andy and Natalie Hudson. PB: Indietracks is a wonderful festival and I was lucky enough to be there in 2013 when the Brilliant Corners played the indoor stage with the rain hammering down outside. It remains one of my favourite ever gigs. What have been your favourite festival moments since it all began in 2007? AH: Actually, that Saturday night in 2013 was a favourite memory for me too, for different reasons. While everyone was enjoying the Brilliant Corners, we were rushing around trying to rearrange Camera Obscura to play indoors to avoid the thunderstorm. It could have been awful asking the stage crew, band and audience to change all their plans, but everyone was so lovely and understanding about the whole thing, and everyone worked really hard to keep the show on track. Some people had been waiting in the rain for Camera Obscura to stand at the front, but they were so nice about the switch. The whole evening just showed how brilliant and understanding our audience, bands, staff and stage crew are, and we're so lucky. My other favourite memories range from the impromptu gigs and singalongs across the sites to the bands that manage to spring a really special moment - La Casa Azul, Allo Darlin', Helen Love, the Hidden Cameras and Withered Hand all jump immediately to mind, but there's so many and everyone will have their own favourites. PB: Over the years you have managed to book some great established artists (such as the Wedding Present, Edwyn Collins, Teenage Fanclub and the Primitives), together with a whole host of up and coming bands from across the globe. Is there anyone you haven’t yet booked that you would really like to play the festival? AH: Well, there's bands we've invited for years before it finally worked out - the Go! Team, the Pastels and Bis, for example. We even invited them while they were on hiatus just in case! We've lots of ideas for future years, but it's probably not fair for us to name them here. You can probably guess lots of them! Having said that, if anyone's in touch with the Sundays or Kenickie and could persuade them, that would be ace! We're also just as interested in finding the next exciting new band; there are lots this year - Desperate Journalist, Tuff Love, JUNK. and Feature to name just a few. So the main thing for next year is finding amazing bands we've haven't heard yet! PB: I have been to other smaller scale European indie pop festivals such as the Madrid Popfest and the Berlin Popfest, which are traditional venue based events. How did the use of an old railway site come about? NH: It was originally started by a guy called Stuart Mackay, who used to work at the Midland Railway restoring trains. He was a huge indiepop fan, and decided to hold a one-night indiepop gig there, headlined by Pocketbooks. It was a huge success and sold out, and so he then decided to try it out as a weekend festival, with the first one being held in July 2007, although it was much smaller back then and there wasn't an outdoor stage. Stuart isn’t involved any more now as he’s moved to California, but hopefully we’re managing to still run Indietracks true to its original spirit! PB: The festival has grown dramatically over the last few years – it must take a fair bit of organising. How many people are involved behind the scenes? NH: As you can imagine, there is a huge team of people involved in making it all run smoothly! There are four of us who book bands and look after promotion of the festival, and then we have a lovely group of people who help with the workshops, volunteers and creating the programme, artwork and bags/t-shirts. The railway staff do most of the real work though – they make sure all the stages are set up, negotiate the license with the Council, make sure our real ale bar is fully stocked etc. They work so hard, and so we’re really lucky to have such a great team working with us. And of course, there are also all the volunteers who work tirelessly over the weekend itself – we literally couldn’t do it without them! PB: Is there anything special planned this year that you haven’t done previously and who are you particularly looking forward to seeing play? NH: Nothing new as such, although the railway team will often have little surprises up their sleeves – the mobile owl sanctuary and creation of a little “outdoor beach” have been particular highlights. Every year is always special in some way though, and of course we’re looking forward to next year’s tenth anniversary! Personally I’m really looking forward to seeing Euros Childs (as I’m a huge Gorky’s Zygotic Mynic fan) and also the Go! Team. We’ve been trying to book them for a while now, and I’m so happy that we’ve finally been able to bring them to Indietracks. They're going to close the festival in amazing style, I'm sure! PB: Thank you.

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