Miscellaneous - Interview With Natalie Hudson

  by John Clarkson

published: 13 / 3 / 2012

intro

John Clarkson speaks to Stuart Mackay, the organiser and founder of the annual indiepop Indetracks Festival, which is now in its sixth year, about the plans and the line-up for this year's festival.

The Indietracks Festival is an indiepop festival that is situated on the grounds of the Midland Railway, a 1950’s heritage train museum in Butterley in Derbyshire. Now in its sixth year, this year’s three day festival, which will raise money for the museum, will take place between the 6th and the 8th July. With more names still to be announced, the acts that have been confirmed so far include Allo Darlin’, Veronica Falls, the Vaselines, the Monochrome Set, Tender Trap, the Jasmine Minks, the Bart Cummings (with Pam Berry), Evans the Death, Summer camp, the Sunbathers and Tigercats. This year’s festival, as well as offering its usual range of workshops and train rides to festival goers, is being run in collaboration with the durable Californian-based indiepop label Slumberland Records (The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Crystal Stilts, Veronica Falls, Weekend, Stereolab, Velocity Girl) who will be helping to curate its main outdoor stage. Pennyblackmusic spoke to Indietracks’ press officer Natalie Hudson about this year’s festival plans. PB: This year's Indietracks Festival is taking place earlier than usual and over the first full weekend in July rather than the last one, where it has always traditionally taken place in the past. Why have you decided to change the date this year? NH: We usually hold Indietracks on the last weekend in July, but this year accommodation and flights on that weekend proved to be a lot more expensive because of the Olympics. We bring a lot of bands over from abroad, so we decided to bring the date forward to help save money, really. PB: Stuart Mackay who founded the festival and was in charge of it has now left and handed over the running of Indietracks. Who is in charge of it and running it now? NH: There is a team of around eight of us who run it between us, and we all do it in our spare time on top of our day jobs. We, however, couldn't do any of it without the support of the wonderful Midland Railway volunteers, who are the team that make sure everything runs like clockwork on the weekend itself! PB: The festival this year is being done in partnership with the American indie pop label Slumberland. How did they get involved? What does this mean for Indietracks? NH: We've always admired Slumberland Records, They've got a fantastic reputation for supporting both well established and up-and-coming bands. Doing an Indietracks collaboration with them is a dream come true for us, and of course it also means that we get to book a lot of the bands that we love! PB: You will have seen some changes during the last six years. What do you think have been the other most significant developments for Indietracks? NJ: Well, we've certainly come a long way since the first full weekend in 2007! I think one of the most major developments has been the introduction of the larger outdoor stage. Previously this was a truck stage, so the introduction of the bigger stage in 2009 definitely made a big impact on the festival site and the "feel" of the weekend. Also, personally, I think the craft and music workshops have been a fantastic addition to Indietracks. We have had some great sessions, from activities for children, to brilliant craft-y workshops and music workshops on subjects such as how to run a record label, or make your own fanzines. Finally I think the record label collaborations with Elefant, as we did for our third festival in 2009, and Slumberland have also been another great development for Indietracks - a really innovative way of bringing the best new bands to Indietracks, from right across the world. PB: What is the most exciting thing about doing Indietracks? Is it just deciding who is going on the bill, or watching it all unfold over the weekend, or something else? NH: Absolutely everything really, it's all exciting! Obviously we have lots of fun booking the bands, but for me personally the most rewarding things are seeing everyone enjoying themselves at the festival itself, and helping to raise money for the railway. PB: Allo Darlin', Veronica Falls and the Vaslines are probably the two biggest names of the twenty or so that have been announced so far. Will they be the headliners? NH: We're still in the middle of pulling together the line-up, so all I can say for now is - watch this space! If you follow us on Twitter at @indietracksfest, you'll be sure to hear the next exciting announcements as soon as they're made! PB: Beyond Slumberland getting involved, will there be anything else happening at the 2012 Indietracks Festival which hasn't been done before? NH: It's pretty much the same set-up this year. As well as music and the steam train rides, we'll have a range of brilliant workshops, a lovely merchandise tent and of course the disco tents for dancing after the bands have finished! Of course, you never know quite what's going to happen though - over the last couple of years there has been some brilliant impromptu acoustic performances in the merchandise tent, so that's definitely something to look out for again this year! PB: Thank you.