All Tomorrow's Parties (festival)

Last updated

All Tomorrow's Parties
Genre Post-rock, indie rock, electronic, avant-garde, underground hip hop
Location(s) London, England
Years active1999–2016
Founded byBarry Hogan
Website atpfestival.com

All Tomorrow's Parties was a UK organisation based in London that promoted music festivals, concerts and records throughout the world for over ten years. It was founded by Barry Hogan in 2001 in preparation for the first All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, the line-up of which was picked by Mogwai and took place at Pontins, Camber Sands, England. Named after the song "All Tomorrow's Parties" by the Velvet Underground, the festival exhibited a tendency towards post-rock, indie rock, avant-garde music, and underground hip hop, along with more traditional rock fare presented in smaller venues than typical stadium performances. It was at first a sponsorship-free festival where the organisers and artists stay in the same accommodation as the fans. [1] It claimed to set itself apart from festivals like Reading or Glastonbury by staying intimate, non-corporate and fan-friendly. [2] Another difference was the line-ups being chosen by significant bands or artists, resulting in unorthodox events which often combined acts of all sizes, eras, and genres.

Contents

Locations and artists

The festival took place in the UK, US, Japan, Iceland and Australia, and was curated by the following artists: Deerhunter, TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The National, The Drones, Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs), Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel), Battles, Caribou, Les Savy Fav, Amos, Animal Collective, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Jim Jarmusch, Pavement, The Flaming Lips, The Breeders, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mike Patton & Melvins, My Bloody Valentine, Explosions In The Sky, Pitchfork Media, Portishead, Fennesz, Dirty Three, Thurston Moore, The Shins, Sleater-Kinney, Dinosaur Jr., Devendra Banhart, Mudhoney, The Mars Volta, Vincent Gallo, Slint, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Stephen Malkmus, Mogwai, Tortoise, Shellac, Stewart Lee, Sonic Youth, Boards of Canada, Autechre, Modest Mouse, Cowboy Junkies, and The Simpsons creator Matt Groening.

History

The festival had its origins in the Bowlie Weekender, curated by Belle & Sebastian at Camber Sands in April 1999. Artists, usually musicians (but sometimes visual artists like Matt Groening, whose line-up featured in the Observer's list of the ten best festivals of the year, [3] or Jake and Dinos Chapman) were asked to curate the festival by inviting their favourite performers to play. The idea was that it was akin to dipping into the curator's record collection, or as founder Barry Hogan described it, "ATP is like an excellent mix tape". [4]

In 2001 the organisation spawned ATP/Recordings, [5] a record label originally created to bring out compilation albums related to its festivals. However the label eventually moved on from just doing compilations for the festival to sign and release singles and albums from artists including Threnody Ensemble, Bardo Pond, The Magic Band, Deerhoof, White Out, Death Vessel, The Drones, Fursaxa, The Scientists, Apse, Fuck Buttons, Alexander Tucker, Sleepy Sun, Spiritualized, Built To Spill, Autolux and most recently Tall Firs and Tennis. At the end of 2007 ATP/R launched series of double 7" singles called Custom Made, which would feature bands choosing four songs; one something old, one something new, one something borrowed (a cover version) and one something blue (artists were free to interpret this as they feel). Artists to release singles in this series were Australia's The Drones, Britain's Alexander Tucker and America's Deerhoof.

In 2002, the festival expanded to the US, and several events took place there in subsequent years. The organisation also became involved in booking stages at the Pitchfork Music Festival [6] and the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain. In 2008, All Tomorrow's Parties ran their first East Coast USA festival, which took place at Kutsher's Hotel and Country Club, Monticello, New York. [1] In January 2009, the festival took place for the first time in Australia, with events in Brisbane, Sydney and Mount Buller (in Victoria) all curated by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. [7]

The organisation that put on these festivals also promoted concerts in London and the rest of the United Kingdom, curated the yearly Don't Look Back concert series and ran the record label ATP Recordings.

All Tomorrow's Parties, as with a number of modern festivals, embraced a variety of artistic genres. Most festival events featured art exhibitions and cinema programmes (in the US, ATP collaborated with Criterion to present cinema highlighted by appearances from Paul Schrader and Jim Jarmusch), and others featured spoken word performances, stand-up comedy, and book clubs.

In 2007 the curators allowed festival-goers to pick the line-up by organising a voting process for all ticketholders in the months running up to the event, and this was repeated in May 2009. The 2007 festival took place at Butlin's Minehead. [8] In the years before 2013, when ATP announced they were ceasing to hold residential festivals in the UK, [2] the festival took place up to three or four times a year in the UK (in May and then in December for the 'Nightmare Before Christmas'). UK festivals were planned to recommence in 2015, moving to Pontins Prestatyn.

In 2009, Warp Films released a feature-length documentary about the festival named All Tomorrow's Parties . It premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, and then premiered in the UK at Edinburgh in June. In October 2009 the film was screened at a number of 'one night only' UK theatrical screenings also featuring live music from Les Savy Fav, who feature in the film and have long been mainstays of All Tomorrow's Parties line-ups. [9]

In 2010, ATP announced I'll Be Your Mirror, a series of events to take place in cities around the world named after the B-side to the original 1966 "All Tomorrow's Parties" single by the Velvet Underground. These events still involved a curator choosing all the music and films that play at the event, but without the holiday resort accommodation. The first event took place in Tokyo, Japan in February 2011.

Significant past performances at ATP festivals include the reformations of The Magic Band, Television, The Jesus Lizard, Sleep, and Slint amongst others. All Tomorrow's Parties also presented the return of My Bloody Valentine with a series of worldwide live performances throughout 2008, the London concerts of which were named Time Out London's Gig of the Year.

Financial difficulties

In 2012, the company running the events was put into liquidation, owing £2.6 million to its creditors. [10] The company's directors set up a new firm, Wilwall, but this also experienced difficulties, filing late accounts, incurring significant debts, and was subject to court judgements related to debt. [10] A Grizzly Bear concert at Alexandra Palace was cancelled, as was its urban festival, Jabberwocky, the latter only 3 days before the event was due to take place. [10] A festival hosted by Drive Like Jehu was to be held in Prestatyn in Wales in 2016, but this was moved to Manchester in England, before being cancelled. A few months later the company went in administration, and its scheduled festival in Iceland was cancelled. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portishead (band)</span> British band

Portishead are an English band formed in 1991 in Bristol. The band is named after Portishead, Somerset, eight miles west of Bristol, along the coast. The band comprises vocalist Beth Gibbons, producer Geoff Barrow, and musician Adrian Utley; Dave McDonald, an engineer on their first records, is sometimes cited as the fourth member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slint</span> American rock band

Slint was an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1986. The band consisted of Brian McMahan, David Pajo (guitar), Britt Walford, Todd Brashear, and Ethan Buckler. Slint's first album, Tweez, was recorded by engineer Steve Albini in 1987 and released in obscurity on the Jennifer Hartman Records label in 1989. It was followed two years later by the critically acclaimed Spiderland, released on the independent label Touch and Go Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeah Yeah Yeahs</span> American indie rock band

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring member in 2009 and replaced Imaad Wasif, who had previously held the role. According to an interview that aired during ABC's Live from Central Park SummerStage series, the band's name was taken from modern New York City vernacular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deerhoof</span> American band

Deerhoof are an American musical group formed in San Francisco in 1994. They consist of founding drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez. Beginning as an improvised noise punk band, Deerhoof became widely renowned and influential in the 2000s through their self-produced albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loop (band)</span>

Loop are an English rock band, formed in 1986 by Robert Hampson in Croydon. The group topped the UK independent charts with their albums Fade Out (1989) and A Gilded Eternity (1990). Their dissonant "trance-rock" sound drew on the work of artists like the Stooges, Suicide and Can, and helped to resurrect the concept of space rock in the late 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autolux</span> American rock band

Autolux is an American alternative rock band consisting of Eugene Goreshter, Greg Edwards and Carla Azar. The trio formed in 2001 and have released three full-length albums, Future Perfect (2004), Transit Transit (2010) and Pussy's Dead (2016). Their sound draws from post-punk, electronic music, krautrock and shoegaze.

The Bowlie Weekender was a music festival curated by Belle & Sebastian at the Pontin's Holiday camp in Camber Sands, Sussex between Friday 23 and Sunday 25 April 1999.

The Intonation Music Festival was a yearly summer music festival held at Union Park in Chicago, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frenchkiss Records</span>

Frenchkiss Records is an independent record label based in New York City. The label was started in 1999 by Syd Butler, bassist and founder of Les Savy Fav. The label's first purpose was to release Les Savy Fav's second album The Cat and The Cobra, but has since been the label responsible for discovering a varying array of artists such as The Hold Steady, The Antlers, The Dodos, Local Natives and Passion Pit. The label has recently added a music publishing side as well, Frenchkiss Publishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Fuck</span> Canadian electronica band

Holy Fuck is a Canadian electronica band from Toronto. They were a part of Dependent Music, a music label and artist collective that began in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 2004 until its closing. They were then a part of the Young Turks label and in 2016 they signed with Innovative Leisure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ATP Recordings</span> British independent record label

ATP Recordings is a British independent record label that was started in 2001 by London-based concert promoter Barry Hogan of Foundation/All Tomorrow's Parties. It was originally created to bring out a compilation cd (ATPRCD01) after the Tortoise-curated All Tomorrow's Parties event. First, everyone who attended the first festival was given a limited edition promotional sampler (PROATPFCD01), the packaging of which echoed the Factory Records style of Peter Saville. The full compilation followed later, and indeed a number of other ATP festivals would also receive the compilation treatment, the most recent being the 2006 Nightmare Before Christmas, for which ATPR and Plan B Magazine collaborated on a free cd given out to attendees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marnie Stern</span> Musical artist

Marnie Stern is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and guitarist. She has garnered acclaim for her technical skill and tapping style of guitar play. Stern is also a current member of The 8G Band from the show Late Night with Seth Meyers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deerhunter</span> American rock band

Deerhunter is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2001. The band currently consists of Bradford Cox, Moses Archuleta, Lockett Pundt, Josh McKay (bass) and Javier Morales.

Don't Look Back was a yearly series of concerts in which London-based promoters All Tomorrow's Parties would ask artists and bands to play one of their seminal albums live in its entirety. The season started in London in 2005, and has since spread its wings further each year, appearing from 2006 onwards in America and Europe, and in 2008 onwards in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sled Island Music and Arts Festival</span> Annual music festival in Calgary, Canada

The Sled Island Music & Arts Festival is an annual independent music and arts festival formed in 2007 and held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Each June, the five-day festival showcases over 200 bands, visual artists, filmmakers and comedians as well as over 40,000 attendees in multiple venues across the city. Each year, Sled Island selects a guest curator to help set the direction and tone of the festival through specialized programming choices and with their presence at the event. Past guest curators have included Sudan Archives (2022), Julien Baker (2019), Deerhoof (2018), Flying Lotus (2017), Peaches (2016), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2015), Kathleen Hanna (2014), John Dwyer (2013), Tim Hecker (2013), Andrew W.K. (2012), Danny Vacon (2012), Grant Lawrence (2011), Bogus Tokus (2011), Fucked Up (2010), King Khan (2010), Quintron & Miss Pussycat (2010), Colin Newman (2009), Scott Kannberg (2008) and Mark Andrew Hamilton of Woodpigeon (band) (2007).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryce Dessner</span> American musician

Bryce David Dessner is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, as well as a member of the rock band the National. Dessner's twin brother Aaron is also a member of the group. Together they write the music, in collaboration with lead singer / lyricist Matt Berninger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nisennenmondai</span> Japanese band

Nisennenmondai (にせんねんもんだい) are a Tokyo-based instrumental trio. They formed in 1999 and took their name from the Japanese translation of the then-current phrase "Y2K bug."

<i>All Tomorrows Parties</i> (2009 film) 2009 documentary film

All Tomorrow's Parties is a 2009 documentary film directed by All Tomorrow's People and Jonathan Caouette covering the history of the long running All Tomorrow's Parties music festival. Described as a "post-punk DIY bricolage", the film was created using footage generated by the fans and musicians attending the events themselves, on a multitude of formats including Super8, camcorder and mobile phone. All Tomorrow's People is a name representing the contributions of these attendees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Swadel</span>

Marc Swadel is a New Zealand film director, cinematographer, writer and producer. He is most well known for his music based output, spanning TV, music promo and feature film. As a feature film cinematographer, Marc has shot many features including:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivid Live</span>

Vivid LIVE is an annual contemporary music festival held by Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid Sydney. Taking place across all six venues at the Opera House, it features a bill of local and international artists, specially commissioned works and the hallmark Lighting of the Sails. It stands as the centrepiece of the Sydney Opera House's contemporary music program.

References

  1. 1 2 Sisario, Ben (2 September 2010). "Flouting the Mainstream, Forgoing a Corporate Stamp". The New York Times.
  2. 1 2 "ATP launch End Of An Era - All Tomorrow's Parties". All Tomorrow's Parties. 26 April 2013.
  3. ↑ Empire, Kitty (8 May 2010). "The 10 best music festivals". the Guardian.
  4. ↑ Gensler, Andy (1 September 2010). "All Tomorrow's Parties & Book Club". T Magazine.
  5. ↑ "ATP Recordings". All Tomorrow's Parties. 11 October 2018.
  6. ↑ Dollar, Steve (22 July 2008). "Pitchfork Hosts a Perma-Rock Festival". The New York Sun.
  7. ↑ "Veterans rock for Cave the curator". The Australian. 12 January 2009. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  8. ↑ Smart, James (11 December 2007). "ATP: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Butlins, Minehead". the Guardian.
  9. ↑ "Warp's return to Sheffield". BBC. 18 September 2009.
  10. 1 2 3 Marshall, Alex (13 August 2014). "Why Jabberwocky's cancellation was not a complete surprise". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  11. ↑ "ATP shuts down for good, ATP Iceland cancelled". FACT Magazine. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.