Music / Bandulu Records
Interview: Tom Hoyle, The Blast
After launching one of the standout events of Bristol’s musical schedule in 2016, we are hyped to see Sequences Festival returning for its second year of madness at Motion. Marrying heavyweight soundsystems VOID, RC1 and Dirt Sound and linking with local specialists The Blast, Bandulu Records and Critical Music to set a pace throughout the day’s celebration of underground music, this year promises more vibes, energy and more life than ever. We caught up with The Blast’s head honcho Tom for a forecast.
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What’s the ethos this year?
Much the same as last year – we just want to let the music be the focal point. We’re very happy with the lineup we’ve pulled together and we feel it represents a great spectrum of the sounds that we’re into.
How have things stepped up?
We’re adding a fourth area to showcase some of our favourite up and coming Bristol talent. We’re also bringing in a wider range of food traders this year including Bristol favourites Biblos, Stone Baked Pizza, some very tasty Burgers courtesy of Burger Bear, and a really great Caribbean stall run by Blast resident K-Stylz’s dad – the man behind one of Bristol’s favourite Jamaican takeaways, Yummy’s in Staple Hill.
We’re also very excited to have Chase & Status headlining as they’re an act that we feel encompass a lot of what we like about the UK DnB and bass music scene. They have produced music across a whole range of genres, and played enormous stages across the world, but they still regularly turn up to a club and drop a set for the heads, so they’ve not lost touch with their roots.
What have you learned from your launch last year?
That people really responded well to the idea of a larger scale daytime event offering a well thought-out lineup primarily focused on underground bass music. It seems that we’re not the only ones who would rather go to an event where the focus is on the music, and not just on crowds of people wearing fancy dress and glitter and taking selfies!
What’s so important about hosting returning soundsystems?
It’s great to have both VOID and Dirt Sound on board for the second year, as they both grew out of the same kind of scene that we did. They really understand the music and want to help showcase it in the best way possible.
What can we expect from the individual soundsystems?
Dirt Sound are switching things up for the Blast stage this year, with a new arrangement to make best use of the space out front and maximise the spread and weight of sound around the dance area. They have loads of experience doing sound for huge outdoor events like Notting Hill Carnival so it is really good to be working with them again.
VOID are also bringing in a brand new system for the Critical Warehouse. We’ve worked with them to address some of the more challenging aspects of the space, including providing extra acoustic draping around the room. They’re great guys to be working with and are really passionate about showcasing the music with the serious weight and clarity that it deserves.
Finally, we’re very excited to have RC1 on board this year. We consulted with the Bandulu guys and asked them who they thought could do justice to the weight of their music and RC1 came out on top. We popped down to run some tests with them and a couple of the Bandulu gang at Trinity earlier this year and it sounded amazing!
How many people are you expecting?
We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response to this year’s event and tickets are really flying. Attendance on the Facebook event is also going through the roof at the moment so if even a third of those people make it down then we’re looking at a roadblock! All I can say is get your tickets in ASAP as they might not be available for much longer…
Sequences Festival takes place on Saturday, July 29 at Motion. Tickets are available from Seetickets at http://www.seetickets.com/tour/sequences-festival-2017 and Ticketarena at https://www.ticketarena.co.uk/events/Sequences-Festival
Read more: Review: The Outlook Orchestra + Roots Manuva, Lloyds Amphitheatre
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