Hinterland Festival is not a new concept – a multi-venue festival, where one wristband allows you access to hundreds of bands, art events and other goodies. Camden Crawl has been following this blueprint for over 10 years now. However, the concept seems strange and new to the people of Glasgow who had not experienced something on quite this large a scale before. True, there was Tryptich and now Stag & Dagger has made it’s way to the home of the brave, but Hinterland Festival is big, bold and ambitious, especially in these economically trying times

A few weeks before Hinterland is set to hit Glasgow’s most prestigious, cool and underground venues, there’s news that Homecoming Festival has been cancelled. The industry’s been wobbly for a while and it remains to be seen whether Hinterland will triumph.

Thursday 30th April 2009
Thursday day, the box office is running slightly behind and Hinterland’s organisers are scurrying around, organising last minute guestlist changes and other bits and pieces. From around 12 noon, press and ticket holders dribble-in and by 1pm, there are huge queues as people hit the ticket exchange in the early afternoon. You can start to feel the buzz now as the kids don their shiny wristbands and head out into Glasgow’s grey urban wilderness.

As the evening skies descend upon Hinterland’s venues, you can almost smell the eager anticipation in the air. The bands and punters alike seem a little tense, this being Hinterland’s first year. Who knows what to expect?

We head down to The Classic Grand. The venue looks a little dilapidated from the outside but it holds two floors of music and dancing till the wee hours. London promoters and PRs, A Badge of Friendship, host downstairs events boasting a alt-rock line-up with Sucioperro, Brigade, Geordi La Force and 85 Bears. Upstairs, This Is Music, showcase sets from Fanfarlo, Meursalt, Orphans & Vandals and Trailer Trash Tracys. So that’ll be alt-rock goodness downstairs with hip ‘n’ trendy indie upstairs – sounds good to me, a bit of variety.

The venue is mostly empty as doors open, both upstairs and down. However, as 85 Bears hit the stage, folk seem to be coming in out of nowhere. 85 Bears mesmerise the crowd with their hypnotically addictive loops and melodies. They’re really revving-up the audience, showing these gig-goers that instrumental music can have a groove and a bit of bite.

Meanwhile, upstairs is a little empty with Trailer Trash Tracys bringing their own brand of “trendy” post-rocking music mastery to the fore. It’s a little like a watered-down My Bloody Valentine, boring in parts, nice in others. There’s not much of a buzz and maybe not the best choice for a first-on slot but they play reasonably well, nothing spectacular.

And so downstairs for Geordi La Force; no one really knows what to make of this one-man-one-laptop performance. The mistake that people often make is believing Geordi will either bless us with ambient electro musings or go down the Aphex Twin route. However, he sticks two fingers up at that notion and plays lightning fast riffs over grooving rock melodies. The music is highly technical but really listenable. There are also some really gorgeous introspective moments during the set too, good to see some variety during the set. The visuals that accompany GLF are a must. The “man of mystery” proclaims, two songs in: “The laptop is now going to read your minds…” and so in between each song is a random, yet highly comedic, set of clips form Robbie Williams falling on his arse on stage to Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers. By the end of his set, Geordi La Force has amassed quite a crowd. Love him or hate him, he’s definitely a boundary pusher and one to watch on the alt-rock circuit.

We unfortunately miss Orphans & Vandals for Geordi La Force. Seemingly, it’s still a little quiet upstairs, which is a shame as Meursalt take the stage. However, people are slowly flooding into the 550 capacity room but the buzz is lacking. Perhaps This Is Music’s bands would have been better in a smaller venue.

Next-up, Brigade, a London band featuring Will Simpson. Funnily enough, Will’s brother, Charlie (Fightstar) is playing a gig down the road at the ABC tonight and his younger brother, Edd (Prego) is due to play Hinterland the next evening – it’s definitely a family affair! It’s a little sparse as Brigade burst onto the stage with their explosive sounds. When you say “rock band”, Brigade really fit the bill. They try and mix up interesting melodies with huge walls of noise. The boys seem to be enjoying the night and eventually, a few hardcore Brigade fans make their way to the front and it’s not long before others follow.

We nip upstairs quickly for Fanfarlo. These Londoners play to quite a good crowd, despite the poorer turnout at the beginning of the evening. The music is gorgeous and it puts a smile on everyone’s faces. We’re also starting to hear reports from friends who’ve been hoofing it around Glasgow, visiting Hinterland’s other venues

Friends tell us that there’s a huge queue outside Nice N Sleazy to see Desalvo and The Fall, naturally, it’s just about at capacity. The Invisible are playing to a huge sweaty audience, Metronomy are becoming one of the highlights of Hinterland’s debut evening of musical delights, Cassidy opened Pivo Pivo to a full-on crowd and played a great set and folk are impressed and mystified by Edie Sedwick.

And so to the final band of the evening - Sucioperro. Sucioperro’s Dragon also features in Marmaduke Duke, Simon Neil’s (Biffy Clyro) latest musical incarnation. Dragon and The Atmosphere (Simon Biffy) are steadily gaining success with their new musical adventure as Marmaduke Duke, however, Sucioperro are not to be ignored. These boys play great, complicated, heartfelt rock. They are tight, succinct and have attracted a solid crowd tonight singing along with most of the band’s hits.

Sucioperro have rounded-off our evening perfectly. All the bands are milling about afterwards; chatting to each other, fans, press and the general consensus is this has been the perfect Hinterland opener. As A Badge of Friendship hit the decks, the revellers hit the dance floor to Max Tundra, Public Enemy and a little Soundgarden. We can’t wait for Friday!

Friday 1st May 2009
It was a long night last night but bleary-eyed gig goers are not deterred by this at all. Another busy day at the box office it seems for staff means a night of good vibes ahead.

There’s an air of real excitement tonight as some quality bands finish Hinterland’s first year with a bang – Jeffrey Lewis, Sons & Daughters, Broken Records and This Will Destroy You are all firmly placed on punters’ agendas tonight so it seems.

First-up over to King Tut’s, hosted by A Badge of Friendship again, for Elks. The venue is really dead as the band start their set but they seem to win over the audience as they hit their stride around four songs in. Heads are bobbing, feet are tapping and, looking around the room, it’s evident that folk are really impressed with Elks’ honest, sincere and in-your-face approach to indie-rock that’s missing from the genre.

We quickly run up to The Art School, where Gigwise are hosting the proceedings, as London band, Phantom grace the Art School’s stage. They’ve been described as many things – Tarantino-esque, sweetly sinister, likened to Ennio Morricone – but I’d say they are simply perfection. The first aspect that strikes us is their perfect appearance, retro, glamorously classy but the music is simply divine. Their set is filled with a modern film noire themed quality to the music. Crystal clear guitars and haunting female vocals over firm beats really pound into the very heart of your soul. Beautiful.

We quickly run back to Tut’s where the venue heaves with Jeffrey Lewis fans. As Jeffrey hits the stage, the venue stops letting people in. It’s so great to see Jeffrey Lewis and his band The Junkyard, play a smaller venue like this, which actually suits his music so much better. His honest lyrical style and music bring such a cheer to the venue tonight. I’m almost dancing with happiness; this is definitely my Hinterland highlight so far.

It’s over in almost a flash, I enjoyed the set so much I hardly notice the time and we stay for Dinosaur Pile-Up. Dinosaur Pile-Up are part of the amazing Leeds music seen that has nurtured bands such as Sky Larkin, Wintermute and These Monsters amongst others – an all of whom are playing Hinterland too. These guys make quite a racket. There’s something almost early Melvins about this band and that is never a bad thing. The venue is not as busy as it was for Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard but for a band of this nature, there are still a fair few people here, at least 150 – not bad for a Leeds band in Glasgow town.

Tut’s finishes relatively early so it’s aftershow time! The Fruitmarket is the place to be for all Hinterland partygoers. As we arrive, Alex (Skulljuice) is already deep in tune “spinnage”. Hinterlanders seem to love the odd noises and dance-based beats. Not really our thing, we do a bit of people watching for a while until The Count & Sinden come one. As this DJ duo hit the decks, everyone is really revved up and, of course, Simian Mobile Disco’s DJ set round-off a perfect two days of music, art, clubs and fun!

Having experienced many a festival in my time, Hinterland was very well organised. Despite the price, which may change next year if the promoters take note, many people I talked to had the chance to see at least six, if not seven bands per evening. There were queues at some venues but the waiting times weren’t long and buzz bands like Glasgow’s We Were Promised Jetpacks, were always bound to attract a huge crowd in their hometown.

The idea of smaller bands having their time to shine amongst the big boys is a great idea. It’s also good to see a blend of genres from rock, doom and indie to dance, experimental music, electro and a plethora of DJ sets around the city. Hinterland should definitely be an example to all multi-venue festivals – defiant in the face of “selling out”.

The organisers brought a little cheer to a usually dreary Glasgow and, more importantly, Hinterland brought bands, musicians, labels, A&Rs and thousands of people to a small city in a time of economic crisis. We should all support independent events in the hope of boosting our local economy, discovering a new band or two and bringing a little cheer in what seems like a serious time for all of us. Hinterland is shining the light, let them lead the way!

Photographs courtest of Heidi Kuisma