Working in the music industry, The Great Escape has always felt like a right of passage - the wristband that can make you feel more a part of the inner music community than most others.
The multi-venue festival takes place across Brighton each year and sees over 450 emerging artists from all over the world, and of all genres, showcased in tiny sweaty rooms, underground stages, or even a large white marquee on the famous pebble beach. It’s a chance for both those programming venues, and those with a hunger for discovering new sounds, to get there first; the catalyst for ‘I saw them when they were playing to 30 people, and now they’re headlining Glastonbury’. It also importantly provides an invaluable opportunity for artists travelling from every pocket of the globe to be exposed to new audiences - the classic trope, ‘you never know who’s in a room, even if it’s one person’ ringing more true at The Great Escape than anywhere else. It creates a step high-up on the ladder to opportunities beyond those rooms - securing management, gaining slots on festival lineups and tours, being signed by labels, and forming connections with people making things happen in the industry.
What stood out to me beyond that though, was the sense of community that was felt from the crowds - packed into dark rooms together, witnessing something great for the first time, turning to the person next to them to give an appreciative nod, and the low glow of phones as the band name is quickly typed into their search bar. Walking the streets of Brighton over those four days was a shared experience of repeatedly overhearing conversations like ‘Who are you going to now?’, ‘Did you see ?’, and ‘I can’t believe I missed ’ - an active hub for likeminded music-lovers to bond over their anticipation for the ‘next best thing’.
It was a pleasure to be working as part of Generator’s team across Northern House this year - a two-day showcase that specifically highlighted a wide range of artists from the North, covering Liverpool all the way up to Glasgow, in Brighton’s Waterbear Music Bar. The stage was led by The Northern Music Export Office, a group of industry partners (eg. Generator, Kycker, EMI North) coming together for the first time to celebrate some of the very best sounds coming out of the region right now.
As a stage-host and post-set interviewer, it was a real joy that my role meant hearing first-hand what an impact this showcase was making. As I mentioned in the opening statement before the very first act, it’s more than an elephant in the room that there are a lack of opportunities in the North (though these organisations work tirelessly to make it feel less like that each year). I think sometimes we pride ourselves on that when we experience success, and that it can actually be the driving force in our unity. You feel it a lot in Newcastle - when one of us wins, all of us win, and that feeling of comradery was strong across this showcase too. From Miles Temp expressing that it was his first gig outside of his hometown in Liverpool, and seeing his excitement when I told him there were far more than his self-expected ‘3 people’ in the room waiting to watch him play, all the way to Hull-based Life, long-standing favourites in the grassroots Northern alternative scene with a discography spanning over a decade, who explained how much the North and strength of music community in Hull has fed their motivation - so easily felt by the roaring cheers of a packed-out room when their hometown was referenced in their stage introduction.
One thing that was extremely important about this showcase was its variety; the stage had such clear intent to reach for as many genres as possible, from Liverpool duo Tian Qiyi bringing a fascinating fusion of electric jazz played with traditional Chinese and Mongolian instrumentation, to Manchester’s Prido boasting upbeat afro anthems, and Newcastle’s Lizzie Esau sprinkling shoegaze-meets-indie-rock - the breadth and level of talent on that stage was unmatched.
To play a part in representing our region, and to be able to introduce these acts with such genuine pride to a reputable space like The Great Escape (a space so deep-rooted in building careers from the grassroots up) was an extremely special experience that I probably won’t stop talking about for a very long time - I’m equally as appreciative of Generator for an opportunity like that in my own field.
Long-live Northern representation, and long-live the fraction of talent we got to shout about from a region that exists, and has always existed, as a huge contributor to the wider music scene, yet can still feel undervalued - lucky me, and lucky us x
Daryl Jenkins - NE Music Presenter & Interviewer