Simple Things Festival 'really important' to alternative music scene

Robin Stewart (R) from Giant Swan used to work at the Beacon as a teenager so said it will be "quite fun" to perform on the main stage

An "important" music festival providing a space for more alternative artists is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Simple Things returns to Bristol on 24 February after a four-year hiatus, following Covid.

It will be the first time the whole of Bristol Beacon is used for performance at once since its £132m rebuild.

Bristol act Giant Swan, who are closing the main stage, giving them their biggest headline show to date, say the festival is "really important" to acts like them.

"It galvanizes people in our position who make slightly more esoteric music to feel as though there's still a place for us," said Robin Stewart from the group.

Tom Frost said Simple Things offers "the opportunity to see more live music in one day that any other music festival in Bristol"

He said they had been given "the best slot, arguably", adding: "There's a bit of imposter syndrome there, I guess, but we've worked really hard, so it feels fitting to be asked to play a good slot like that."

The duo first played Simple Things in 2018 and festival director Tom Frost said it was "massively important" for the festival, which has hosted headliners like Skepta, Kano, Mogwai and Jamie XX over the years, to also nurture local acts.

He said they always try to offer Bristol artists "really nice slots", for example giving Idles the 'Kingmaker' slot before the headliner in the Bristol Beacon in 2017, with the hope that it will lead to more opportunities for them.

"We're doing that again with Giant Swan who are really special to us.

"It feels like a really big gig for them and we're really happy to provide that opportunity," he added.

Mr Frost said the newly refurbished main room of the Beacon "is not normally home to industrial, clattering techno, the kind of which that they play, and there's no reason that it shouldn't be really".

Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, the chart-topping Scottish band who played the event in 2014, said: "It’s really important for the development of young artists to have festivals like Simple Things.

He added: "It was an honour to play it, and I’m so happy that it is continuing and thriving."

Mr Frost said Death Grips performing with the house lights on in 2016 "was a really unique accident"

Simple Things began in 2011, with Bristol-made Crack Magazine stepping in to help founder Matt Aitken the following year.

Mr Frost, also a director of Crack, explained they see the festival as "the live emancipation of the music we promote and feature in the magazine".

This year's bigger names include techno producer Max Cooper, London post-punk band Warmduscher and grime MC Flowdan, alongside a host of Bristol performers, like Kayla Painter, Tlya X An, Saloon Dion, Spectres and ThisisDA.

Giant Swan's Beacon show will be one of the duo's final performances before they take a break following extensive touring.

"Much love and respect to Simple Things for taking a chance on us, it's gonna be a pretty intense show, that's for sure," he added.

Bristol's Idles played the 'Kingmaker' slot at Simple Things in 2017

As it reaches its 10th event, Mr Frost said there had been some "special moments", like the year American experimental hip hop group Death Grips played with the house lights on.

The lighting team had forgotten to turn them off, but the band told them to leave it like that.

"That was crazy, but a very welcome misunderstanding that worked out really brilliantly," said Mr Frost.

He said watching the iconic DJ Andrew Weatherall at Lakota also "stands out as a memory before his passing, and [was] one of the last times people would have got to see him".

Mr Frost said Bristol group Scaler, who played Simple Things in 2019, have got "something really special"

Looking ahead, Mr Frost acknowledged the "risky business" of working in his industry.

"It's a well-known fact that the independent festival market is a tough game to be in.

"We're very established and very committed to what we do and and would love to still be here in [another] 10 years."

Simple Things takes place in various music venues, including Bristol Beacon, on 24 February.