News Profile: Knee Deep Festival

There are various ways to tell when summer is coming - there’s that first day you can leave the house without wearing a coat and not risk hypothermia, the moment that supermarkets start trying to push useless portable barbeques or even that opening pint sat in a grim, concrete beer ‘garden’. For anyone with even a passing interest in music, the past few years have marked their transition into the sunnier months by the glut of announcements that had never previously heard of but make you ache in desperation to attend. Any remaining doubt about throwing away your old jumpers could be banished by the announcement of Knee Deep Festival last week.

Set to take place in the picturesque wilds of Cornwall - somewhere ‘no-one else is really taking advantage of’, co-organiser Fred Stuart argues - on the first weekend of August, it is somehow managing to deliver fierce independence with a pretty killer line-up and a price tag that doesn’t obliterate your bank balance. For £18 you get two days of music with camping included and some incredibly fresh acts.

‘Personally I can’t wait for Kwes,’ says Dominic Pipe, another one of the collective behind the festival, ‘He’s genuinely one of my favourite artists around, he’s only just getting together a live show, so I’m really excited to see how his records will change for the stage.’ The South London producer turned artist has crafted tunes good enough to convince Young Turks to put out an EP, one of the standout additions to a line-up that could definitely be considered eclectic.

Elsewhere on the bill, there’s the surf-rock of Swim Deep, with Peter and Kerry high on the list of promoters must see acts. ‘Since hearing their EP, I just can’t turn it off,’ admits James Day-Cocking, with Fred concurring that the release was ‘incredible.’ What’s most striking about it all is perhaps the lack of the familiar names that you’re used to seeing on this year’s small festival lists - the likes of Jamie XX and Willy Mason left out in favour of lower ticket prices and lesser known acts, whilst being completely devoid of corporate sponsorship - ‘We want to keep the festival intimate and humble,’ Fred continues.

Whilst anything to do with those long, hazy weekends in midsummer is obviously a bonus, it’s getting to the point where you have to worry about saturation of the market. This is, after all, only a week or so before Greetings from Beacons, whilst coming hot on the heels of ever growing 2000 trees festival in amongst countless others. Fred muses ‘Individuality is almost an impossibility but that the simple fact we are content to represent smaller, emerging bands, rather than use them as a stepping stone to larger, more acknowledged acts is definitely a special thing.’ James concurs: ‘We want to offer something a little different from the two polar extremes that seem to exist on the festival circuit at present - to be affordable for everyone, whilst being a much more than just a local music festival.’

For more information, visit kneedeepfestival.co.uk.