It’s that time of year again where industry and music fans alike pound the streets of Brighton to pan for gold in the stream of new music that is The Great Escape - which stands proud in the industry calendar after 20 years of showcasing new music and bringing together the music industry for a few days of carousing by the sea.
Adam Ryan - Great Escape’s Head Of Music, and the man who decides what does and doesn’t go in front of audiences at the event - is in a great position to reflect on the festival’s growth and its position within music’s talent pipeline. “I’ve been Head Of Music for twelve years. Prior to that, I was a venue-based promoter at the Camden Barfly. The company that started The Great Escape also owned the Barfly, so in some respects I’ve been involved from the beginning - in 2006, I was a venue rep working on the event”.
With a bill now boasting 450+ artists from all over the world, day-to-day operations for Adam have expanded significantly in his twelve years in the role. “It’s definitely got more professional and slick. We used to try and do fifteen minute changeovers between artists and things like that, which now obviously would be ridiculous. Now we have a tried and tested formula that works for producing the event”.
The way festival-goers and delegates interact with The Great Escape’s programme has also evolved over the 20 years, from the printed programme to the event’s app. “The app is fantastic”, Ryan says. “It is a bit of a shame to lose that paper, you'd see a lot of people around Brighton with their physical planners. And there was a bit of uproar when we got rid of those”.
But the app is in much demand, he says, noting that, compared to other festivals promoted by the same company, “The Great Escape Act app has the longest amount of user engagement because there’s just so much on there”.
When reflecting on the festival’s evolution, Ryan reckons The Great Escape’s global profile now is perhaps the largest leap forward. “I think that’s where I’ve seen the most growth, in the diversity of the line-up and the countries represented. Either in an official capacity or just wanting to use The Great Escape as a springboard”.
Long running partnerships with organisations like Sound Australia and CIMA (Canada House) are being bolstered year-on-year with the festival being ear-marked as an essential route for growth by artists, export offices and music companies around the world.
“I think a lot of countries recognise the importance of creating pathways out of their territory, whether it’s for jobs or income, the music industry generates a huge amount of money for the UK and that’s exactly the same in other countries. So it’s just fostering those relationships and also looking for those partners to build those bridges”.The Portuguese showcase makes its debut this year, as Ryan is keen to highlight. “They have a great band called Unsafe Space Garden”, who are playing just after midnight on Thursday night at Green Door Store. “They’re a big like eight or nine piece band, they’re a lot of fun”.
Ryan goes on, “Going to these countries, looking for new music and discovering how the country ticks and what people are writing about and what music they're producing, it’s new and exciting every year”.
The fact festival-goers can see such a global selection of music is key, Ryan reckons. “We're not Womad, so we’re not mad into Mongolian throat singing or those instruments that have two strings on them! But I’ve been loving people just singing their mother tongue now. They don’t need to sing in English and they don’t need to be like the Spanish equivalent of Arctic Monkeys. You don’t need to do those things anymore, I mean you shouldn’t really have done them in the first place”.
From this year’s crop, the inimitable tour-de-force of Mandy, Indiana (Fri 10.15pm, Old Market) are a living example of uncompromisingly not diluting their mother tongue, and it’s something Adam thinks the door is wide open for. “Christine And The Queens performed at The Great Escape, that was a fantastic moment when somebody is so from their country and they sing in their language, but it resonates in the UK, that’s really exciting”.
“With streaming, people now have such a broad taste in music and are a lot more open. And there's less gatekeeping as well. People find their own new music and have it as a badge of honour”.
With such a massive line-up it’s intimidating enough knowing which show to be at, let alone how you would go about booking all the artists. I asked Ryan how he keeps up.
“Well, we’re in a fortunate position where lots of people send stuff to me - that is a privilege that I never take for granted and I’m in awe of every day. Going to gigs is key, seeing tiny bands, with huge potential in small rooms, is what keeps me engaged and excited. Streaming platforms like Bandcamp are fantastic, Independent radio is the best. There’s loads of loads of avenues nowadays. It’s a shame that we’ve lost a lot of print media, but there’s still a healthy industry out there of people unearthing stuff.”
Ryan also recognises the importance of the festival’s support of new media and creating a platform for new journalism. “The Great Escape is about showcasing new music and supporting the industry at its infancy - whether you’re a junior promoter, junior manager or a band starting out.”
“If you look at who’s hosting stages”, he adds, “you’ll see a lot of brand new platforms that maybe only have Instagram pages or are just releasing their first magazine. A lot of them are on Saturday during the matinee like Still Listening, Negativland and Hard Of Hearing”.
Ryan adds on the current state of the new music landscape, “The talent pipeline is bustling, isn’t it? It’s chock a block, it’s healthy. There’s always a wealth of artists making great music”.
“I think what’s changed is just the network and the framework around it. Can they afford to tour? Can the venue afford to stay open? Are people supporting their local music scene? People’s live shows are a lot more intricate and they tend to be more polished and professional, and less DIY. I think it’s more just the environmental and economics of touring and playing now that seem to be skewed against the artist”.
Maybe the most tantalising aspect of The Great Escape for most punters is that one in a million surprise of a future juggernaut artist playing to a humble sized crowd. That ‘I was there’ factor is obviously a huge consideration for booking, catching an act when they’re right on the precipice of ascension (see Angine De Poutrine, Wed at 9.45pm at The Deep End, this year’s surprise package now bumped to headliner!)
“The Great Escape is at its best when we time things, you know, perfectly. And I think that’s the key to anybody playing The Great Escape, it’s to play it at the right time and not just try and get on for the sake of getting on. The Lewis Capaldi moment was fantastic. where we had him headlining the Dome, and I think at that point, he was just going into stadiums”.
The festival repeatedly nails these bookings, but Ryan reflects on a couple of Sliding Doors coups that just slipped out of his hands. “We had a conversation about Billie Eilish… I went to one of the first shows at Islington Academy, I don’t even think it was sold out. I mean that would have been amazing. Beastie Boys as well, when they had their book out, but we couldn’t quite make that happen”.
So finally, who does Ryan, the man in the know, think are this year's must sees?
“Heathers (Fri 8.15pm, Charles Street Tap) - I really like them. It's kind of like glam rocky pub rock”
“Hot Face (Fri 7.15pm, Charles Street Tap) - they're great (Dan Carey produced Windmill alumni)”.
“Xanadu (Thu 9.15pm, Komedia Studio) - they are managed by the same people as Olivia Dean, that’s still very early though”.
“Brighton bands like Goodbye (Sat 2.30pm, Prince Albert), Congratulations (Sat 9.30pm, Quarters) and The Kitchen Sink Band (Thu 12.15am, Patterns Upstairs) are lots of fun!”
“A band from New Zealand called Ringlets (Thu 2.15pm, Patterns Downstairs), who I really love”.
