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Infest (festival)

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Infest
"The UK's Premier Festival of Alternative Electronic Music"
GenreIndustrial music, Electronic body music, Synth-pop, Futurepop, Rhythmic noise, Gothic rock, Death rock, Dark wave and related genres
DatesAnnually in August, usually Summer Bank Holiday weekend
Location(s)Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
Years active1998 to today
Founders1998 "Black Lobster Promotions", 1999 "Slag Industries", from 2000 until today "Terminal Productions"
Websitehttps://infestuk.com/

Infest (originally stylised as InFest) is an annual three-day music festival held at the University of Bradford Union in the United Kingdom, featuring alternative electronic music acts, from genres including industrial, EBM, futurepop, synth-pop and power noise. The event usually takes place on the August bank holiday weekend.

History

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Background

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InFest was born in early 1998 through the efforts of three students of the University of Bradford – Gareth 'Gadge' Harvey, Chris 'Crusty' Molyneux, and Max 'Maxi Slag' – and the Students' Union Entertainments Manager, Floyd Peltier. The concept of the festival was originally envisioned as a one-day event for local goth bands in West Yorkshire, but the crew were able to also onboard much bigger acts, such as gothic/death rock band Alien Sex Fiend. The student organisers were already fans of the Whitby Gothic Weekend and took the idea for Infest to the Whitby festival-goers and traders to gauge how popular the show might be. The response was positive and the first Infest festival was confirmed as 14 and 15 August 1998.

The following year (1999), the festival paid more attention towards the electronic side of the goth and industrial scene by booking Apoptygma Berzerk for their first UK show.

Reinvention

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By 2000, the University of Bradford's Students' Union felt that they could not carry the costs of the festival any longer. However, an independent goth/industrial promoter and DJ named Mark 'Gus' Guy (former drummer with the indie band Kerosene), who had been advising Molyneux during the show's early years, stepped in to fill the void. As a result of the heavy involvement with Guy and his Terminal Productions company, Infest took the form it is recognised as today: the festival's theme has moved from goth/industrial crossover to alternative electronic, with a greater emphasis on power noise, futurepop, synth-pop and electronic body music. However, occasionally more Dark wave-style goth bands do still appear on the line-up.

The stylisation of the name had changed in 2003 to be "Infest", and from this time has grown significant international recognition. The show continues to provide a market for traders, which helps to bring the music and the lifestyle of the show's fans together. There is also a full festival program where nightclubs, DJs, bands and businesses can make their voices heard. Infest has been supported by a number of electronic record labels, notably Ant-Zen, Hands Productions, and now-defunct online music stores Music Non Stop and Storming the Base (the latter part of the record label Artoffact Records). Support outside the scene has also come from music software publisher Ableton, and drink manufacturers Jägermeister and Barr.

In July 2013, the festival organisers announced that "it is highly unlikely that there will be an Infest in 2014";[1] but following "an avalanche of messages of support" the organisers have decided to "throw caution to the wind and go ahead with Infest in 2014 (The reason for announcing that infest 2014 was highly unlikely was due to AltFest being proposed to occur a couple of weeks before Infest in 2014. In the end Altfest was canceled due to lack of ticket sales and financial insecurity for the viability of a new big festival that had no history on the alternative music scene)."[2]

Today

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Today, Guy has a small team of people at his side, including Molyneux (the remaining member of the founding team), graphic designer Richard King, Ticket Office Manager Lee Thornton and a crew of volunteers and live production professionals.

The festival celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2018, adding an extra day that year for the occasion.

Performers

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1998

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1999

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2000

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2001

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2002

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2003

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2004

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2005

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2006

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2007

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2008

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2009

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  • none

2010

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2011

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2012

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2013

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2014

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2015

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2016

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2017

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2018

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An extra day (Thursday) was added to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the event.

2019

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2020

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Due to Covid-19 the show was moved online and called Stay-In-Fest.

Three online stages were hosted by Lee Chaos, Duracell Bunny, Kark & Peewee ([Karkasaurus), and Matt Biomechanimal.

2021

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A small crowd of around 80 people were invited to a social distanced show held live in Bradford. This was again streamed out as Stay-In-Fest 2021.

Friday had a small warmup party featuring Biomechanimal (DJ set), Karkasaurus and Chaos Emergency Doof Broadcast.

2022

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Suicide Commando, The Cassandra Complex, ADAM X, REIN (planned), Wynardtage vs Hydroxie, Caustic, Moaan Exis, MAEDON, Monya, KLACK, Attrition, Glass Apple Bonzai, Beautiful Machines, Grabyourface, Reichsfeind, Knight$, Vaein, Berlyn Trilogy

2023

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Test Dept, Xotox, Choke Chain, Je T'Aime, Goteki, Capital X, Ventenner (planned), Intsec, Red Meat, Parade Ground, Porno Karaoke, Normoria, La Rissa, Nightmare Frequency, Zynic, Beborn Beton, Zardonic, Geneviéve Pasqier

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Infest 2014, Official Infest Homepage". Archived from the original on 7 September 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  2. ^ "Confirmed: Infest 2014 Will Go Ahead, Official Infest Homepage". Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
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