WHY REVERE LIKE STANDON
This summer will be the third year Revere vocalist and guitarist Stephen Ellis has enjoyed himself at Standon Calling. Here he talks about what he likes best about our festival…
“I first went to Standon Calling to play two years ago and had little idea of what to expect or of how long it had been going. There was a surge in the number of ‘home-grown’ festivals and it suddenly seemed like there were a handful of new festivals clamouring for attention each weekend throughout the summer. Few lived up to their promises of great line-ups, enthusiastic crowds and that magical escapism which makes a great festival. A few did, however, and Standon Calling has stuck in my head as one of the most memorable.
The first inkling we got was from the line-up - we were sharing a stage with Acid Mother’s Temple and Paloma Faith! Who in their right mind would put both those acts on the same stage together? But in the context of Standon we quickly realised that this made perfect sense. Standon Calling seemed to have a pitch-perfect sense of who would be the next big thing, hence their devoted support of Paloma alongside Florence and The Machines and Mumford And Sons to name just a handful. All seen at Standon Calling. All have lived up to that initial promise to become household names in ridiculously short spaces of time. But Standon also knows how to deliver to the fan of the obscure, of the performance, and of the ‘how the hell did they book them?!’ So we played alongside Melt Banana, Acid Mother’s Temple, Sun Ra’s Arkestra, Femi Kuti, Chrome Hoof to name some more, with Buena Vista Social Club booked in for this year.
I guess you’re now reading this under the assumption that Standon Calling is the biggest festival you’ve never heard of. Well, not really. It’s an independent festival that seems to make no false claims about being the next Glastonbury, and like a few other boutique festivals - End Of The Road comes to mind - it fulfils on far more than just the music. At Standon, the seemingly ordinary becomes something out of the ordinary in a way that brings out that regressed sense of wonder as you wander around: some concrete stables becomes an unforgettable nightclub, lecture room and cinema for the space of a few days; a huge oak tree becomes a bar from somewhere halfway between a Kubrick movie and The Magic Faraway Tree. Last year, when it all got a bit much you could chill out in the Delorean from Back To The Future watching a laser beam vibrate along with the music, or just strip off and take a refreshing swim in the pool, pausing only to watch the various manga characters, astronauts, and other characters wander around. Strangely hallucinogenic, like walking into the middle of a Bugsy Malone movie…
I’ve been twice so far and it seems like a festival constantly seeking to reinvent and improve itself, more in keeping with an artist reassessing their own work, working out how to make it an unforgettable experience, while genuinely pushing the boundaries back each year.”
Revere are getting ready to hit the festival trail this summer ahead of the release of their debut album. Check out the eight-piece experimentalists here and come enjoy the storming set they’ve promised us they’ll provide at Standon Calling.
This article originally appeared in The Other Side Magazine’s festival guide. Check it out.
Tagged as: Revere, Standon Calling
