Big Scary Monsters Records are extremely pleased to announce the inaugural BSM’s Big Day Out event, a huge celebration of the UK’s beloved independent music scene pulling together twenty of the label’s favourite artists across three unique East London venues – Moth Club, Paper Dress Vintage and Hackney Empire Bar – on Saturday 1st September 2018.
A very limited number of early bird tickets priced at £15 go on sale at 10am on 6th June via www.bsmrocks.com, with general sale (£17) starting at 10am on the 8th June, alongside special merch and music bundles.
With the venues each located within just a couple of minutes stroll, BSM’s Big Day Out will be everything that the name suggests – a glorious gathering of the finest folks from some of the hottest bands, key charities, and best independent businesses from the flourishing UK scene. The initial line-up announcement speaks for itself and offers something for everyone, and this is just the beginning.
The first names to be revealed are: London alt-indie trio Tangled Hair, DIY indie-rock three piece Doe, hotly-tipped Nottingham 90s-revival three piece Kagoule, melancholy indie-punk duo Kamikaze Girls, the sparkling alt-pop of Brighton bunch Orchards, anthemic Brit-rock anthem peddlers Bellevue Days, London sad-punx Fresh, esteemed indie-rock royalty Stephen H Davidson (Tellison), Personal Best vocalist and singer-songwriter El Morgan, the extraordinarily intricate guitar acrobatics of Natalie Evans + many more TBA.
‘We’re extremely proud of our roster of UK artists and the scene here in general, so we wanted to put something together to celebrate that,” comments label boss Kevin Douch.
‘For us, community goes beyond just the music, and so we’re very pleased to partner with a handful of wonderful organisations including Safe Gigs For Women, Heads Above The Waves and Hackney Giving, who we’ll be donating a percentage of all ticket sales to. We’ve spent a lot of time curating what we think will be a perfect day of live music and fun. We’ve even organised the world’s greatest closing party, which we’ll be telling you about shortly…’
In addition to all this, Signature Brew will be providing lots of lovely liquid refreshment while Temple of Seitan offer all attendees a discount on their delicious vegan treats from their restaurant, just yards away from the venues.
Keen as ever to promote their message of inclusiveness and equality throughout the music industry, the team behind BSM’s Big Day Out will be providing a balanced and carefully chosen line up that reflects the broad range of diversity on offer across the UK’s buoyant independent music scene, and will be partnering with various organisations and names for special events in the run up to, and surrounding, the event.
Label assistant and event organiser Josie Faulkner explains: ‘I really dislike the fact that festival stages, both in the UK and internationally, have an unfair representation in regards to gender, whether that’s from artists performing or to the people making these events happen. While there’s still a long way to go, across all genres of music, I feel like BSM and all of our label mates – Alcopop! Records, Specialist Subject, Holy Roar – are pushing out bands with less of a gender bias, and I think that’s something we should all aim to continue to achieve in the future.
‘After all, it’s the next generation coming through that I’m hoping will look at the industry in ten years’ time and not have to even think about who is represented onstage: that the landscape becomes a fairer shift for all.’
Following on from their annual 5-a-side football tournament and their two hugely successful pop-up shop outings in London (2017) and Cardiff (2018), BSM’s Big Day Out is the latest in Big Scary Monsters Records’ increasingly inventive and inclusive efforts to consolidate, celebrate and promote the independent UK music scene which has been their dearly loved home for over 16 years.
Over the coming weeks the label will be announcing further additions to the line-up and bringing you more info on the bands, additional festival partners and all of the extra little touches you can expect on the day.