Fresh from winning the Best Small Festival at the UK Festival Awards, ArcTanGent Festivalis excited to announce the first 39 bands for 2019. This follows on from the Saturday night headliner announcement of Swedish progressive metal pioneers, MESHUGGAH.
Joining them will be Friday night headliners, and Warp Records finest, BATTLES.
A band that have a unique combination of artistry, experimentation, technology and singular focus. A band that holds computerized loops in their brains, leaves sweat on their machines and whose sonic heartbeat is almost brutally human. The rhythmic genus of Battles is here as ever; full frontal, heightened and unforgiving – the gauntlet through which melody and harmony must pass, assailed at every turn.
One of the UKs most beloved and prolific live bands, 65daysofstatic will also be playing at the festival. Paul Wolinski from the band says:
“Most festivals these days feel like being in Children of Men where brand manager shoot bottles of Coke at you from canons then charge you £5 for it and if they catch you smuggling in alcohol they brand you with a poker in the shape of Dave Grohl’s frowning face and Muse are always headlining and there’s like one woman on the bill and it’s probably Hayley Williams and there’s phone charging stations provided by tax-dodging multinationals and zero-hour, underpaid cleaners are bussed in to put trampled plastic into plastic bags overnight so when people wake up the next morning they can pretend it isn’t the end of the world in slow motion. Anyway ArcTanGent is not like most festivals and so instead of filling us with dread we’re really looking forward to coming back. Another world is possible! In the future all festivals will be like ArcTanGent. Or capitalism will destroy us all. One of these two things.”
Also on the bill and their first UK performance since the release of their fourth full-length and debut for Ipecac Records, is DAUGHTERS. “Arctangent consistently books bands that defy genre, something that speaks near and dear to Daughters. We are honoured to play a festival that champions bands that push themselves and music forward.” – Alexis S.F. Marshall (Daughters)
The man responsible for this stellar lineup, year on year is James Scarlett, whom once more has booked some of his favourite artists:
“Festival organisers always say it is their best line up ever. Well, this is our best line up ever! I really think people will be blown away by these 39 bands and there is much more to come let me tell you. We’ve been chasing Battles for the last seven years, so that feels like a big one for ATG and watching hem headline the Main Stage on Friday really will be something special. Personally I get very excited about bands further down the line up that people might not yet know. Check out Birds in Row, Standards and A.A.Williams for starters. I cannot wait for August!”
Full list of 39 bands for ATG announce is:
Meshuggah / Battles / Cult of Luna / Zeal & Ardor / 65daysofstatic / The Black Queen / Daughters / Caspian / The Contortionist / Three Trapped Tigers / The Algorithm / Frontierer / Conjurer / Bossk / The Physics House Band / Møl / GosT / AK/DK / Birds in Row / Car Bomb / Azusa / Pijn / Sithu Aye / LLNN / A.A.Williams / Letters From The Colony / Invalids / Standards / Collosal Squid / Aiming for Enrike / Floral / Cattle / Wild Cat Strike / Lost in the Riots / Big Lad / Voronoi / Ogives Big Band / Hexcut / Sugar Horse
ArcTanGent is a fully independent festival that grows organically year on year. Previous headliners include Glassjaw, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Explosion in the Sky, Converge and Shellac.