Infest (festival)

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, synthpop and power noise. The event takes place on the August bank holiday weekend.

History

Infest was born in early 1998 through the efforts of three students of the University of Bradford and the Students' Union Entertainments Manager - the founding team of students being Gareth 'Gadge' Harvey, Chris 'Crusty' Molyneux and Max 'Maxi Slag' Niblock. The concept of the show was a one day event for local goth bands in West Yorkshire. Even before the first event however, it spiraled into an altogether bigger beast when the Students Union agreed that funds could be found to book some much bigger acts; most notably gothic/deathrock 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 14th 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.

By 2000, the University of Bradford's Students' Union felt that they couldn't carry the costs of the festival any longer. In addition, the original students who had promoted the show had all but moved on. Fortunately, an independent goth/industrial promoter and DJ, who had been advising throughout the show's early years, stepped in to fill the void. As a result of the heavy involvement with Terminal Productions, another twist to the show's music style took place, defining Infest in its current form with its theme moving from goth/industrial crossover to alternative electronic, with a greater emphasis on power noise, futurepop, synthpop and electronic body music, with occasional bookings of more darkwave-style goth bands.

Since 2000, Infest has gained an international reputation, with festival-goers travelling from as far as Canada, and acts flying from as far as Australia to play the UK. 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 is supported by a number of electronic record labels, notably Ant-Zen and Hands Productions and has been sponsored by the online music store Music Non Stop, the drink Jägermeister and the software publisher Ableton.

The festival was originally known as "InFest" when it was started in 1998, however in 2003 its name was altered to "Infest" on all material produced by the organisers.

Today

2008 was the eleventh Infest Festival. Tickets went on sale in February and sold out about a week before the festival began.

Infest performers

1998

* Alien Sex Fiend, Dust to Dust, Horatii, Leechwoman, man(i)kin, Nekromantik, Passion Play, Rosetta Stone (billed on early flyers but did not appear),Sneaky Bat Machine, Squid, Ultraviolence

1999

* Friday: The DJ Wars: The Bratcave DJs Vs Deathstar Disco
* Saturday: Apoptygma Berzerk, Faithful Dawn, Killing Miranda, Sneaky Bat Machine, man(i)kin
* Sunday: Spahn Ranch, Inertia, Narcissus Pool

2000

* Friday: Ultraviolence, Synapscape
* Saturday: VNV Nation, Manuskript, MS Gentur, Intra Venus, Project X, Void Construct
* Sunday: In Strict Confidence, Dream Disciples, Imminent, man(i)kin, Libitina

2001

* Friday: Inertia, The Nine, Swarf,
* Saturday: Suicide Commando, Beborn Beton, P.A.L, Leechwoman, Katscan, Illumina,
* Sunday: Covenant, Dive, Icon of Coil, Monolith, Goteki

2002

* Friday: XPQ-21, Psyche, Revolution by Night
* Saturday: Funker Vogt, Sonar, S.P.O.C.K (replacing Neuroticfish), Winterkälte, Greenhaus, Synthetic
* Sunday: Mesh, Noisex, , Asche, Aslan Faction

2003

* Friday: cut.rate.box, scrap.edx, Tarantella Serpentine
* Saturday: God Module, Needle Sharing, Seabound, Tarmvred, Culture Kultür, Je$us Loves Amerika, SINA (billed on flyers but did not appear due to illness)
* Sunday: VNV Nation, Hypnoskull, ] , Resurrection Eve, Arkam Asylum

2004

* Friday: Lights Of Euphoria, Ah Cama-Sotz, Action Directe
* Saturday: Suicide Commando, Proyecto Mirage, Plastic, Combichrist, Angel Theory, Skinflick
* Sunday: Assemblage 23, Converter, Spetsnaz, Mono No Aware (replacing Sara Noxx), Silence Is Sexy

2005

* Friday: Fixmer/McCarthy, Powderpussy, Univaque
* Saturday: Covenant, Punch Inc, Decoded Feedback, HIV+, The Azoic, Tin Omen
* Sunday: Blutengel, KiEw, Iris, Final Selection, Deviant UK

2006

* Friday Lab 4, Destroid, Schmoof
* Saturday Rotersand, Architect, Unter Null, Reaper, S.K.E.T., O.V.N.I
* Sunday Front Line Assembly, Wai Pi Wai, Stromkern, Frozen Plasma, Autoclav1.1

2007

* Friday Portion Control, Greyhound, The Gothsicles.
* Saturday Apoptygma Berzerk, 13th Monkey, Dope Stars Inc., Caustic, Faderhead, Synnack.
* Sunday VNV Nation, Soman, Painbastard, Rupesh Cartel, E.S.A.

2008

* Friday Coreline, Snog, Grendel.
* Saturday Skinjob, 100blumen, Santa Hates You, Heimataerde, 5F-X, And One.
* Sunday Deviant UK, Marsheaux, Tyske Ludder, Noisuf-X, Front 242.

External links

* [http://www.infestuk.com/ Official Infest Homepage]
* [http://www.myspace.com/infestuk Official Infest Myspace]
* [http://infest.fotopic.net/ Official Infest Photo Gallery]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2008/09/19/infest_2008_feature.shtml BBC report on Infest 2008]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2007/09/03/infest_2007_feature.shtml BBC report on Infest 2007]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2006/10/04/infest_bradford_2006_feature.shtml BBC report on Infest 2006]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/music/raw_talent/features/infest/infest.shtml BBC report on Infest 2004]
* [http://www.flickr.com/groups/infest/ Flickr Infest Photo Group]