In the sunny month of July, I had the opportunity to attend the little gem that is, Global Gathering. I say little. This incredible festival is nestled in the depths of Stratford-upon-Avon, well placed, on an abandoned airfield.
The campsite at Global, consisted of a huge selection of fair ground rides and various food and drinks stalls. Prices were as high as they always are at festivals but I now just consider that the norm. There’s no point arguing with festival prices. We headed to go and put up our tents in the campsite and were directed to the yellow area. I can’t speak for the other camping areas but I thought that the facilities were absolutely fine. At many festivals, festival goers are packed tightly together in the campsites, in order to get as many people camped with the space provided. Due to Global Gathering being set on an airfield, this is just not an issue. Every tent had plenty of space, no one felt crowded, and the water and toilet facilities remained undamaged and reasonably clean for the remainder of the weekend. At some festivals in the past, the people I’ve attended with have sometimes mentioned the fact that they felt slightly uneasy or concerned about the general crowd within the festival. The vibe that I was getting from Global was as far removed from that as you can imagine. Everyone seemed happy and I didn’t actually see one unsavory incident for the entire two days. Combining that general vibe and the camping conditions I saw, I would say Global nailed it on the camping front. No complaints from this happy camper.
On entering the festival ground, I immediately headed towards “The Bunker”. This was a stage I had been anticipating to see. It was supposed to be the smallest stage at the festival and I had been planning to spend most of my second festival day in there. I should have known better. Never in my life have I ever been into such a sauna-like venue. Despite the layout of this stage being pretty cool, buried in a small dark corner of the festival, and the fact that it had obviously taken a long period of time to build, where was the cold air? With the DJ’s wiping their faces with towels, I can only describe that stage as a sweat box that was too hot for this reviewer.
The main stage was situated just behind the Bunker, so naturally we headed over to see it. Now I’m not sure where others stand in regard to main stages at festivals, but I tend to stay clear. I usually much prefer the artists and set up of the smaller stages. I feel like too much can go wrong with a main stage, whether that be the sound, the lighting, the crowd, or the artists. I want to talk quickly about the sound. As its such a large area, sound can be extremely hard to perfect on a main stage. What I found at Global was that the sound whilst the sound was far from bad the bass from the main stage would be inaudible until you reached about half way through the large crowd. This meant that those standing from the middle to the back were just getting the treble and mid of the track, accompanied by the rumbling bass of another stage – not great for bass lovers.
On a more positive note during the first couple of hours at the festival I was given the opportunity to have a sit down with Gorgon City and get a few words in with them.
Good afternoon Kye and Matt! How are you guys doing?
Afternoon! Yeah we’re doing really well and we’re loving the weather that Global Gathering is experiencing right now. Perfect festival weather!
Yeah the weather is crazy! As we haven’t got much time before you guys are performing, I’m just going to get straight into this interview. Gorgon City has come quite a long way in the past year. What are your plans for the year ahead?
We actually just finished our album. We’ve been working on that for a while now…. in fact since from when we first started Gorgon City, two years ago. We’ve been working on it the entire time we’ve been touring round performing, and now its finally been mixed and mastered, its done! It’s a pretty crazy feeling, getting our first album finished. A big milestone in both our careers. A really good feeling!
I’m looking forward to hearing it on its release! Obviously you guys must have been influenced by certain people to get you to where you are today. What would you say influenced you guys most in shaping Gorgon City and the music you guys produce today?
I think growing up in London and the UK is a big factor. Buying Drum and Bass and Jungle Records and being part of that rave culture as kids, influenced us to try and bring that bass heavy style into a house-like genre. We had quite a broad musical upbringing though. As well as Drum and Bass, we also loved our Rock, Reggae, and some Funk and Soul. It was the love for our Drum and Bass that really brought us together though!
You’re still currently signed with Black Butter Records. Are you planning on staying with them?
Yeah well its kind of like a family vibe with them. You were saying you attended the Black Butter fourth Birthday party we played at?
Yes…
That’s exactly what we mean by family feel. With parties like that, everyone just turns up and just has fun with each other. Those parties are always proper messy. It’s cool! We’ve toured a lot with rudimental around Australia, Europe and the UK….
I take it you get on well with them then?
Yeah definitely! From touring with them so much we’ve really got to know the guys well, and they have really helped champion our own productions. It has been a real pleasure getting to know them.
Some people may suggest that you guys may be going for a slightly more commercial audience than what you used to. Would you say that is the case or would you argue that your still going for that underground scene?
We never really planned to make our songs sound commercial. It has just sort of happened. Maybe it was working more with vocalists. Our love is still in that underground scene. We still try and maintain that feel in our sets and the venues we play at. We’re always going to try and create underground house music. Its what we love.
Cool. Can you guys tell me a little bit about your new album you mentioned earlier and give us a little insight as to what we can expect from that.
Sure! It lands late September and it’s called ‘Sirens’. the plan is to release it a couple of weeks after our single ‘Unmissable’ is released. We’ve worked with a lot of people on this album including the likes of Maverick Sabre, Katy B, Laura Welsh, MNEK, and Zak Able. The album also has a couple of productions from across the pond. We spent some time out in an L.A. studio and got to spend some time with Erik Hassle. Those tracks definitely have a slight American vibe to them so it’ll be interesting to see what the UK make of them.
After completing my short but sweet interview, I headed back out into the festival for the evening, excited to see what Global had in store. Due to artist selections, I stayed between the Defected and Circus tents for the rest of the evening. I was blown away by some of the lighting productions in these tents, especially the Defected stage. Noir and Guti were definitely the highlight to my evening with both playing incredible sets to a completely packed tent. Noir’s track ‘Angel’ was definitely a crowd pleaser!
As the sun broke over the campsite the next day, it became apparent that no one was going to be sleeping that morning. The heat was almost twice what it had been the day beforehand. Madness! For about three hours we all sat half in our tents, half out, in some terrible attempt to escape the sun and heat. A few of the people that I was attending the festival with suggested that we headed over to the VIP area in order to get food, drink, and melt in the shade for a bit. They could not have suggested a better idea.
The VIP area was somewhere I had not actually gone to have a look around yet. It was located at the entrance to the main festival and it couldn’t have been more ideal. Filled with different sofas, deck chairs, cushions, huge seating structures, hot tubs, tables, beds and a constant supply of shade, this was the place to be. The area was split into two sections. There were food and drinks stands in one section along with a large number of sofas, chairs and tables. There was then a walkway that led into the wood close by. Inside was a VIP stage surrounded by trees, beds, hot tubs…the lot! Decorations consisting of lampshades, different coloured lights, umbrellas and disco balls hung throughout the wood giving it a slightly mysterious and magical feel. Just what a VIP area should feel like.
We stayed at the VIP area for the worst hours of heat, drinking, eating and just generally relaxing in the shade. By the time the late afternoon came we were all truly revived and ready to return to the festival. It was at this point that we all felt that we had a duty to go and see what Prodigy were like at the Main Stage. Shortly into their set we decided that this wasn’t for us and headed back to the Paradise and Essential Mix arenas.
My performances of the evening have to be Eric Prydz and Richy Ahmed. I had been looking forward to Eric Prydz for quite a while. I have countless friends who constantly recall how good his performances are, so naturally I was expecting something big. I was not to be disappointed. The tech house and the techno that he played had such an alive and atmospheric feel to it! The entire tent was packed out from start to finish, with incredible light production and visuals making even the soberest of people ‘trip-out’ slightly. With flares being lit up left, right and centre, and the entire audience kicking up on the vocals during the chorus of “Everyday”, it was a shame to say goodbye to Prydz at the end of his allotted time.
Richy Ahmed was another artist I was yet to see. He was the final act playing in the Paradise tent that evening! Definitely one of my festival gems. He has a uniquely individual sound the combines the energy of house and disco with some very big infectious melodies! Once Richy had finished we headed over to the VIP area, which was set to continue a further hour into the night and wherein I was surround by possibly some of the happiest and weirdest people I’ve ever met in my life. We only had one thing in common: the desire to continue partying for the rest of the night. Once this magical hour drew to a close, it was a sad walk back to the tents, knowing that the fun had finally come to an end.
Words: Sam Owers