In honour of the annual ArcTanGent Festival, we sat down with a selection of bands playing in order to grill them about the festival, and much, much more.
Our next interview was with Body Hound:
The annual ArcTanGent Festival is coming up this August; are you guys excited for it? Have you ever been before, either playing or as a punter?
It certainly is. I got a guest pass in 2014 and I’ve been going every year since, whether playing or freeloading off friends who were. This will be Body Hound’s third time performing. ArcTanGent is very much like New Year’s Eve, both as a measuring stick for how quickly the sands of time are slipping away and how bad it is for your sobriety. It’s a lovely annual treat and we’re very happy to be heading back.
What are your thoughts on the line up this year? Is there anyone you’re particularly wanting to see or meet? And who would you recommend our readers look out for?
I can’t speak for the rest of the band, but I am really looking forward to seeing Shellac again. I saw them a couple of years ago and their combination of humour and making everyone else look shit at music was pretty life-affirming. It reassured me that Bob Weston was 50 at that point, and I was kind of feeling like I’d artistically blown it, and then here they were, being fantastic and wrinkled.
I think it’s going to be particularly touching to see Gug. Dan Wild-Beesley [formerly of Cleft] has overcome a lot in the last year and it’ll be a glorious moment to see him playing guitar again.
Overall the line-up is great. My recommendations for a good time are: Part Chimp, Glassjaw, Shellac [I might have mentioned that already], Ohhms, Tangled Hair, Gug, Alpha Male Tea Party, Poly-Math, Boss Keloid, The Guru Guru, Natalie Evans and everything else I’ve forgotten to type.
What is ArcTanGent like compared to other festivals? It seems to be relatively small – do you prefer playing smaller festivals or bigger ones? And which are your favourite festivals – both to play and as a visitor?
It is small, and that’s part of its brilliance. Over the course of the event you will run into the same people multiple times, which is really nice provided you haven’t done anything to make it awkward. Regarding smaller or bigger festivals, I’ll take what I can get at this point, thanks.
How do you find playing a festival differs to a normal show, and which do you prefer?
I find that usually the audience have a lot more energy. They haven’t been at work all day, they’re drunk off field-temperature lager and they’re ready to consume whatever it is that you have for them. I don’t actually have a preference. I’m happy to play whenever and wherever, as long as whoever is in attendance is willing to tolerate us.
Are you embarking on a tour as well as playing the festival? If so, where else are you playing and when?
We will be playing at least one gig in the run-up to the festival, but at this point this is TBA. It will be with an American band.
Do you have any new music set for release soon? If so, what can you tell us about that?
We’ve been working on our debut album with varying degrees of intensity for the last four years and now we’re inches away from finishing the writing. I can’t say anything about its release, but I can say that the people who like what we do will get a lot out of it, I think.
What would you say to people to recommend them to come and see you perform at ArcTanGent?
We’re playing on the Thursday and there won’t be anything else to do. We’ll be playing new material from our album and will probably be having the time of our lives, and we’d like to share that with you.
8. And any last words for your fans?
Thank you for keeping us cool throughout summer.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to download our EP from http://bodyhound.bandcamp.com
Follow us at: https://www.facebook.com/Bodyhound/
We’re on Twitter and Instagram, too.
By Jane Howkins