- Infest (festival)
Infest is an annual three day
music festival held at theUniversity of Bradford Union in theUnited Kingdom , featuringalternative electronic music acts from genres including industrial, EBM,futurepop ,synthpop andpower noise . The event takes place on the Augustbank holiday weekend.History
Infest was born in early
1998 through the efforts of threestudents of theUniversity 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 inWest 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 bandAlien Sex Fiend . The student organisers were already fans of theWhitby Gothic Weekend and took the idea for Infest to theWhitby 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 and15 August 1998 .The following year (
1999 ) the festival paid more attention towards the electronic side of the goth and industrial scene by bookingApoptygma 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/industrialpromoter andDJ , who had been advising throughout the show's early years, stepped in to fill the void. As a result of the heavy involvement withTerminal 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 onpower noise ,futurepop ,synthpop andelectronic body music , with occasional bookings of moredarkwave -style goth bands.Since
2000 , Infest has gained an international reputation, with festival-goers travelling from as far asCanada , and acts flying from as far asAustralia to play the UK. The show continues to provide a market for traders, which helps to bring the music and thelifestyle of the show's fans together. There is also a full festival program wherenightclubs ,DJ s, bands and businesses can make their voices heard. Infest is supported by a number of electronicrecord label s, notablyAnt-Zen andHands Productions and has been sponsored by theonline music storeMusic Non Stop , the drinkJägermeister and thesoftware publisherAbleton .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, Ultraviolence1999 * 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 , Libitina2001 * 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 (replacingNeuroticfish ),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 (replacingSara Noxx ), Silence Is Sexy2005 * 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
* SaturdayRotersand , Architect,Unter Null , Reaper,S.K.E.T. ,O.V.N.I
* SundayFront Line Assembly ,Wai Pi Wai ,Stromkern ,Frozen Plasma ,Autoclav1.1 2007 * Friday Portion Control,
Greyhound ,The Gothsicles .
* SaturdayApoptygma Berzerk ,13th Monkey ,Dope Stars Inc. , Caustic,Faderhead ,Synnack .
* SundayVNV Nation , Soman,Painbastard ,Rupesh Cartel ,E.S.A .2008 * Friday
Coreline ,Snog , Grendel.
* Saturday Skinjob,100blumen ,Santa Hates You ,Heimataerde ,5F-X ,And One .
* SundayDeviant 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]
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