Sellindge Music Festival
Sellindge Music Festival is a three-day outdoor event that takes place annually in the countryside between Ashford and Folkestone in South Kent. The site for the festival is on Hope Farm, which is easily accessed from Junction 11 off the M20.
History
Background
The idea for Sellindge Music Festival was conceived in 2003 by Andre Double, who wanted to combine his love of live music with his Grandfather's ambition of staging a festival on his family farm. Andre used the backdrop of the Sellindge Steam Special - a family event of over 40 years to launch a single music marquee in 2005. Playing on bare grass, with a hastily hired PA, over twenty acts performed at the event. The following year saw the marquee move and double in size. By 2007, the music within the Steam Rally had continued to grow, with greater numbers of local bands appearing. A folk tent was added and the team continued to grow. The groundwork had been done and planning for a dedicated music festival was well underway.
2008
2008 saw the launch of the first fully-fledged music festival at Sellindge. The event took place over the weekend of the 6th, 7th and 8th of June with around 60 bands performing over three different stages. Performance areas included the main stage, which was headlined by Idlewild and Mark Morriss of the The Bluetones, a folk stage and a tent hosted by BBC Kent Introducing. A dance tent also featured DJs arranged by Bournemouth-based Techno promoters DELETE, including LEK, DJ Mossman, Mudie, Marlow and Dubnium. The festival site played host to further entertainment, including a dedicated VW field and fair-ground.
The Future of Sellindge
Having securely established itself as a music festival, the close of the summer saw Andre making plans to expand the event in the future. Confirming the 5th, 6th and 7th of June 2009 as the dates of the next weekend, he opened management positions for the organisation of Sellindge 2009. Applicants Benjamin Wells and Pete Lea were appointed to the positions in early September and began work on the arrangement of everything for the next Sellindge Music Festival. Combining their experience in new music radio and live music production, the team have set AbOUT the task of contributing to Kent's growing music scene and establishing Sellindge as a nationally-known Festival playing host to some of the most up-and-coming acts in the industry. Joining the team in November was experienced Marketeer Matt Lacey.
Sellindge Music Festival’s offererd Kent bands the opportunity to share a stage with indie legends Supergrass among other top acts, by a battle of the bands style Main Stage Talent Tournament.
Having originally planned that one band would go onto be crowned the overall winner of the tournament - the festival’s Facebook group announced the next day that they’d had no choice but to choose two lucky acts. Benjamin Wells, the festival’s programmer commented that “picking one act from four would not fully reflect the exceptional quality of musicianship demonstrated at the final”. The winners were London’s The Little Philistines and Kent’s own Monday Street. Both bands put on blistering live performances to steal the show from their competition, narrowly claiming victory from Canterbury’s Waterhorse and Dartford’s Burgundy.
With more BIG names to be announced, the line-up already features some of the most up and coming acts for 2009. An announcement by Marketing Coordinator Matt Lacey at the final, stated that set to take to the stage on Sunday are Radio One favourites RED LIGHT COMPANY – whose debut album entered the charts at No 13 this month. Other acts include THE HOLLOWAYS and YOUNG KNIVES, as well as NME backedMarina & The Diamonds, Thomas Tantrum and the magazines ‘ones to watch for 2009’ – 4 or 5 Magicians and The Answering Machine.
Live music-promoters NorthSouthDivide have already confrirmed their presence at Sellindge '09 and will be bringing some of the freshest underground talent from London and Manchester to the Festival in June. BBC Kent Introducing will also be returning in 2009, showcasing the best local talent over the weekend - including BENS BROTHER andEMMY THE GREAT
The festival also has a massive Dance Arena - to include MICKEY SLIM, HOXTON WHORES, CUT LA ROC, EDDY TEMPLE MORRISS and dozens more.