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This week I met with Adam Daley, the organiser and promoter of the Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras festival held in the coastal town of Hastings in February every year. The event plays host to a huge collection of local and national bands that perform at a selection of venues all evening while the town becomes an alternative Mardi Gras.
Bands bring their instruments and small backlines are already supplied in all the venues, so musicians can travel by foot to each one they play. The bands usually play from 3-4 venues in the evening, ranging from acoustic sets in a cafe, broken-down electric sets in a pub, and proper, full set-ups in a larger space. The whole town is full of pubs, cafes and venues – all of which are open for short sets from very varied artists. There are 20 venues and 40 bands over the 4-day event. The atmosphere is incredible, all of the gigs are free and packed out, and the streets are full of merry punters, many of which come dressed in alternative carnival attire.
I’ve made a deal to get a whole bunch of ACM bands/artists on the billing for next year. It’s from acoustic singer songwriters to rock and indie bands! The proceeds of the whole event are donated to charity and all of the artists perform for free. I have played there with Skunk Anansie before (as the secret special guest!), and have also been on industry panels and have conducted guitar masterclasses. It’s a great event to play and be a part of.
If you would like to be considered for a shortlist for the festival in February 2016 come and see us at Industry Link or drop us a line (industrylink@acm.ac.uk) with a good SoundCloud link and bio to check out.
You can check the festival out by heading to their Website.
What I say is:
Be good, do good, feel good.
Cheers
Ace
About Ace
Ace is the guitarist in UK rock phenomenon Skunk Anansie. Formed in 1994, they went on to be one of the biggest rock bands in Britain and Europe throughout the 90’s until now selling over 6 million records and doing sellout world tours. They still continue to tour and write new music with their own record label.
Keep up to date with Ace by following him on his Website & Facebook. Also, make sure you keep track of Skunk Anansie via their Website, Facebook & Twitter.
