Mental health and alt-rock music go hand-in-hand at this brand new festival

Misery Loves Company is the brand new, all day, multi-venue music festival coming to Bristol this year.

Taking place on September 30, the event will welcome headliners Twin Atlantic and Yonaka to Bristol, alongside a heft of local talent.

The festival aims to bring alternative/emo music to the forefront, something that has been lacking on the Bristol music scene for the last few years.

“When I first started, when I first came to Bristol, I got welcomed by the alternative scene in Bristol; I came here for uni and started DJing, doing some promotional work,” Ian Chadderton, Touring Project Manager for TEG Live Europe and Promotions Manager and Founder of Fat Lip UK, tells Bristol24/7.

“It’s nice to be able to give something back to the alternative rock, emo kids in Bristol, because we sometimes get overlooked down here.

“It’s a chance for us to show off not only, that we can bring all these huge bands to Bristol, but it’s a chance for us to showcase our own local talent as well.”

Misery Loves Company will host five stages, located at Rough Trade, The Lanes, SWX and The Station, including an acoustic stage in the courtyard at The Lanes.

Having the festival located in one area was imporant to the team at TEG Live Europe.

“I remember back in the day, Hit the Deck Festival, I remember trying to run from the Exchange all the way to Thekla, it just wasn’t ideal,” Ian laughs.

“You know, because there were so many good bands that they put on at the time but you’re running all across town and so it’s very difficult to organise your day, especially when you have to account for half an hour’s worth of jogging.”

With so many big names on the lineup for the festival, it was imporant the team were able to put them all in one location so people can utilise their time well.

The festival’s decision to have co-headliners, Twin Atlantic and Yonoka, was one that took the band’s management team and agents some convincing.

“Either of them are more than big enough to headline the festival by themselves,” Ian explains. “Twin Atlantic, it’s old school isn’t, they always bring a good crowd, and then Yonaka, they’re on the way up, they’ve got some new music coming out, which is fantastic.

“No one wants to see a half an hour set from Yonaka or half an hour set from Twin Atlantic, you want to see a full headline set for both.”

Which is what the team have done.

Another reason for the co-headline is to have female representation at the very top of the bill, something that other, mainstream festivals are severly lacking.

“Growing up, you had Paramore and Evanescence on the bill and that was pretty much it,” Phoebe Jones, Marketing Assistant at TEG Live Europe, tells us.

“So it’s really cool to be working on a festival that has such a core ethos of representation. We’re aiming for 50 per cent to include a female or a non-binary member.”

“It’s a bit of a chicken or the egg situation as well because if you don’t have those inspirations to look up to, if you don’t see a female fronted band or with a band with anyone that looks like you then you won’t have those people being inspired to start bands in the first place,” Phoebe explains.

“We really are at a point where girls are killing it, it’s fantastic, so we wanted this at the forefront of of the festival.”

Alongside their push for representation, Misery Loves Company has also partnered with Heads Above The Waves, a non-profit that raises awareness of depression and self-harm in young people.

“Mental health struggles are such a prevalent thing with people in the emo adult communities, they kind of seem to go hand in hand,” Ian tells Bristol24/7.

“Heads Above The Waves; they’re amazing people, they have a little shop in Cardiff and it’s all completely nonprofit. They’ve got some wonderful merch, and they do some special talks in schools and stuff, talking to kids about self harm and mental health.

“They’re really eager to do some cool stuff on the day as well, all the bands are going to get their own little mental health pack with some goodies in it, the best ways to deal with your mental health when you’re on tour and some special treats. So it’s just a really cool organization and I’m so happy they agreed to be part of it as well.”

Despite this being the festival’s inaugural year, the team are already looking to expansion over the coming years.

“There’s plans for rapid expansion in the next few years. We’re looking to use some bigger venues in Bristol, there’s already talks in place to make that happen, which is fantastic,” Ian says.

“We’re going to be bringing something really really special to Bristol.”

Tickets for Misery Loves Company are on sale now and can be found at https://tourlink.to/MiseryLovesCompany

Main photo: Cameron Brisbane

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• New day festival taking place in Easton

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