Most festivals have a “new bands” element of some sort or another, but the Green Man really seemed to put a lot into programming and promoting their up-and-coming acts, and the artists they featured on the Green Man Rising stage were not only very varied in style but generally of a great quality. So I caught up with five of them to find out how it went and get to know them and their music a bit better. As well as Wyldest, the shoegaze/noise duo who won the Green Man Rising competition and got to open the main stage, I chatted to skronkin’ stripped back punk rock purveyor Charles Howl, experimental soundscape artist Eva Bowan, darkly playful producer/multi-instrumentalist Syd Kemp, and snakey-basslined indie/psych charmers Memory Clinic. So come on in and meet some of your new favourite bands (or mine, at least)…

Charles Howl

How’s your Green Man been so far?

It went really well. This is our first festival, but everyone was really nice backstage and we had about an hour to set up as the band before us pulled out, so it was quite chilled. I used to go to festivals a lot when I was a bit younger, but I haven’t been to one for about four years. We were busy for about two hours yesterday and now we’re just another member of the crowd, and it is a really nice festival.

How did you start out playing music – is it something you’ve always done?

No, I started quite late, when I was about 20, so only a few years ago. I drove a friend’s band on tour and kind of got the bug then, by watching them playing little dive bars in Europe, so I got back from that tour and thought “Right, I’m going to learn guitar”. When you can see that even on a small band level you can do a Europe tour and it doesn’t have to be big venues, big festivals, it seems there’s still a lot you can get out of it.

For those who may not have heard your music before, how would you describe your intentions, and your sound?

I started writing lo fi garage-y stuff because it’s the easiest thing to start with, you know, just turn up everything and make it really scuzzy. I used to also put loads of changes into songs – you know, to try and show off how clever you are – but now I think I’ve refined it a bit more. We released a really lo fi garage-y EP, and now we’ve just finished the album and the sound’s kind of cleaned up a bit. There isn’t an official release date yet, but they’re saying early November [with the label Ample Play].

What has been the highlight of your year, if not the Green Man?

I think this is definitely the best show we’ve played this year. But I think the highlight was finishing the album – we took our time on it, and really refined it a bit away from the more simple garage stuff to what, I hope, is our own sound now.

I’ve read you have an ever changing live line-up – what’s the biggest or weirdest line-up you’ve ever had onstage?

That was never really a plan. I think I always wanted a big band, to try and replicate everything that’s on the record, and if you have a lot of people in your band it’s hard to kind of keep everyone committed. We played with six people here, but it’s hard to always find that many people. People move away or they start their own projects. The set-up stays the same but it’s just the personnel that shifts at the moment. I’d like to try and get some more instruments involved, maybe on the next album some violins. I’d always like to try and do every element live, but…

Where can we catch you live next, and what are your plans for the rest of the year?

We’ve got the Glasgow Psych fest on 6^th September, and we’re doing a Marc Riley live session on Monday 8^th September on BBC 6. There’s plans for a small Europe tour in October too.

– Find out more: https://www.facebook.com/CharlesHowlMusic