Roadburn 2017: panels, live interviews and listening sessions

Roadburn’s side program is a series of panels, live interviews, listening sessions, in depth discussions – and this year includes the return of Roadburn Cinema!

Here’s the run down of what else will be part of the side program this year.

Panels & Live Interviews
We’re kicking things off in a suitably weird style as Gnod will be in conversation with Metal Hammer’s Dom Lawson on Thursday afternoon, exploring the roots of the Gnod Gnetwork, their influences, their passions and what’s next for them. That madness will be swiftly followed by a second live interview, this time with our 2017 curator, John Dyer Baizley. He will be in conversation with Ula Gehret, and reflecting on the personal and professional pathways he’s taken over the years.

On Friday our attentions turn to what goes on behind the scenes of the music industry.

We’re living in a time when big European festivals sell out in a heartbeat – even with no bands announced. New festivals pop up every year, and bands are seemingly always on tour. With the decline of the market for physical products in the music industry, has touring become a life line for musicians, or is it an obstacle course of pitfalls that only an expert can navigate? We have assembled a panel of experts to discuss the current state of the live music industry, the mistakes bands make when setting out on the road, and the part we all play in keeping live music thriving. The panel for our discussion Is Live Music Really Thriving?includes:

• Simon Fullemann – CEO AISA Music – at the heart of Simon’s job is getting bands in front of audiences – whether that’s via live performances or records being in shops. Far back in his past, he also toured the world in hardcore bands.
• Erin Lynch – Owner Flying Fox AB – as a band manager, tour manager, and hospitality manager, Erin has seen first hand both the many triumphs and pitfalls that are scattered along the road to international stardom
• Victoria Zanghi – Tour manager  – tasked with keeping the show on the road for the likes of Baroness, Enslaved and Cage The Elephant, Victoria’s knowledge of how to tour smart is unsurpassed.
• Ben Ward – musician & booking agent – Ben comes to this panel from a unique position, with both the creative part of his brain as a musician, and the business part of his brain as a booking agent fully engaged!

Following that we have a panel hosted in partnership with Buma ROCKS which explores how bands can overcome geographical – and other – boundaries to start making waves on the other side of the world.  On the panel will be:

• Mark van Schaick –  Buma ROCKS! programme coordinator & journalist – through his work at Buma ROCKS! Mark is on a mission to help promote Dutch music both in the Netherlands and abroad
• Kim Kelly – Editor at Noisey US – Not only has Kim got a knack for scouting out the best up and coming talent on an international level, she is prepared to leave no filthy, moss covered stone unturned in her quest to do so.
• Luc Favie – Booking agent at Rock The Nation and Doomstar Bookings – working with bands at different stages of their careers, Luc is instrumental in helping bands reach the right audience at the right time.
• Laster – musician – Laster are our 2017 Roadburn Introduces… band, and they are hotly tipped to soon be making waves internationally.
• Thomas Sciarone – musician –  Thomas is one sixth of Dutch post-everything band GOLD, a band who have always chosen to tread their own path creatively, politically, stylistically  – and internationally.
• Pip Soret – European label manager, Relapse Records – Pip has a masters of science degree in cultural geography from Radboud University in Nijmegen to back up his work dealing with the day to day business of helping to run one of the heaviest labels around.

Saturday starts with a very special live interview as Jinx Dawson takes to the stage flanked by her Coven brethren to talk candidly with Metal Hammer’s Jonathan Selzer about all things Coven – past, present and future. This session is by reservation only – but check our social media in case any spots become available last minute. Click HERE for more information.

Roadburn is a festival that strives to constantly redefine what heavy means; from the aching melancholy of Warning to the abrasive punk of Integrity, heaviness covers a broad spectrum of artists. As a festival where Emma Ruth Rundle and Mysticum are comfortable metaphorical bedfellows, we’re seeking to explore The Definition of Heavy, and what effect heavy music has on us, the listener.

• José Carlos Santos – editor & journalist – Jose will use his encyclopaedic musical knowledge to guide us through this discussion on all things heavy, drawing on his vast experience and personal passions to steer us through some of the heaviest music known to humankind.
• Walter Hoeijmakers – Roadburn Artistic Director – every year Walter spends hour sorting through musical offerings from multiple genres, aiming to select only the best, most suited music for that particular edition of Roadburn. He will give us a little insight into what kind of heavy is just the right kind of heavy for Roadburn.
• Rebecca Vernon – musician – SubRosa are capable of mixing the softest of harmonies with the heaviest of riffs, all combined in one song; Rebecca is a musician who knows how to use heaviness (and the absence thereof) to great effect.
• Tomas Lindberg – musician – through his creative work with both At The Gates and Disfear, Tomas has often led the charge in pioneering new ways to present heaviness. His personal music tastes may well throw everybody – including him – a few curveballs as he discusses what heaviness means to him.
• Dom Lawson – journalist – a well respected journalist with more years of experience under his belt than he’s care to admit (without you first buying him a pint at least), Dom has spent a large portion of his adult life wrestling words into sentences to accurately convey just how heavy a heavy thing can be. He joins us in our quest to help discover the definition of heavy.

Pulling a double duty, José Carlos will then return to the stage, this time accompanied by members of My Dying Bride who will take their turn reflecting on a vast and storied career. As the doom pioneers will later on play Turn Loose The Swans, we reminisce about what it took to get them where they are now, and the scope of their influence along the way.

Listening Sessions:
Roadburn‘s listening sessions this year will include not one but two opportunities to listen to Sólstafir‘s new album Berdreyminn, frontman Aðalbjörn Tryggvason will be on hand to introduce the album prior to the first listening session on Thursday afternoon.
Joining Sólstafir will be Costin Chioreanu presenting his album There is a Place Called Home, plus a premiere of the new album, Hydrogen, from Ivar Bjørnson ‘s ambient project BardSpec.