All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England.[1] and Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex[2]
Named after the song "All Tomorrow's Parties" by The Velvet Underground, it was founded by Barry Hogan in 1999 as an alternative to larger, more corporate festivals like Reading or Glastonbury, with a tendency towards post-rock, avant-garde, and underground hip hop, along with more traditional rock fare, but presented in an environment more intimate than a giant stadium or huge country field. All Tomorrow's Parties is a sponsorship-free festival where the organisers and artists stay in the same accommodation as the fans.[3]
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[edit] History
The festival has its origins in the Bowlie Weekender, curated by Belle & Sebastian at Camber Sands in April 1999. Artists, usually musicians (but sometimes visual artists like Matt Groening, whose line-up featured in the Observer's list of the ten best festivals of the year,[4] or Jake and Dinos Chapman) are asked to curate the festival by inviting their favourite performers to play. The idea is that it is akin to dipping into the curator's record collection, or as founder Barry Hogan described it, "ATP is like an excellent mix tape".[5]
In 2002, the festival expanded to the USA, and several events have taken place there in subsequent years. In recent years the All Tomorrow's Parties organisation has also been involved in booking stages at the Pitchfork Music Festival[6] and the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain. In 2008, All Tomorrow's Parties ran their first East Coast USA festival, which took place at Kutsher's Hotel and Country Club, Monticello, New York and was a huge success – this event occurred again in 2009 and 2010.[7] In January 2009, the festival took place for the first time in Australia, with events in Brisbane, Sydney and Mount Buller (in Victoria) all curated by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.[8]
The small organisation that puts on these festivals also promote concerts in London and the rest of the United Kingdom, curate the yearly Don't Look Back concert series and run the record label ATP Recordings.
In 2009, Warp Films released a long-awaited feature length documentary about the festival named All Tomorrow's Parties. It premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, and then premiered in the UK at Edinburgh in June. In October 2009 the film was screened at a number of 'one night only' UK theatrical screenings also featuring live music from Les Savy Fav, who feature in the film and have long been mainstays of All Tomorrow's Parties line-ups.[9]
[edit] I'll Be Your Mirror
In 2010, ATP announced I'll Be Your Mirror, a series of events taking place in cities around the world. I'll Be Your Mirror is named as such as it is a sister event to ATP, still involving a curator choosing all the music and films that play at the event, but without the holiday resort accommodation. "I'll Be Your Mirror" is the B-side to the original 1966 "All Tomorrow's Parties" single by the Velvet Underground. ATP announced the first event to take place in Tokyo, Japan in February 2011. A UK IBYM weekend has been confirmed for 23/24 July with Portishead installed as headline act and curators.[10] Portishead also co-curated and headlined ATP's first U.S. I'll Be Your Mirror in September 2011 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
[edit] Past UK and US lineups
[edit] 
Forthcoming UK All Tomorrow's Parties Festivals
[edit] UK 2012 I'll Be Your Mirror curated by Mogwai & ATP
25–27 May 2012. This event will be held at Alexandra Palace in London, England. Mogwai will curate in junction with ATP. The line-up will be:
Friday 25th: Slayer, Sleep, Melvins, Wolves in the Throne Room, Yob and A Storm Of Light.
Saturday 26th: Mogwai, Dirty Three, Codeine, Mudhoney, Harvey Milk, Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat, Chavez, Floor, The Soft Moon, Antoni Maiovvi, Balam Acab, The Music of Can and Umberto.
Sunday 27th: The Afghan Whigs, The Make-Up, El-P, Archers Of Loaf, Thee Oh Sees, Tennis, Sleepy Sun, Tall Firs, Forest Swords, Demdike Stare, Siskiyou, Blanck Mass and Yuck.
[edit] UK 2012 ATP Curated by The National
7–9 December 2012. This event will be held at Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset. The line-up features: The National, Kronos Quartet, The Antlers, Owen Pallett, Boris, Tim Hecker, Sharon Van Etten, My Brightest Diamond, Wye Oak, Lower Dens, Megafaun, Suuns, Dark Dark Dark and Buke and Gase, Bear In Heaven, Local Natives, Kurt Vile, Michael Rother presents the music of Neu! and Harmonia, Deerhoof, Menomena, Youth Lagoon, Nico Muhly, Stars Of The Lid, Perfume Genius, Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), Mark Mulcahy (Miracle Legion), Kathleen Edwards, Hauschka, This Is The Kit, So Percussion and Hayden with more to be confirmed.
[edit] 
Forthcoming USA All Tomorrow's Parties Festivals
[edit] USA 2012 I'll Be Your Mirror curated by Greg Dulli
21–23 September 2012. This event will be held at Asbury Park, New Jersey. The line-up will be:
21 September curated by ATP
Line-up to be confirmed
22 September curated by Greg Dulli
Louis C.K., The Roots, José González, Mark Lanegan Band, Dirty Three, The Antlers, The Dirtbombs, Scrawl, Sharon Van Etten, Emeralds, Vetiver, Quintron And Miss Pussycat, Charles Bradley And The Extraordinaires, DJ Questlove, Reigning Sound + more to be confirmed.
23 September curated by ATP
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Make-Up, Hot Snakes, The Magic Band, Autolux, Thee Oh Sees, Factory Floor, Death Grips, I Break Horses + more to be confirmed.
[edit] 
Forthcoming Japan All Tomorrow's Parties Festivals
[edit] Japan 2012 I'll Be Your Mirror curated by Jim O'Rourke & ATP
14–15 April 2012. This event will be held at Studio Coast, Tokyo. The line-up will be:
14 April curated by ATP
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Codeine, The Magic Band, The Drones, Factory Floor and Nisennenmondai with more to be confirmed
15 April curated by Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke Performing Eureka with 12 piece band, Michael Rother Performing the music of NEU!, HARMONIA & other works, Tony Conrad & Charlemagne Palestine, Borbetomagus and The Necks with more to be confirmed
[edit] See also
- Past All Tomorrow's Parties lineups
- List of music festivals in the United Kingdom
- All Tomorrow's Parties, a 2009 documentary film
[edit] References
- ^ "ATP: The Nightmare Before Christmas" The Guardian, 12/11/2007
- ^ "Belle and Sebastian to curate All Tomorrow's Parties" The Guardian, 03/26/2010
- ^ ".Flouting the Mainstream, Forgoing a Corporate Stamp" The New York Times, 09/02/2010
- ^ 2010 "The 10 best music festivals" The Guardian, 05/09/2010
- ^ "All Tomorrow’s Parties & Book Club" The New York Times, 09/01/2010
- ^ "Pitchfork Hosts a Perma-Rock Festival" The New York Sun, 07/22/2008
- ^ (see above) The New York Times, 09/02/2010
- ^ "Veterans rock for Cave the curator" The Australian, 01/12/2009
- ^ "Warp's Return to Sheffield" news.bbc.co.uk, 09/18/2009
- ^ http://www.atpfestival.com/events/ibymportishead/news/1011241500.php
[edit] External links
- All Tomorrow's Parties Official Site
- Don't Look Back Official Site
- All Tomorrow's Parties Film Website
- All Tomorrow's Parties Festival 2006: The weekend in pictures
- All Tomorrow's Parties Festival 2007: All Tomorrow's Parties vs. The Fans – The weekend in words and pictures
- All Tomorrow's Parties Myspace
- An Oral History of All Tomorrow's Parties, The Village Voice
- All Tomorrow's Parties+Official All Tomorrow's Parties LastFm Group
- All Tomorrow's Parties News Update – Daily Music Guide
