By DJ Monk
Evil Scarecrow are to headline what will be the last iteration of Macmillan Fest, at least for the time being. The madcap Midlands metallians will play the Bristol leg of the event, which takes place at The Fleece on Saturday 9 November.
Macmillan Fest organizer Kris Graham-Martin said:
“There’s been a lot of thought that has gone into this decision, but there is no easy way to say this. After ten years of Macmillan Fest Nottingham, and five years of Macmillan Fest Bristol, we’ve decided it’s best to put [it] on hiatus.
“Having started this event at the age of 16 to raise some funds as a thank you to Macmillan Cancer Support, who at the time helped my secondary school teacher. It’s safe to say we’ve done a lot more than we ever intended.
“Who’d of thought it’d turn into two annual UK metropolitan festivals hosting some of the finest up and coming talent there is to witness in the UK? We’ve supported a ton of artists and allowed a whole alternative audience to connect and share their gratitude towards a fantastic charity. This event has turned into its own beautiful monster. Having started as a one room event, turning into a seven-stage event playing host to 70+ acts some years later is astounding for me.
“During its lifespan, I’ve met countless amounts of people with inspiring stories about their loved ones who’ve been assisted by Macmillan Cancer Support and I’ve heard from people we’ve inspired to go out there and raise money themselves for such an incredible charity. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with a talented bunch of people from Macmillan.”
Rob Turner, Macmillan Area Fundraising Manager for the East Midlands, paid tribute to Graham-Martin, saying:
“We are really thankful to Kris for all the hard work he has put in to organise Macmillan Fest over the last decade. The event has raised over £38,000 which is incredible and something the team who organise the event should be really proud of. Macmillan is almost entirely funded through donations and we rely on the support of people like Kris so that we can help more people affected by cancer.”
Graham-Martin added:
“The truth is, however, I’ve been very fortunate to work a job which allows me to work on this event over the summer and I spend a lot of time doing the festival each year. With changes to my personal life and work I won’t have the luxury of spending time ensuring this festival is as represented as well as it can be and run as efficiently as possible. I’ve put a lot of my own personal time aside to enable this, ignored my own health and put all the profit we’ve made each year straight to Macmillan Cancer Support.
“This sadly isn’t sustainable for me, my own life is changing, which means I can no longer carry on running the event the way it is or to the standard, nor can I push it to how I’d like to see it grow. I will however be continuing with live music in Nottingham and elsewhere.
“So, although it’s bittersweet, it’s time to say farewell and thank you for the memories. A huge thank you to all of our sponsors throughout the years: 3C’z, Alibi Clothing, Artifex Studios, Asylum Seventy 7, Bad Era Recording, Big Cheese Magazine, Blackstar Amplification, BodyCraft Tattoo, Born Wild Clothing, Castle Rock Brewery, City & Moon Backline, Dan Capp Design, Descended From Odin, Disrupt Magazine, Fireball, Greene King, Hit Or Miss Clothing, Kerrang! Leftlion, Life Is, Metal Hammer, Mystincum Luna, NCN Nottingham, NG Digital, Nottingham Drum Centre, Nottingham Live, Paper Stone Studios, Rock Sound Magazine Rockers Digest, Subtle Bodies, Taste Of Africa, The Music Inn, Ticket Web, TotalRock, Toxic Online, Twenty Eight Barbers, Utter Madness Designs, Vocalzone, Wolves Media and every other trader who has been involved with us over the years.
“Special thanks to DHP Family, The Fleece, Mothers Ruin, HY-Brasil, Alberts, Tap N Tumbler, NTSU for all of your incredible hospitality. A huge thank you to all of our crew and volunteers. New and old. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to pull off this incredibly special event.
“Please help us sell out our final events and raise a load of money in the process!”
Tickets for both Macmillan Fest Nottingham, which takes place on Saturday 7 September, and Macmillan Fest Bristol, are on sale now from all usual outlets.