Jump in a car and head south-west from the city, stop at Princetown in November and you’ll find the area nirvana of music and arts – Loch Hart Music Festival will have taken over.
“The festival is everything myself and friends go to music festivals with, the things we love from a festival rolled into one,” says festival director Jayden Bath.
With music festivals popping up across the country, it’s hard for small organisations like Loch Hart to stand out above the rest. Loch Hart isn’t trying to revolutionise the music festival, but instead combine what has made other festivals great.
“What it does do, is take a variety of well-loved aspects from other festivals and things that should be happening at festivals and packs it into one.
“We tried really hard to have a spot where it is a road trip too, and you can make a whole journey of it by stopping off at small country towns or along the coast. When you get there, the scenic campsite awaits with ocean views, rolling hills and loads of trees. Then on the day, there’s genuinely amazing live acts.
“I’ve gone to festivals and not known 80% of the lineup but come back with five or six new favourite bands because they were amazing and featuring new artists. Every act we’ve got is amazing live, in the sense it’s not a cliché lineup.”
Gender diversity was also really important to Bath, and emerging female-led outfits like WAAX, Press Club, and IV League have made Loch Hart’s bill. The festival also boasts an environmentally conscious premise too, as organisers scope out the best practice to keep the location as close to its natural beauty as possible. Such a mission has garnered the festival a lot of positive local backing.
Approachable Members of Your Local Community isn’t a showcase of supportive locals as the festival poster might have you believe; it is in fact a band. Laughing, Bath says, “They’re a really groovy six-piece, they’ve released awesome videos as well and have a really unique sound. We have another band called Localles appearing as well.”
“It’s also the ability to have engagement with the audience,” Bath says. “I went to a music showcase four months ago and Ivan Ooze was playing – there were maybe ten to 15 people in the audience but ten minutes into his set, you felt like you were in a crowd of 2000 people because the energy he brought
was ridiculous.
“He came on and blasted everyone away and that’s what we’re trying to focus on in the set; that every band is engaging when they perform but are also incredibly talented.
“The sound of the festival is pretty indie-rock, pretty easy-going as well. There’s some rock bands in there and a little hip hop, it’s a pretty vast spectrum. You’ve got Madre Monte who are unique, ORB who are on King Gizzard’s label. We’ve tried to address a full spectrum of sound.”
With such a strong backing from both community and artists, Loch Hart will be an amazing experience full of good times and good sounds. “It’s going to be intimate, it’s going to be really happy vibes,” Bath says.
“It’s the start of summer, the weather is great. It’s the start of festival season so you get to go along to this as the first of the season. I think people are going to love all the bands but in particular, they’re going to find bands they didn’t know before.
“It is the atmosphere. You can’t not have fun when you’re camping, it’s BYO, and you can stroll down to the stage whenever you want.”
