ATP L.A. Festival Rescheduled For Fall

The All Tomorrow's Parties L.A. festival that was scheduled for June has been postponed until late September, according to ATP founder Barry Hogan. "It's been moved until late September 26-28 due to numerous reasons, not cancelled," wrote Hogan in an email.

The events publicist, Perry Serpa, released this statement on Monday afternoon: "The event, to be curated by Matt Groening, has been moved due to slow ticket sales. The festival organizers hope to regroup with a more attractive lineup in September, which will most likely take place at the previously confirmed venues — the Hollywood Palladium, the Palace and the Henry Fonda Theatre. Many of the same artists confirmed for the June event will stay on the bill."

The ATP-sponsored Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds/Freakwater show scheduled for June 18th at the Hollywood Palladium will still take place, according to Serpa.

Simpsons creator Matt Groening is curating this year's event, the second to be held in L.A. Artists set to play shows scheduled for June 20-22 included Mission of Burma, a revamped version of legendary '80s punks Minutemen (featuring Mike Watt and George Hurley), former Unwound leader Justin Trosper, The Breeders, Wire, The Fall, Yo La Tengo and many others.

Mike Watt said he'd been really looking forward to the festival. "I've just been notified too that the L.A. ATP festival has been cancelled! Damn," he wrote in an email. "I dig the ATP festivals (I played w/three different groups at the L.A. one last year at UCLA). It was very happening. I like all the trippy bands and different perspectives on trying to find an individual voice in a motif (rock music) that so much rewards imitation and cliché. I really liked the idea of The Fall, Melt-Banana and Mission of Burma playing on the same bill."

"I like the 'spirit' of the ATP fest, the mix of rock and experimental," Justin Trosper wrote in an email. "It seems to be a little more cerebral than your average festival. I don't know, actually I don't like festivals. Aaah. Last year, I enjoyed being able to see Tony Conrad, Quixotic, Boredoms and Aphex Twin all in the same night. That's all pretty heady though."

ATP began in England, where the idea for the first UK All Tomorrow's Parties festival was sparked by Belle and Sebastian's 1999 "Bowlie Weekender," which featured artists chosen by the group. "They approached me about putting on a festival in a holiday camp (Camber Sands in East Sussex), as [Belle and Sebastian singer] Stuart Murdoch used to work in one," Hogan told Neumu's Jillian Steinberger in January 2002. "I think it would be fair to say the idea was initially brought in by them and developed and executed by myself." Hogan imported the event to the U.S.; the first event took place in April 2002 in Los Angeles, on the UCLA campus.

Sonic Youth curated ATP L.A. at UCLA last year. "The whole thing was a blast for us, to basically curate this festival from our self-created wish list," Sonic Youth guitarist/singer/writer Lee Ranaldo told Neumu in 2002. "It looked good on paper and came off even better in the flesh — we couldn't have asked for a more exciting, smoother-run show if we tried. A very exciting four days.

"There were so many good sets played," Ranaldo continued. "Tony Conrad's set in the small 'chapel' — droning violin strings — was beautiful and very moving. I'd have to say the new Boredoms was most interesting — that this group keeps shifting and changing, evolving its sound to such a degree, always with such a high quality, is amazing. For ATP they were sporting their 'drum circle' set, three drummers with trap kits all facing in to the center, plus Eye on synth and vox. Truly unique and mind-bending."

For more info, check the ATP Web site. — Michael Goldberg [Monday, June 2, 2003]