Rooted in music and art - An interview with Mark 'Chinny' Davis

Photo: Alfresco

About to enter it’s landmark fifth year, the Alfresco festival in Blackpool is undoubtedly one of the UK’s more unusual Bank Holiday events. Taking place at Blackpool’s Cricket Club grounds, it’s a creative family day out with a unique musical soundtrack of underground house, disco, post-punk and hip hop.

Acts this year include Edan and Paten Locke, Shit Robot (relive 'Take 'Em Up' above), The Hackney Colliery Band and Morgan Hammer. Topping the bill once again are Alfresco favourites Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston, AKA, A Love From Outer Space.

Fiercely independent and as no-nonsense as his festival, we caught up with organiser Mark ‘Chinny’ Davis to discuss what’s in store at this year’s installment of the ambitious cult event.

What were the original origins of Alfresco?

This is the fifth year, and it all started with a random Facebook post with me asking if anybody wanted to set the decks and speakers up and get the kids involved in the barbecue. So we invited people, and 200 people turned up to see us DJing out the back of a van.

Are you from Blackpool originally? What is the club heritage of Blackpool, beyond the superclubs such as Syndicate and Flamingos?

Well, I’ve been booking events in Blackpool for years, and for a time, it was massive. We were on the front cover of DJ Mag and Mixmag, bringing in people like James Lavelle, Kool Herc, Touche, Plump DJs, Stanton Warriors… anyone big between 1999 and 2005 in the world of hip hop and breaks.

We had a little underground club and were regarded as a bit of a naughty night to go to. And we were involved with Snowbombing, representing out there for a while.

So there’s already quite an established crew of you in Blackpool?

Yes, but we had to slow down when The Syndicate opened in town, which is a real superclub. There weren't enough cool kids in Blackpool at the time. They either went to the new place or stuck with us and didn't spend any money on drinks! So from then on, I was in Leeds for ten years, DJing and putting on parties, before returning to Blackpool.

As an emerging and unique event on the town’s yearly calendar, have Blackpool council had any feedback or support to offer regarding Alfresco?

To be honest, they haven’t (laughs). Because of the style of what we do, people don’t know what we have. If I wanted to book Olly Murs or Clean Bandit, people would be all over it. But you have to have an interest in underground music to get what we do. So we have a local crowd of 400 to 500 who are behind everything we do, and then the rest are from out of town.

We’ve sold more tickets in London and Manchester than in Blackpool. So what we’re trying to do is get people from out of town as a great excuse to come to the town, and you can do the Pleasure Beach with the kids or whatever, but as a music lover, also have a great day out at a great price.

I know that the original headliner, ESG, are not on the bill as long planned, although the overall line up is still very strong. Who've you drafted in as a replacement?

There’s an alternative hip hop DJ called Edan, who’s worked with people like Cut Chemist and supported DJ Shadow, who’s coming over from New York for this year’s event. We’ve actually put him on in Blackpool before, and it was a bit of a legendary gig.

It’s interesting that the scene in Blackpool was once rooted in hip hop and breaks culture, whereas I think it’s hopefully fair to say that what you’re known for now is your association with Andrew Weatherall and his A Love From Outer Space project.

Why do you think they continue to have such a huge following? I’ve never seen an act get a bigger reaction than during the end of their set at Antwerp Mansion last summer.

I have to say, that handover from ALFOS to Dan Avery was easily one of the highlights of my fifteen or twenty year career as a promoter. Our crowd is great through them, mixing an older crew with a younger following.

Weatherall still kicks around with younger DJs like Dan and Kiwi, and we get the cream of that crew. I’ve never been into rave revival or throwback nights, I don’t go near them. What ALFOS do is still tip the hat of some of the older records, but completely mixed in with a load of new stuff, often played before their time. It’s not like booking two old legends, they’re still completely on point.

Alongside ALFOS and Eden, there are a variety of acts on the bill who people might not be familiar with, such as Tronik Youth and Barcelona based DJ, Morgan Hammer. Tell us a little about who’s representing?

We’ve got a great relationship with Tronik Youth and the whole Nein Records crew, and they’re taking over a new stage called The Igloo, which caters more for the underground electronic music market.

So that will feature Craig Bratley, Haules Baules, Richard Norris, giving those guys a platform. At the moment, Nein are knocking out some amazing records and I fancy them making the next step up to be honest. 

It’s an all-encompassing festival, suitable for families with kids. How have you set out the stall in that sense, compared to other festivals?

Well, aside from food and drink, everything is free once you get past the gates. As somebody with kids myself, I know how frustrating it can be to have to shell out a fiver here and there after you’ve paid to get into an event, and 45 minutes in, you’ll be £50 down.

And Blackpool is a low income town, and we want kids to be involved. The other side is that all the activities are artistic and creative. In contrast to the usual Blackpool offerings of donkey rides and bouncy castle and fairground rides, it’s all rooted in music and art. 

We have loads of workshops going on. There’s a very healthy urban arts scene in Blackpool, and a lot of those artists will be contributing something interactive for the kids.

There’ll be arts and craft workshops, dance workshops, T-shirt printing. The theme for the event is Space and Robots, so kids can make their own recycled robots, and we’ll also have painting on 12 inch records, so it’s always about music.

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