London’s largest free festival – the Hanwell Hootie comes to town on 10th May
Not long to go now until the Hanwell Hootie will be blasting your socks off with all sorts of music at venues across Hanwell – with over 90 acts performing!
The Hanwell Hootie is a legendary celebration of live music, and there’s never been a more important time to keep that spirit alive. We’re buzzing for our HH debut—and just as excited to discover some of London’s incredible local talent!
Riley Hare, band member, Savannah Gardner
Savannah Gardner will be playing on the Sandy Park stage this year.
Amongst all this excitement, we took some time out to speak to Andy McRobbie.
In conversation with Andy McRobbie, Co-Founder and Music Director, Hanwell Hootie.
Tell us about yourself
I’m Andy McRobbie, co-founder and music director of the festival. I basically have booked all the artists and curated the festival every year since our inception in 2013.
So what is the Hanwell Hootie?
The Hanwell Hootie is a unique music festival which celebrates the rich musical heritage of the area but at the same time we look forward to the future of music.
The festival is all about supporting young and emerging artists and giving them a platform to perform. We believe that live music is the great leveller and can bring a community together like nothing else.
We are unique in several ways…hmm where to begin, well, we have the community aspect, the spirit, the vibe, the idea of supporting each other, which most major ticketed festivals lack but… we also have so many interesting and up and coming artists playing (many of whom go on to be signed by major labels and play sell out European tours) which most community festivals don’t have. I like to think we are unique in that sense. We cater for such a broad audience.
Perhaps the main thing is it’s free for all to attend so it’s very inclusive. We pay the artists a good fee to play and support local businesses with the massive footfall the festival brings. We are also a not-for-profit community interest company (CIC).
How did it start?
Well, back in 2011 I reached out to Marshall amps making the case that we should celebrate the fact that they were born in Hanwell! We should get a plaque and a festival to celebrate. Looking back at the article that was first published about the campaign I think my words were ‘East London has its hipsters, south London has dubstep, west London has the birth of British Rock! Let’s celebrate this!‘ It’s a bit cringe I know, but it did the trick! I think my mum must have a newspaper clipping of it somewhere. You know what mums are like!
A group of us got together including current Directors J and Faye Hamilton and decided we should take this seriously and put a plan forward to Marshall amps. In that same year, Jim Marshall (the father of loud) sadly passed away which really catalysed the campaign. A group of us travelled up to Marshall HQ in Bletchley, we pitched the idea and Marshall got behind It. We had the first Hootie in 2013 in three pubs with twelve bands. It started with the unveiling of the plaque and the rest is history! We are very grateful of the support our friends from Marshall have given us over the years.
We’re a tiny team of just three directors, supported by an incredible crew of volunteers (and my wife Silvia, who handles all our graphic design, she is a real un-sung hero). I’m constantly blown away by the sheer amount of work my fellow directors put into this festival – it’s inspiring. We all work on a volunteer basis. I am a full-time teacher.
Why do you put the Hootie on?
We want to support young and emerging artists, bring the community together and put Hanwell back on the musical map. We are also about making a statement that live music is an integral part of London culture and should be cherished, protected and promoted. So many live music venues, pubs, community spaces are shutting down which is heart-breaking.
This has been our purpose from the beginning and it’s the same now.
What can we look forward to this year?
Lots and lots of amazing live music. We have over 90 artists playing over 15 stages.
Honestly, I don’t know where to begin. We have the busking boat returning and a new venue in St. Thomas. We also have a new stage in the garden of The Viaduct Pub which is a collaboration with Marshall amps and Focus Wales festival.
I really encourage Hootie goers to move around the festival. If Sandy Park gets full, head over to St. Thomas, it’s five minutes away and we have curated a cracking line up there – trust me!
We have welcomed back a couple of crowd favourites from previous festivals but 90% of the artists are brand new to the festival. Of course, we also have a healthy dose of local talent from the area spread all over the various venues.
