We built this city: celebrating twenty years of I'm Not From London with head promoter Will Robinson

Happy twenty years of I’m Not From London! For anyone not aware of INFL, tell us a bit about what you get up to…

Gigs, lots of them. But also other stuff. We make music videos, run music-based community projects, review live and recorded bands, and on our label we release music by some of the bands we work with. Venues get in touch with us if they want to start up a live music night and we put on different bands for album launches and give them the platform to play. We believe in ‘co-oper-tition’ and work with lots of different organisations and venues on different projects at one time and we really don't get as much sleep as we should. 

You put on 10-20 events in Nottingham each month - over two decades that’s a hell of a lot of gigs. Do you know how many gigs you’ve hosted over the past twenty years? 

We (my son Vincent) worked out there were 1400 Facebook events since the Outstanding Festival ten years ago so I'm gonna confidently guestimate double that. I'd equate that to a swimming pool of Guinness and a garden pond’s worth of blackcurrant!

Have you got any standout highlights from the twenty years?

My stand out has always been when The Invisible Orchestra and I hired out the Masonic Hall for their album launch… And all the Waterfront Festivals… The INFL does London overnight gigs, the prohibition night at The Maze, which was on the last day they banned smoking. We had cigarette girls hand out fags after midnight, a slide-hatch speakeasy in the back with bands and boxers for an exhibition fight. They didn’t turn up, so me and the promoter Andy Cydesdale fought it out in the ring… The Captain Dangerous album launch was incredibly special and I’ll always remember my parents waltzing upstairs at The Rescue Rooms as we dropped the balloons… The Ghostbus tours gig on the London bus were funny, we didn't get wristbands so we’d be losing people in each pub we’d stop on and end up having random people on a double decker bus with Captain Dangerous dressed as ghosts playing while everyone dances… The nights with Gimme Danger, the burlesque band I managed, were always fun and shambolic… All the fuzzbox gigs I do with Brendan/Metempsychosis Lights are fun - we had one where we gave everyone 3D glasses to complement his insane lighting… The Gob Sausage night where we had to protect the lead singer in a gimp suit from getting beaten up from the other bands whose pedal he’d broken... The Mexican wrestling nights at The Maze and the I’m Not From London Marafun where we had bands in multiple pubs that we’d all run to to to get hand stamps with a pint got very messy… The Cardiac Arrestival charity fest we did with Moonbullet in Sheffield… My niblings 18th birthday INFL gig at Wharf Chambers in Leeds. 

Most recently we had an amazing gig at The Grove where everyone got out their phones to light up Hurtsfall’s final song of the evening, so much love in the room, then we had the DSM IV close the gig. Eighties Matchbox B Line Disaster, the lead singer's previous band, are my favourite band of all time, up there with Iggy. I was so happy by the end I attempted a backflip off the stairs which Cam later sent me footage of (turns out I can’t backflip).

Alongside live events INFL is also a record label - who are you working with at the moment?

Dusty 4 Track and Moonbullet have albums with us in the pipeline, and Dim Bulbs are our most recent and up and coming signings. Also the music that most resonates with me personally is garage rock so I was beside myself when our old signing No Nothings asked us to release their new album, it sounds so badass. If you like Thee Oh Sees and Black Flag you’ll dig em! Louis (Cypher) and I are also planning the next I’m Not From Brooklyn release for autumn.

The grassroots music scene is often touted as precarious, but Nottingham seems to be increasingly producing great music. Where do you think we’re at as a city, locally and nationally?

I honestly spend so much time in Nottingham working on what we have here it’s sometimes hard to see things with that perspective. I guess that’s it, there’s things happening here and we get on with it. We’ve always bubbled, we’ve got arenas and massive independents as well as a few (fewer) smaller music venues that struggle, but there’s a very strong community feel around it. The Hockley Hustle, Dot to Dot, Beat The Streets festivals are testament to that. 

Earache Records and new labels and promoters like Jearum from Gnarwhal and Hannah Foxton are putting on amazing line-ups with a great ethic and energy behind them. Stand out bands in Notts pop up each year. You could watch a band every night of the week if you wanted to. I’d say we’re doing just fine but with the little venues it’s use em or lose em - fingers crossed for the success of the Mist Rolling In (Derby Road).

If someone wants to hear more local live music, which venues do you suggest heading to?

We've been running Ruby Tuesday nights at Billy Bootleggers for three years. Always free entry every second Tuesday. Alt Blk Era played our first one and last month they were on Jools Holland after their fantastic performance at Bearded Theory. So there you go, get on it.

Perhaps drag yourself up to Derby Road, there's a wee gem of a bar called The Mist Rolling Inn, it's home to the finest sound system that ever did grace this fine city of ours. You'll find all the best gig putter-on-ners from The Chameleon there and some great new ones too. 

If you're putting on a gig in Nottingham it makes complete sense to have a local band support. You have the big touring bands on at Rough Trade and Bodega and then for small fun intimate gigs I couldn't recommend JT Soar more as you can BYOB which stands for BRING YOUR OWN BOOZE. How good is that? £10 on a ticket, £10 on your drink and you've seen two local bands, normally a couple of international bands too and get to chat to them immediately after. 

Obviously there's also more lovely independent haunts like Carousel, The Grove, Fisher Gate Point, The Tap and Tumbler and The Sal for locality. This is by no means biased but if you'd like a good sup with your local music you want to drop by The Angel. It's the INFL office and run by an entrepreneurial young go-getter named Benjamin Rose. He really is a great bloke and lets me drink all his beers for free or at least at staff discounted prices which I think your readers would all agree is very fair.

Tell us a bit about your internship programme which has provided experience to dozens of people looking to get into the music industry…

It's hard starting out when you want to do something but haven't got experience. If people want to learn about promoting bands, releasing music, putting on events then we're happy to give them that experience and the help is valued. It's good to have a crew and people need to build a network. I can't physically be at every night we run. 

We work with lots of freelancers; the day-to-day projects I work on utilise a lot of skills. We took our first interns on about ten years ago and it's been a revolving door policy since. It's generally one day a week they'll do for us and it's about finding out what works best for them and giving them as much responsibility as they're willing to take. There's been a great legacy with interns going on to work for Kilimanjaro Events, DHP, Rough Trade, Sony and Disney. 

We started our Hellcats Under 18s night whilst Nat Greener was on her school work experience week and she promoted it to her school friends and sold out the show. She went into music journalism and then her younger sister took on the mantle, this was carried on by Joni and currently Viv and Sophie. 

My Dad would say ’start now’ when I talked about ideas I had about things I wanted to do when I got older. It’s that sort of impetus we like to encourage. The internships are a way to pass on skills we've learned and give the next gen the opportunity to try things themselves with support. I had the same photo sent to me by two old interns who were both working for big promoters from Newcastle and London respectively, they were both working in the box office for Sam Fender, got talking and realised they’d both worked as an intern for INFL before they landed their current gig!

Apart from our regular freelance crew, our interns are my main team. Karlos DJ's and designs some amazing posters for us, Holly films and reviews band submissions for our website, Mia helps with the Waterfront Festival and project bids, and Jake produces fantastic video ads as well as helping stage manage gigs and festival stages for us and as working on our Be Scene And Heard project. Minder is my partner in Dedicated who helps me with project bids and festival work. I really value their help and - although interning in the day is unpaid - when there are budgets available everyone gets paid.

You are also a community interest company and run programmes like 'Be Scene and Heard' in Mansfield that connect musicians to people with learning disabilities and special needs.

Our CIC, Dedicated, was put together as a way of getting funding for projects that we couldn’t sell tickets for and it really came as a lifeline for INFL and lots of the musicians I work with when Covid struck. Lockdown meant we couldn’t put any gigs anywhere. 

Be Scene And Heard brought together young disabled and deaf musicians who we put together with Nottingham musicians to help them enjoy and make music. We're currently working in Mansfield on what will be its fourth year. It's a very special project; Ben, Oscar and Jake are really passionate course leaders on it.

In your opinion who are the most exciting musical acts in Nottingham at the moment?

Alt Blk Era, Divorce, Baby Tap and Drury Hill, and have you checked out the insane story behind the rise of Panchiko… For those with more gothic tastes, I'd highly recommend Modern Coven, Bloodworm and the precocious Joshua Todd. I also love Full Blast All Stars, they're like the Happy Mondays but funnier and also better musicians.

Our favourite day by the canal, Waterfront Festival is coming up soon - as well as being a very fun day of live music it is an event that has raised over 40k for Nottingham charities in its fifteen year run. What can you tell us about this year's festival?

Fifteen years is absolutely sublime. It's a real marker for me and all at INFL really. It's the day where we give the new bands we've been working with a solid, fun, and busy festival to play at the amazing Canalhouse. Big thanks to our sponsors Gigantic, Castle Rock, Madri and Diamond Press really help. We've raised over £43,000 for different charities over the years which we’re massively proud of and it's always fun. This year will be for Emmanuel House and Mermaids.

We've pushed the boat out a bit this year and booked a lot more touring bands to keep it fresh, with Los Fokin Biches from Mexico, a goth choir from Sheffield called The Midsommers, the incredible Poundland from Derby. My festival partner Hannah Larham is just coming as a punter this year so it will be weird doing it without her, she was an incredible force to work with. 

This year we decided to rename the Secret Stage, the Darren Blair stage after our first full time apprentice who was tragically killed in Vietnam last year. He was an amazingly upbeat and larger than life man who worked so hard for us and with so many other musicians in the city. Stage headliner's Bad Milk Blood Robot and The Hoplites were kind of managed by Daz in their old bands so it's kind of a way of getting his spirit back down to party with us all again as we all miss him so much.

Any other big events coming up which you’d like to shout about?

Well it's twenty years of gigging so we're celebrating with a few big gigs this year. First out the trap is Miranda Sex Garden at Rough Trade on Thursday 10 July, then the DSM IV back in Notts at The Angel on Saturday 13 September (I’m on a no backflip guarantee). Then our first label signing Captain Dangerous are reforming with a string orchestra as a one off reunion gig/twenty years of INFL party on Saturday 22 Nov - that’s gonna be fun!

We also have Chopper from The Cramps' new band Heathen Apostles playing The Angel on the Monday 4 August (following Waterfront Festival) and a very special Halloween gig in the works at the Angel!

I’ve now lived here longer than I have anywhere else. It's a privilege to work with the creative community of Notts and I’ve met some great friends here. We’re here to help if you want, but when it comes to doing something creative, you can’t get a better experience than just getting out there and taking your own risks. DIY or shut up.  The music never stops, it just gets remixed...

Tickets for Waterfront Festival on Saturday 2 August are available here. To keep up with I’m Not From London and hear about upcoming gigs, head to their website below. 

@imnotfromlondon imnotfromlondon.com

Photos and posters below provided by Will Robinson: Ralph Barklam, Rich Clarke (Harrogate Photography), Amelie Beckman Cooper, Karlos Lehover, Owen Findlay (Or8 Design), VideoMatt aka White Dolemite, Amelie Beckman Cooper, Tom Platinum Morley, Miles Clarke. If you are the creator of one of these images and would like to be credited, please drop LeftLion an email.