Feeling supersonic: how Sonic Boom Festival is boosting the arts in Burton-on-Trent

Set up as a not-for-profit community interest company, Sonic Boom exists to support the local music ecosystem, from artists and promoters to young people getting their first taste of the music industry. 

“Every penny that we make goes straight back into the ecosystem of original music creation, music promotion and grassroots events – those sort of things in our area,” explains Chris.

The idea was sparked by Future Yard in Birkenhead – a post-industrial music venue and creative hub that helped revive the local scene. 

“Someone from East Staffordshire Borough Council saw this and went, we’re kind of in a similar boat in Burton-on-Trent… I wonder if we could do that here,” Chris says. 

That person got in touch with Future Yard’s Craig Pennington, and eventually, Chris and Andi got involved. After a successful month of local gigs and the birth of the Burton Music Collective, the first Sonic Boom festival launched, supported by East Staffordshire Borough Council and Arts Council England. 

“We kind of magic’d this thing together. And it turned out to be a really regionally significant cultural event,” Chris adds.

Big names like Chris Hawkins from BBC 6 Music and indie band The K’s were on the bill, but the inaugural event also gave another spotlight to some of Nottingham’s best rising talent at the time – artists like Deco, Girlband! and Divorce. 

“And that was free,” Chris says. “So, this is why we say it’s a festival for everyone… You can come and watch them in town for free on a great stage with great sounds, in a great setting.” 

The name? It’s a deliberate one. “We’re creating a bang in town,” says Chris. “The town needs waking up. The town… is a bit sleepy… and we wanted to create a Sonic Boom.”

“Those events that are after the main festival are all called Aftershocks… So the idea is that we do one of those every year. There's a big boom, that kind of thing,” said Andi. But there’s also an unofficial inspiration: “I was thinking about Street Fighter 2. There's a character called Guile, and he says, ‘Sonic Boom.’ I'm sure that plays into it somewhere,” he adds, between laughs.

Andi leads on curating the lineup – but this wasn’t what the council originally had in mind. “I think that the council suggested we had a local school choir, and maybe somebody singing with some backing tracks and that sort of stuff,” he says. “We immediately said no, thank you. Because we wanted to create something for the community, which is the kind of festival that we would want to go to.”

“We wanted to put a lineup together that wouldn't look out of place at a Splendour or at a Dot to Dot. We are both in bands, and we were gigging at these local festivals and seeing them from the public side. We wanted to create something like that in town,” he continues.

Last year’s lineup – with the aforementioned Divorce, Deco and The K’s – captured that new wave energy. “It felt like there was a really exciting mix of local bands who were on the ascendancy. And then you had Girlband!, who obviously have gone on to smash it,” Andi says.

This year, they’ve gone bigger – and crucially, they’re curating all of the Aftershock venues too. “You need something that will really make people go ‘actually, this is an amazing act to have in a town,’” Andi explains.

He walks me through some of the artists to catch: “You've got Revivalry… the youngest band to play the Kendal Calling main stage. You've got Ruby J, who was on The Voice. She's an incredible singer… and then you've got Chiedu Oraka, who's supporting Coldplay.”

And the format? “The idea is to do genre hopping by venue hopping,” he adds. “You know, if you want to follow the indie boys around, then you can do Revivalry, then you can go and see Tommy Smith, and then you might go and do some drum and bass somewhere.”

One of the most community-led and inspirational things about Sonic Boom is its youth programme. “We co-curate a course for 15 to 25 year old young people to take part in,” says Chris. “They come backstage, they go and meet everyone… One of the guys who took part last year is now in one of the bands that are playing this year’s BBC Introducing Stage.”

And the impact is real. “He did the course last year. And now he's out there doing security on all the festivals and that sort of stuff,” says Chris. “Ordinarily, people from Burton wouldn't know you'd be able to do that. What we're creating is this ecosystem where, you know, people can get into the music industry without needing to go to London.”

Last year, over 6,500 people showed up. “98% of the people that were there said they felt safe and said they would come again – that they felt proud of the town,” said Andi. “Even people that weren't from the town would say that – and I think there is something in the water in Burton in that it's a friendly town.”

And now? “The early birds sold out within hours,” he adds. “We're a good 20% through [tier two] now. What I want to happen though, is I want local music fans to snap these tickets up before the national Everything Everything fans start coming in, and keep it in the family, as it were.”

Other than headliners Everything Everything, there’s also a strong contingent of local Notts favourites and rising stars on the line-up once again, with Leah Wilcox, Dorothy Ella, Jayahadadream, JJ Lovegrove and even Chris’ own band, the Paddy Considine-fronted Riding The Low.

So, what’s next? “The end game is a venue,” Chris says. “There is not a dedicated music venue in Burton-on-Trent. And that's what we want to achieve – we want to inspire other people to take action. We want to lead the way for others.

“I think that's going to happen,” he adds. “This thing’s unstoppable.”

Sonic Boom Festival takes place on 13 September 2025.

sonicboomfestival.co.uk