Interview with Kombinat
Since moving to Zurich, one of my favourite musical highlights of the year is definitely the Kombinat Festival. I had discovered the association by chance as they organised a concert for a friend’s band from Paris (Special Friend) at Gonzo in December 2021. Not knowing too much about the music scene in my newly-adopted city and especially with the live music scene being dramatically different at the time due to the pandemic, I managed to discover a lot of new bands through the association. A couple of months later in early 2022, I was also at the Mord Fuzztang and Top San concert at Variété.
It was then on 9th April 2022 when the first festival took place with ten bands across three venues around and on the Langstrasse in Zurich from 2pm until 11pm. This first festival left a great impression on me - making me optimistic about the music scene in Switzerland and wanting to make me know more about it. The welcoming and warm atmosphere of the festival also helped a lot.
I unfortunately missed the 2023 edition of the festival but last year’s festival, with the current format of 18 bands across six venues, was also a very memorable event. It was also around the time that Reverb Dream was still being created and the festival confirmed that I was making the right decision with the blog and I am/was still as optimistic as ever.
For this article, I interviewed Kombinat to know more about the upcoming festival and the association. I would like to thank them for their replies!
Tell us about Kombinat
The initial idea was - and still is - to provide for some sort of a platform to bring bands from here and there together with an enthusiastic audience. This started out in late 2021, the core of Kombinat was familiar with both sides to it: playing in bands and visiting all the underground gigs in and out of town. We thought that Zurich could do with more low threshold gig opportunities for bands, and that there‘s an audience that would welcome the sense of community and friendly atmosphere which we‘re all after when attending smaller concerts.
How many concerts have you organised so far? How many bands have you hosted? At which locations so far?
Besides the festival, we've hosted 15 single shows with 25 bands so far. By now, we’re focusing on the forthcoming fourth festival with 18 bands in six venues. Overall 41 bands have played at 9 venues for the festival. Gotthard has been in from the beginning, Hafenkneipe since the second edition, Under (formerly Inkognito) for the second time now. We‘re happy to have Zukunft Club and Waxy Bar aboard for the third time (and sadly also for the last time, as the building will be torn down, although not on the day of the festival), and this year we also have an exciting new location that will be less familiar to most visitors, namely Atelier K18a.
How did you get the idea to start hosting festivals?
There have been similar concepts such as the Obenuse Fest which suggested the idea, and the inclusion of more than one venue to create some festival buzz was a tempting thought. After we had thrown a few concert evenings, the idea was brought up. We deemed it a good idea.
What sort of organisation is required for the festivals?
After fixing the venues, we sketch a timeline, convince our faithful team of volunteers to help us on the festival day, and start thinking about lineups. To offer a high-quality lineup we visit live shows, rummage through Bandcamp and also have to keep an eye on social media. We also maintain a network of artists and also get requests from lots of bands.
What have your highlights (musical and non-musical?) of the previous festivals been? How did it feel to have a sold-out festival in 2024? Your favourite musical discoveries over the last three festivals?
Actually all three festivals from 2022 to 2024 have been sold out so far. All of them have been highlights in their own way. On the musical level we were always very satisfied. The audience have been amazing since we started in 2022. It's just a unique atmosphere at the festival.
What can we expect for this year's festival? Have you done anything differently in comparison to the previous festivals?
You can expect a similar range of bands like last year: from Lo-fi to Pop, from Metal to Punk and a fair amount of Psychedelia. Obviously, the Atelier K18a is a special location this year. We are very much looking forward for the bands in known locations but also for this unique opportunity to host such a nice DIY venue like the atelier.
What are you most looking forward to for this year's festival?
There are four of us in the organisational committee so probably there are four different opinions on that one. But generally speaking, we are looking forward to the lovely peaceful atmosphere from start to finish.
Which bands do you recommend to check out this year?
You should definitely check out all of them in advance and find an individual way through the schedule! We are not a traditional festival who puts headliners at the end and newcomers at the beginning. So to us every band is equal and unique and also gets paid equally (by amount of band members).
Anything else you would like to add?
Thanks for doing this important work for the underground Swiss music scene, Marc! Looking forward to new articles.
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