Img: Jake Davis
Now in its fourth year, RALLY, the one-day festival in South London, has made a name for itself as a champion of DIY culture, promoting the discovery of boundary-pushing artists and providing a platform for grassroots talent. Bringing together a programme spanning diverse disciplines, from post-punk and trip-hop to spoken word, RALLY is a space for experimentation and expression beyond the typical mass-market festival.
Joining headliner, Blood Orange this year, is a line-up drawn from the fringes of experimental electronics, alt-pop and leftfield club music. Producer turned composer Daniel Avery will present his latest album ‘Tremor’ with a full live band bringing together immersive industrial sounds with euphoric shoegaze. Montreal-based duo Jump Source will bring the minimal, dubby house and dynamic techno tracks they’re best known for. Whilst minimal heavyweight Roman Flügel will perform a rare live presentation of his project ‘Tracks On Delivery’.
This year’s edition of RALLY is shaped by the theme “Make Your Reality”, a call to actively build and sustain the spaces that surround us. In an era defined by digital saturation, the festival focuses on connections formed in real time, on dancefloors and in shared spaces within our local communities. We caught up with founders Giles Napier & Jonathan Edwards as they share insights on the journey to building an independent festival from the ground up.
img: Jake Davis
Where did the two of you first meet and how did the decision to launch a festival together come about?
G: We met in Newcastle as students around 15 years ago. Jonny was already putting on parties and I started out flyering for him. Needless to say, I took it very seriously! By my final year we were running nights together and after we’d both relocated to South London, we met for a pint in the Effra Social and Jonny floated the idea of a festival. He'd already made a tentative approach about using Brockwell Park to Lambeth Council and they seemed receptive, so we spent the next few months knocking the idea into shape and GALA was born.
RALLY came much later, launching in 2023, but its roots can be traced back to the pandemic where we were trying to open a DIY arts and music venue. It never materialised but the aesthetic and programming ideas stayed close. When a space in the Southwark Park calendar became available we already had the foundations of something that felt fresh and worth acting on.
Img: Jake Davis
How did you go about programming this year’s edition and what are the key components for curating Rally’s line up?
G: There's never really been a formula but discovery is obviously the main pillar. If you already know every artist before you arrive, I'd say we haven't done our job properly. Between ourselves, Bird On The Wire, NTS, and this year Dev Hynes, there's a very broad set of tastes so the programme was always destined to land somewhere interesting. Being so collaborative doesn't come without some level of friction but ultimately it just means everything is done with painstaking levels of thought and you get a more far-reaching end product.
Which album on vinyl is getting the most plays at home these days?
G: Paul St Hilaire w/ The Producers. Exquisite dubwise sounds from start to finish, an all-star cast of collaborators and his smoked out vocals running through the whole thing. Priori's actually on there too. He's playing this year as one half of Jump Source.
J: For me, it has to be D’Angelo’s Voodoo. He sadly passed away last year, far too young. He would have been number one on my headliner wish list, each and every year. Put this album on after dinner and let it carry you gently into the night.
At last year’s RALLY the spaces for visual arts, spoken word and a zine fair were at the heart of the festival experience. What’s in store for the arts at this year’s edition?
J: There's a lot going on this year. Chess, bowls, tarot card readings and lots more poetry. We've also opened up a new Community Gallery to independent artists and creatives from right across London.
Ooze Studio are building a pause space out of soft lighting and textile structures. CAKE are back after Agnes and Visionaire, this time on the bandstand. And MW-A, who won the A-COLD-WALL call out, are doing something site responsive.
Plenty more we could shout about, but there's no fun spoiling it all.
How has collaboration with the wider creative community in South London been a factor in the success of Rally and how do you involve local residents, businesses and artists?
G: It's been pretty fundamental. From the very first edition in 2023, we've tried to build a community of creatives from the ground up, working with local collectives such as @Disturbance, IKLECTIK and SET through to institutions such as Goldsmiths, the ICA and Southbank Centre. Their input has genuinely made the experience better for everyone at the festival, and RALLY is far richer for this sense of shared ownership. At a time when funding for grassroots arts keeps shrinking and more of London's cultural spaces are becoming corporatised, that network of independent partners matters more than it used to. Everyone's involved because they believe in it, not because a brand's paying them to.
J: We provide free and discounted tickets for local residents, run workshops with BOSCO youth centre, and raise money for Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers every year. We've also helped bring Bermondsey Carnival back after years of it not happening, working alongside Jake Farey. We do all the operations and production, and leaving our infrastructure up in the park afterwards is a big part of what makes it viable at all. Three years in now and the programme keeps growing. It's one of the things we're proudest of.
img: Sienna Lorraine
What would be your main piece of advice to anyone looking to launch a new live music event in London?
J: Start small and community focused, be really clear on why it needs to exist and then spend at least as much time thinking about the boring stuff as the exciting stuff. We learned pretty much every lesson the hard way in GALA's first year. A great lineup means very little if people can't get a drink or spend half the day queuing for the loos.
G: In London especially, finding the right site, licensing it properly and building a good relationship with the people who live around it are probably as important as anything that ends up on the poster. Also, it's good to be ambitious but try not to overstretch at the beginning. RALLY had two consecutive named storms in the first two years and we'd be lying if we said we weren't lucky to survive them.
Which are some of your go-to venues in South London for discovering new music?
G: South London is having a real moment right now. Ormside Projects, Venue MOT and Avalon Café are leading the way when it comes to championing the next generation of artists, and Peckham's got Jumbi, Palais, The Carpet Shop, The Greyhound and Vesper all doing the Lord's work. Have to give a shout out to Club Cheek and Windmill in Brixton as well.
Interview by Jennifer Ring for Clash Magazine