Krooked Tongue Make the Best of Boardmasters Cancellation

21 August, 2019

It’s a fact of life that outdoor music festivals are sometimes subject to cancellation due to extreme weather conditions. This was recently the case with Boardmasters – Cornwall’s premier live music and surf festival – which was called-off at the last minute due to official warnings of gale force winds.

With the safety of ticket-holders, performers and staff  being a top priority, festival organisers made the difficult decision to cancel the music festival, offering full refunds to music gig goers whilst continuing with their annual surf competition.

The cancellation left performers in a frustrating position. One trio of BIMM Bristol graduates however, refused to let the situation get them down, defiantly arranging a last-minute gig featuring five artists who were due to appear at the festival on BIMM’s very own Cove stage.

Alternative rock trio Krooked Tongue were the driving force behind the appropriately named Floodmasters; a free live music event which took place that weekend at one of Bristol’s best-loved venues, The Louisiana.

Krooked tongue guitar

“As soon as we received the Boardmasters cancellation news, we knew we had to put something together.” said Oli Rainsford, bassist and vocalist for the band.

“My older brother (Alex) and I came up with the idea of pulling together some of the other BIMM Bands that didn’t get to play at the festival. I guess the decision came from the disappointment of knowing that we were not getting to perform and how hard the bands had worked to secure a spot on a big festival like Boardies.”

Floodmasters flyer

Other BIMM artists who appeared alongside Krooked Tongue at the event included alt rock quintet IOTA and 70s throwbacks Lovebutter (both from BIMM Bristol) and grunge riff troupe El Moono from BIMM Brighton.

Oli, who recently graduated on a BA (Hons) Professional Musicianship Degree in Songwriting, contacted The Louisiana who even offered to hire their venue to the bands for free.

“We rallied around to raise some cash to pay the sound engineer and buy some beer for all the bands and we were good to go!” said Oli.

BIMM Bristol’s Industry Placements Co-ordinator Dan Brown and Events & Guests Assistant Sam Marklew were also helpful with their support of the event, which helped contribute to a fantastic audience turnout on the night.

We’re so happy that Krooked Tongue and the rest of the featured artists were able to make the best of the situation and turn a negative situation into a positive one.


Are you interested in studying Songwriting at BIMM Bristol like Oli did? Why not apply now! Or, come along to one of our Open Days to see our facilities, meet our lecturers and get a taste of life at BIMM.

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