31 March 2012
Ross Cotton
Bloc festival returns this July for another two day stint, and never fails to bring some of the most eclectic techno, hip hop, IDM, reggae and house music to the stages of their internationally acclaimed shindig.
This year sees Bloc's biggest evolution yet, with the likes of Squarepusher, Orbital, Flying Lotus and Four Tet joining the line up, as well as some unexpected surprises from Snoop Dogg, Steve Reich, Battles and Gary Numan.
For 2012, the festival has shifted venues to London Pleasure Gardens in the Royal Victoria Docks, a far removal from it's previous 2011 home at Butlin's Holiday Resort, Minehead, and the birth of the festival at Pontin's Holiday Camp, Hemsby, in 2007.
Previous line ups have seen performances from Aphex Twin, LFO, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Autechre, never moving too far away from the electro dance remit. But this 6th instalment has really pushed the boundaries and widened it's genres further than expected.
“I've always assumed it was a dance music festival. So I've not really thought I was appropriate for it.”, explains Gary Numan.
“They offered this year, and I talked to lots of people about it, who said it's not just dance music, it's dance and electronic. But I don't think that I'm purely electronic either. I guess a lot of dance people talk about me as having an influence on them, but there's absolutely noway I would fit into a dance festival at all!
"I guess this is an attempt for them to widen it slightly, but it's really quite heavy and dark stuff that I do now. So hopefully I don't go down as a led balloon!”, says Gary.
“I've seen some diagrams of what they're going to be doing there. It looks stunning actually!”
Gary Numan will be performing at Bloc festival, which takes place on 6th and 7th July, London Pleasure Gardens in the Royal Victoria Docks.
The DVD 'Machine Music: The Best of Gary Numan' will be out on 11th June.
