CHRIS Sherrington launched the DV8Fest in York last year after growing disheartened by the British alternative music scene.

“I’d grown tired of a scene where definitions of subgenres (goth, electro, ebm, industrial, rockabilly, punk, psytrance, metal etc, etc) had helped to fracture rather than unite the scene,” he says.

“I’d seen a number of specialised festivals which catered for one crowd, but I wanted to create an event where the scene could come together, with a variety of bands and people had the choice of what they wanted to see. It was also set up to try and champion something which I believe is at the core of the music industry, the local music venue.”

Chris achieved those goals and is now at the helm of the second DV8Fest, which began its four-day run of goth and alternative acts yesterday.

“Over recent years there have been a number of UK music venues that have fallen by the wayside. In some ways, this has been facilitated by the festival culture which has built up over the last decade, as people save up to go to festivals rather than see bands in their local venue,” says Chris, who is also celebrating the tenth anniversary of Deviation, the club night he launched at the much-missed Bonding Warehouse.

“DV8 was set up with the core goal of getting people to experience local music venues, intimate gigs, with great artists from across the scene and to bring people together.

“After the success of last year’s event and the reopening of one of York’ biggest venues, York Barbican, we’ve expanded to have 50 bands performing over the four nights and we’re aiming to develop even more in coming years.”

Not the least of Chris’s achievements is to involve venues that more often might be competing with each other. “We’re the first event in York to make use of all of its major rock music venues with stages based at The Duchess and Fibbers in Stonebow and Stereo in Gillygate, as well as tonight’s Gary Numan concert at the Barbican,” says Chris.

“One of the main goals of the festival is to support music venues rather than to use big green-field sites, as we’re worried that local music venues across the country are closing and suffering as a result of big festivals and the economic situation.

“We’re also a new festival trying to develop the York scene and encourage big names to the city over the next few years, and although I call it a ‘festival’, we just want to bring great names to some big gigs and offer people choice.”

Headliners this week include Numan, Utah Saints, O.Children, The Chapman Family, Specimen, March Violets, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Die So Fluid, Voltaire, Mesh, Grendel, Nosferatu and Vince Ray.

“People are free to move from venue to venue, and as well as the music events in the evening, there are markets and fashion shows during the day at the Park Inn in North Street,” says Chris.

“These are free for all to attend, 10am to 5pm, today until Sunday, and will feature acoustic shows by many of the festivals acts, such as Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Luxury Stranger, Devilish Presley and Rhombus.”

On sale will be clothing, footwear, corsetry, jewellery, accessories, artwork and baby wear.

• See the website dv8fest.com for each day’s line-up and ticket details. Please note, Gary Numan will be on stage at York Barbican at 10.20pm tonight, the late start designed to accommodate anyone who might wish to see both Blondie at York Racecourse and Numan in town.

• Did you know? Chris Sherrington runs Deviation, a goth/alternative club night that began at the Bonding Warehouse a decade ago and has since moved to the Oak Room in the De Grey Rooms, the Winning Post, the Bay Horse and now its present home, Stereo in Gillygate. The club gathers every second Saturday.