Counting down to the 1-2-3-4 Festival

Black Lips at last year's 1234. Photograph: Nickie Divine

Hackney’s biggest underground music festivals returns to Shoreditch Park for its fifth birthday this year, raising a cap to east London’s rich music heritage and focusing the lens on bright new talent in the area.

The 1-2-3-4 Festival is taking place on 1 September, featuring performances from punk legends Buzzcocks and Mark Stewart of The Pop Group alongside fresh acts including indie pop quintet Citizens!, post-punk group Savage and spectral electro-pop rock from Gross Magic.

First launched as a free festival in 2007, The 1-2-3-4 is the brainchild of festival director Sean McLusky. “There was a real need for a truly alternative London music festival,” he says. “I wanted to feature the bands coming out of the new east London music scene and give them a platform where they could punch above their weight performing alongside international artists.”

The festival also opens its doors to a glittering coterie of international artists, with appearances from Danish punk lords IceAge, Canada’s post-rockabilly Dirty Beaches and New York psychedelic band Crocodile. DJs from Loud and Quiet, Rough Trade and Pink Mist also feature.

1-2-3-4 gives new acts the chance to rub shoulders with some of the industry’s legends. Past guests have included Vic Goddard from Subway Sect, Bobby Gillespies of Primal Scream fame, Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols and Joy Division’s Peer Hook. “We always present the best new bands plus some original innovators, bands that have had a lasting impact on music, artists that are still relevant and continuing to influence new musicians today,” he says.

Revelry continues into the night, with entry to ten different venues around Hackney, including Underbelly in Hoxton Square, The Shacklewell Arms, The Old Blue Last and Bar Music Hall all free to wrist band holders.

The festival is already making a name for itself as a barometer for future big-hitters. The festival’s original line-up in 2007 included Florence + The Machine, two years before they launched their chart-topping album debut with Lungs.

“I have an ear to the ground and book bands that people are talking about, new or old, I truly believe if a band is good people will recognise that and they will find their exposure,” says McLusky. “But it helps to get a leg up early on, and that’s what we do. We always pick winners that will be going on to great things.”

According to McLusky, east London has become a breeding ground for musicians over the past two decades, nurturing new bands and solo artists, who are producing a glut of exciting new music. “The London music scene shifted east. It always happens in big cities, people find a run-down part of town with cheap rents and interesting new spaces to experiment and grow in. The 70s was Notting Hill, the 80s was Soho, the 90s was Camden and the 2000s have been East London.”

He says that the area has developed dramatically in 20 years. “I was the first person to run nights at the newly named 333 club on Old Street and live shows at On The Rocks on Kingsland Road,” he says. “It was a desolate part of town back then, no shops or bars and you couldn’t get a packet of cigarettes or a cab home. A blank canvas waiting for something to happen.”

The 1-2-3-4 takes place on Saturday 1 September in Shoreditch Park.

Tickets £20 from 1234 Ticket Shop, Gigantic, See Tickets and We Got Tickets.

Gates open at 12.30, till 23.00.