Gill Tee Talks Black Deer In The City 2025

Aug 14, 2025 | Interviews

Words by Glenn Sargeant

Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By Black Deer Live PR 

The inaugural, Black Deer In The City taking place at London’s Tobacco Dock on the 25th & 26th October 2025. Co-founder and Creative Director of Black Deer, Gill Tee kindly took time out of her busy schedule to talk to us: 

 

The inaugural Black Deer In The City will take place at Tobacco Dock in London on 25th and 26th October 2025. When did you first have the idea for the event?

The idea to take Black Deer to a much wider audience over the UK was always in our sights to do.   During 2024, in addition to the Festival at Eridge Park, we started Black Deer Radio and launched our Black Deer Live one day events,  with over 60 Shows in the calendar. Chris Russell-Fish, our MD, and I, who work very closely together, felt a larger City based event was a good idea.

 

How did you decide on the location of Tobacco Dock? Was it difficult finding the right venue?

Well Tobacco Dock found us. It fell beautifully in line with our future planning. I had an approach from the CEO and Chairman of Tobacco Dock, Patrick Donovan who had been following the Black Deer journey, loved what we had done with the brand, and wanted to bring something different into the venue from what they were currently doing, that had sustainability and could be a staple in their calendar.  We met up and chatted away about ideas and how it could work, and very quickly we decided that a collaborative relationship would suit both of us, so we got to work very quickly on planning and launching our first Black Deer in the City. Creatively, I could not wish for a better city home. I love everything about the venue, and the team at Tobacco Dock are so enthusiastic about us bringing the event to them.

 

You have managed to secure at least six 2025 UK exclusives including singer-songwriter Frazey Ford. How did you approach the music booking for Black Deer In The City?

We wanted to get a balance of artists that represented Black Deer Festival, Black Deer Live and Black Deer Radio. The booking team approached key agents with a view to having some exclusives that would interest our Black Deer audience and also researched what our customers would like. We are delighted that we secured Frazey Ford as this is her only UK date and the last time Frazey and band played the UK, they sold out two nights at Union Chapel in London and a lot of people have been wanting to catch Frazey and band live. We are also very happy to have secured American Aquarium as an exclusive. This band is one of the best Americana acts on the scene and will be a fitting act to close the Saturday night.

In addition to the exclusives, we also have Toby Lee, a blues sensation and a rising star. Toby won the Bob Harris emerging artist award at the UK Americana Music Awards appeared on Jools Holland’s annual Hootnanny. Black Deer audience favourite’s such as Morganway, Savannah Gardner and Dylan Earl perform among many, many more. We are also presenting the full band Robert Vincent experience on the mainstage before Toby Lee. Robert has been a highlight for a number of years at Haley’s Stage and gets asked about a lot.

We always want to support our grassroots artists within our genre, and Haley’s Bar this year will play host to a whole array of artists who we know our audience will love. We also are so thrilled to be introducing into the mix the Half Moon Stage, where the team at the iconic venue The Half Moon Putney will be introducing even more grassroots artists to our audience.

 

In addition, you will have the Live Fire stage which will see flame-cooked BBQ demos and masterclasses. Who are some of the chefs and BBQ experts who will be attending?

As well as a great range of quality street food  we will be testing our audience tastebuds with our food demonstrations at Live Fire. This has always been a massively popular part of the the Black Deer Festival, but we are so excited that the talent will be out in full force at Tobacco Dock, kicking off with Ray Lampe aka Dr BBQ, will be hopping across the pond cooking up a storm on the Live Fire stage – his only European appearance this year. Our audience will also see flame-cooked BBQ demos and masterclasses from celebrated chefs and pitmasters, including Matblak, Marcus Bawdon, Melissa Thompson, Genevieve Taylor, Nick Weston, Shane McBagley and Mursal Saiq. Add to this as our chilli and hot dog eating competitions, we will ensure our food offering over the event satisfies our audience’s desire for quality and variety.

 

The Roadhouse Stage will be curated by London Desertscene. How did that collaboration arise?

In 2017, I was sharing an office with my son Reece, who was the Founder of Desertscene, who was bringing  his own three day festival multi-venue festival in Camden ‘Desertfest’.  It was the best of desert rock and he had reignited the interest in the genre of ’stoner rock’ that was big in America in the 70’s. His festival at this point had been a big success and he had extended his festival portfolio to include Desertfest in Berlin, Belgium, Athens, and New York. When I said I was starting a festival from scratch with a genre that was not, at that time, particularly mainstream, he actually tried to talk me out of it, as he knew what a big gamble it was in an already massively busy festival marketplace. I was however determined to make it happen. In 2018 the first Black Deer Festival took place at Eridge Estate, and he came along. The whole thought process had been to create a festival that had different areas to represent the sub cultures of the whole Americana Scene, and one of those areas we named the Roadhouse. This area I wanted to be different in terms of creating an area with motorbikes and trucks on show, with music that had a more heavy sound than in other parts of the festival. Year one was good and I knew we had started something special. Reece was impressed with what he saw and said he felt that Desertscene would be a good partner for us for the following year, as he would curate something at the Roadhouse that would appeal to his audience and be able to promote it to the people who came to his festivals, who would also love the other areas within the festival that had been created. So that was it! It was really such a great moment when in 2018 he slung his arm around me and said ‘Mum, you did good!’

 

What are your three music festival tips?

Go with the intention of leaving all your worries behind you and have the best fun
Be open to music you didn’t believe was your thing. You could walk away with a whole different view.
Make friends – it’s easy at a festival where likeminded people are so open and willing to embrace you.

 

Black Deer Festival took place last year in Eridge Park in Kent with headliners Joe Bonamassa, Sheryl Crow and Rufus Wainwright amongst others. What are some of your memories/highlights from the festival?

Watching so many amazing artists at a festival I co-founded can take your breath away, so there are many highlights. However, standing watching artists on one stage in particular in 2024 was a big highlight and that is the Supajam Stage. In 2024 the stage was bigger than ever and the quality of artists who performed along with student performances and songwriter circles was a big highlight of the festival.

SupaJam colleges use music and media to unlock the potential of young, neurodiverse adults who have struggled with life issues and fallen out of mainstream education. The partnership with Black Deer helps SupaJam develop the next generation of talent in the music industry by giving students invaluable work experience at a professional festival, including sound, lighting, artist liaison and PR.

I have been involved with them since its inception over 10 years ago in a converted room in Tunbridge Wells, where 6 young adults who had fallen through the educational system, were brought together by two incredible guys who decided they wanted to help in some way.

 

David Court and Nick Stillwell started Supajam and works with some of the UK’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people aged between 16-25, and uses the power of contemporary music to reignite their desire to learn and achieve. I was asked by them, to become a mentor, and I have been involved ever since. There are now four colleges, in Swanley, Canterbury Brighton and Wandsworth.  When I decided to start the festival it was without question that we would involve Superjam somehow, it has become an integral part of Black Deer and their forms part of their curriculum. The students become involved with all aspects of running the stage, including booking their artists, working on sound and lighting, stage management, health and safety and artist liaison. The stories from these students and what Black Deer means to them is truly humbling.

Another highlight for me was that I was asked by the Live Fire team to enter the Chilli Eating competition as a bit of fun and I did quite well!

 

Have you ever thought about recording any of the music sets for a possible Live at Black Deer release?

We do record, via Tagmix, every Black Deer Live show, so we have that in our armoury.  We have lots of plans for the future so anything is possible.

 

What does the future hold for the Black Deer live events and brand?

Chris and I are always looking for new exciting opportunities to take Black Deer to a wider audience both in the UK and Europe.  The Black Deer in the City concept is one that we would really like to see develop into other cities initially in the UK. We have created a blueprint that is easily transferable to other great iconic venues who believe in our values. The Black Deer ethos is really important to us, and we only want to work with partners who share in that.   We respect everyone we work with, and above all we respect every person who has bought a ticket, so we will continually strive to champion new talent, and bring the very best in Americana sub cultures, to a wide audience so we can showcase this amazing genre.   We have some great ideas in the pipeline, some of which Chris and I are confident will see the light of day in the future.

Feature Image Photo Credit: Black Deer Live PR 

Black Deer In The City takes place between Saturday 25th October – Sunday 26th October 2025 at Tobacco Dock, London, United Kingdom.

Entry prices for Black Deer In the City start at £84 (plus booking fee) for general day tickets.

Weekend tickets and VIP are also available, but numbers are limited.

Accessible tickets come with one free companion ticket. A payment plan for tickets is available. The event is for 16+, but under 18s must be accompanied by an adult.

The event opening hours will be 11.00am – 01.00 on Saturday and 11.00am – 00.00 on Sunday. 

Parking is available next to the venue, with Wapping (Overground), Shadwell (Overground & DLR), Tower Hill (District & Circle lines) train stations all a short walk away, with good bus routes available too.

For more information, book tickets and to keep up to date on event news, including artist announcements, please visit https://www.blackdeerfestival.com/.