“We were surrounded by bands like Animals As Leaders, Meshuggah, Plini… and the crowd could clap in time over a 7/8 time signature, too!” From a virtuoso Tool support to Rabea Massaad’s new supergroup, meet the next generation of progressive guitar heroes

Bicurious' Taran Plouzané puts everything into it as he plays his Squier Jazzmaster ArcTangentFestival – he even ended up in amongst the crowd.

In 2013, in the heart of rural Somerset, UK, a new kind of music festival was born – one that played host to some of the boldest, most adventurous and downright noisiest alternative guitar music the world had to offer.

Named after an album by cult Nottingham alt-metallers earthtone9, ArcTanGent wasn’t for casual music fans; with headliners like 65daysofstatic, Public Service Broadcasting and Maybeshewill, it was laser-targeted at post-rock, math-rock and prog obsessives.