Have we hit peak Festival? Well, that depends.

If your idea of a Festival is getting hilariously off your face in a stinky mud bath, with hopes of random copping off, your time has probably been and gone. But relax, they don't do that at Moseley anyway...

Do NOT pray for rain. Photo by Alicia Zinn from Pexels

It's been 49 years since Hendrix at Woodstock over there and Dylan at the Isle of White over here: 60s hippy enthusiasm sparking legends and juicy profits. Profits? Woodstock lost an absolute packet because of the rain (there's an ongoing theme here) but they seriously cashed in with the movie and the albums. 

I have it on first-hand authority, by the way, that Woodstock was actually a ghastly ill-conceived and massively overcrowded shit-storm; to which I can add that the Isle of Wight shindig was rather fine, apart from the trek back to the ferry. But since then, things have rather evolved. The big boys moved in.

Chris Bowden: new album, rave reviews, a '96 classic reissue, and major hometown gigs. Not bad.

What a difference six months makes - 4,380 little hours...

Half a year ago, I wrapped up a complex two hour documentary, 'The Lost Concert', about alto sax jazz hero Chris Bowden. It's still scoring nice numbers on Brum Radio's listen-again. I built it around an unheard 65 minute live set,  captured by Neil Hillman at the CBSO Centre in 2007. 

Chris's thirty year career has seen amazing highs to go with some desperate lows. He was key to the 90s UK Acid Jazz scene; he helped launch the Heritage Orchestra; he has played with strings of super-influential outfits; he continues to create genre-busting brilliant music.

Now, with a new album, there's been some interesting developments.

Festivals 2016! Mud! Rip-off prices! Well, hopefully not.

Which local festivals do best by local acts? Two are absolute stand outs. 

Nile tearing it up at MoJazz 

Here comes summer (although not as I write), and the promise of shimmering music in the sunshine, in good company. And new discoveries: acts you might have heard of but hadn't caught up with yet, playing to you live. Doesn't that sound nice? 

Festivals can mean different things: the term has stretched from the idea of a day or three of music in a field somewhere. Now it's one-dayers, sometimes inside, sometimes all night. Or it's mega operations - holiday camps with drugs - where tens of thousands of punters shell out fortunes to trudge through mud and pay over the odds for designer food. I'm not exactly broken up that Wireless have swerved Perry Park again. But I am dead chuffed that Moseley Folk has headed back closer to its folk roots. 

Mahalia. Four years of development, and she's still only seventeen. Crikey.

Ridiculously young and talented, with a major label deal... that might suggest you got it made. Great expectations then.

Four years ago, Mahalia played a Tea Room Tent debut slot at Moseley Folk. It was a gentle but excellent start, in front of some major Brum music faces. 

Four weeks ago, Mahalia made her BBC2 Later debut, fronting the irrepressible Rudimental. No build-up: the camera panned directly to her from Joan Armatrading. No pressure, then. To see how it went, scroll down for the video. Mahalia is still only 17. She is being guided by her parents, who were both active in the music business in the 80s, and have the scars to prove it. She already has a deal with a major: Asylum/Atlantic. This is not usually how things get done these days. Not anymore. But then again, Mahalia is unusual.

The game is changing: Goodnight Lenin

Goodnight Lenin want feedback on their new songs. See them in the bar afterwards. Oh, and there's three, count 'em, three festivals to talk about. With the Monkees?

The challenge for all performers is to know when it's going well, and why. That's why I so admire people who make great music. It's not just the uncanny talent. It's the pressure to perform, to deliver. Not only that: you have to work out how it's going: you have to manage it all. 

This blog doesn't just celebrate moments of inspiration and warmth, but also the stagecraft that goes with it. To have the balls to take your visions and dreams out to an audience, to lay it out in public, is one thing. That's where it really starts. That's when the game changes.

Festival horror stories: when the headliners pull out the day before their gig

Taking care of business at festivals and gigs you promote is one thing. Keeping a weather eye on your own band's business? Tricky. Now do both, all at the same time.  

Fellster: not a hair out of place. Um.  

As of today's publishing date, it's three weeks until the final day of Moseley Folk 2014, and four weeks on from the end of Mostly Jazz Soul and Funk. I'm quizzing John Fell about all of this, and on the band he plays in, Goodnight Lenin, and the final final final release of their first album, later this year. He's not unbusy.

Timing is a tricky thing. Planning festivals is a year-long process. Right now, John's looking at possible acts for 2015. And he's working on the next gig for Goodnight Lenin, in three months, to tie in with the album release. So he's juggling time scales.

If that's tricky, consider the perspectives he has to navigate. A great many bands (and artists, producers, writers, broadcasters and bloggers) get so close to their projects that they wind up missing what audiences might value. I'm not saying that's a bad thing – it's part of the creative process, is all.

But it does raise issues of marketing what you've got. That means you have to look at it, see yourself as product, all that. It's not an easy process. Given that, John Fell is in a pretty unique position. Wearing his festival organiser hat, he's in a position to weight those factors up in other acts. He has to monitor the market to see who's around and who's coming up. He has to judge the audiences for the different days of both festivals and Lunar, the Nick Drake-themed festival he also works on. . 

Critically, he has to step beyond his own purely and intensely personal sentiment to judge whether the music Goodnight Lenin makes has its own independent life once he and the band let it out into the public realm. 

So, quite a lot on the Fell plate. And that's before your headline act cancels on you at a day's notice. But we'll get to that.

Especially with Mostly Jazz, Funk and Soul, I'm seeing a shortage of headline acts... And maybe there's a weakness at Mostly, being so very US-oriented. There's a lot bands coming over, doing the Festival circuit in the UK and Europe. And there's an absolute ton of festivals. So maybe there's not enough talent to go around?

I think a lot of festivals now will pay way over the odds to get an exclusive, to make a difference. So their act does them and not just one of thirty dates in Europe. Neutral Milk Hotel at Green Man – that's an example, the Gene Clark Band at End Of The Road… they're earning big money, stupid money.

Moseley and Mostly can't do that.

No, we can't. So what we've got to do is to keep it varied, so the line-up's exciting. So that people don't know what to expect. We did that at Mostly Jazz with King Khan and the Shrines. I was most excited about them because I knew people would go away loving it. And I knew that no one would come to the festival just to see them. That's the card we're playing.

You had a bit of hiccup with the Earth Wind and Fire show cancelling on you at 24 hours notice.

Ahhhhh.... I got in Friday night after working from 5am that day. Looked at my emails at 1am Saturday – just to check – and it said 'Earth Wind and Fire Experience cancelled'. So what do we do? Less than 48 hours away, and it was our marquee name as well.

We didn't really sleep that night. So I went to do the Saturday work...

...in at 5 again?...

...yes. While trying to book another band. Which we did. And then getting the flights sorted, getting the contracts out, getting the backline, getting the hotel. Getting the money wired. All that.

A Family Stoner    

You got the Family Stone, which is kind of the same level, given that it's not the original line-up. There wasn't a Sly, but EWF didn't have Maurice White either.

Exactly. In my opinion it was better, but the only downside was that we'd had them two years ago. It kind of made for a really good feel, because everyone clubbed together. This has happened. Here's a surprise. It was a story. People like gossip, people like a story.

And, unusually, you went public with it.

Funnily enough, it gave it a buzz. No-one know what was going to happen. That was exciting – for everyone else, not the organisers! And in the end about seven people contacted us to complain, out of the 2,500 who were there on the night. Lots of people on Facebook were more excited about the Family Stone.

Where were they?

In Belgium. We had to fly them in.

You were over a barrel. They could have really screwed you financially.

They could have. But we were helping them out too – they had a couple of spare days, so rather than just sitting there in Brussels, eating chocolate, they came to us, cut their costs and got paid. There were two or so other options. So we got stupid lucky, really.

So it worked. And you had your other legendary names. Ginger Baker. He kinda has... a reputation... that goes before him.

He does! If he'd have turned up and been nice, shook your hand, been all sweet, I'd have been really gutted. He has that legend, and he lived up to it. He was brilliantly horrendous.

And I notice you're looking for acts for 2015 already.

Email me!

Photo: Richard Shakespeare

Now, looking forward to the end of this month with Moseley Folk, there's some nice marquee names.

The biggest we've ever booked: Waterboys, Richard Thompson and Johnny Marr, in a park in Moseley. That's pretty cool. Advance ticket sales are up on last year - best we've had at this stage.

What about the new talent that you give a leg up to? That's what I find most interesting; that's what I want to catch, above all. I'm hoping to do another post, like last year's, on the new talent people miss if they show up late.

That's all happening now. You won't see them listed on the posters. We've got most of them sorted. It's nice to give them that opportunity, the ones that are bubbling up. But you need to look in the other places apart from the main stage and the Lunar stage. And they can say they played Moseley – which is great if it's their first time.

So let's talk about Goodnight Lenin. Last week I put up a post which charted the 50 most-viewed local acts on YouTube. It's complicated and geeky, but it is a very rough ranking of popularity for those acts who have gotten videos out in the past three years. Midnight Bonfires, your support act at the Hare last week, actually scored better on the chart than you. I find that surprising, given your band's position.

We haven't done that many videos, and we've pulled most of them.

Well, that could explain your score. Why did you pull the videos?

When we did our first videos, we just finished then, and then realised that we were looking like a band we didn't want to look like. So we've had to stop until we got it right. We weren't ready. We put our stuff out there, and as soon as we did, we were over it. We've had to go away and scrap the album, probably twice. Wrote ten songs, scrapped them, wrote another ten songs, scrapped them... We kept writing until we got the sound, until we've got to the point where we want to be. And we've done that now. We've changed as a band.

OK, here's an awkward question: why didn't you put a first album out, bish bash bosh, quick, down and dirty, just to let people know you were there? You'd have still grown as a band from that point onwards.

You know what? As we did the first EP, which we put out...

…. which a lot of people really liked....

… thank you! But we instantly went 'No' between ourselves. To do that with an album... A debut album is your first shot. It's really important. Now, we'd have been really unhappy of that was our first effort. Now is the time to say to everyone: Listen! And now we've got six or seven new songs ready, which are the best things we've done.

I've got to ask: you're managing three festivals a year, you're working with This Is TMRW, and you're in Goodnight Lenin. How can you be fair to everyone? Is anyone suffering?

No, not really. It's a good balancing act. The band's not suffering. There are times when I won't make a TMRW show because there's a band rehearsal or a gig. Now we've got these little projects happening which will fund the next step, and so on.  

Lots to look forward to, then. The Goodnight Lenin album, In The Fullness of Time, comes out on the 24^th of November. The band play a major show at the Institute on the 28th. And those new songs? John's right – they're belters. 2015 could be a very good year.

Links

Goodnight Lenin website
Moseley Folk website

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Moseley Folk. John Fell would like a 30 hour day, please. And no hangovers.

2013 Festival season #4: Three weeks out from Moseley Folk, with four hour Goodnight Lenin rehearsals, This is Tmrw work and solo gigs to juggle…

Courtesy Skakeypix

John Fell is ridiculously difficult to get to in mid-summer. It’s not his fault – this is the halfway point between the two Moseley festivals, and he has segued from Festival booking team chores to stage manager, senior bottle-washer and soother of fevered muso brows. He has – hopefully - helped clear up after Mostly Jazz, while setting up for Moseley Folk. His band Goodnight Lenin have a slot at the Festival, clearly set on delivering something special ahead of a much delayed album release. So that means lots of rehearsals as the band shifts to a more raucous, punchier approach. 

And on top of this, weeks before Moseley Folk, John also signed up for solo gigs supporting the redoubtable Patty Griffin. Then there’s the gig with This Is Tmrw. So it’s been a struggle to pin the boy down. But I bet lots of people say that.

Juggling tasks: John Fell

It's been a busy year for John Fell, and it doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon. 

The band he plays in, Goodnight Lenin, have packed in a ton of gigs, including tours of Scotland and, this week, Ireland, supporting Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny.

Tracks for the first album are now in the can; mixing is underway. There are winter gigs to plan for, including a hometown Christmas special. Before that, a string of releases are due, including a live EP. And in addition, it’s been a frantic summer of booking acts for Mostly Jazz/Funk and Moseley Folk Festivals, as well as the Lunar Festival. 

So - a busy man. On top of all this, he's also championing new talent, such as Katherine Priddy. 

For those who don't know Goodnight Lenin yet... they are a hugely promising five-piece, all from Northfield in South Birmingham, who, pretty much, have all known each other since childhood. They are cheerfully happy to be seen as anything but modish. The music is folk-rock, strong on harmonies, with definite nods to giants of the 70s like Neil Young. On stage, they ooze relaxed goofy charm - in fact their gigs are generally a hoot. But their strong suit is a terrific portfolio of songs, which you can explore by checking out their YouTube pages and on their website. One song, 'Wenceslas Square', is embedded here, and it's an absolute gem; you'll find it further down the post. And, for all their knockabout live appeal, the band has the ability to reel off breathtaking numbers which stop you in your tracks. 

What makes things more interesting is John Fell's role within the Mostly/Moseley festivals group, where he is events manager and has responsibility for booking most, if not all of the acts. It's a tricky balancing act to pull off. 

Goodnight Lenin at Moseley Folk 2012. John Fell second from left :-)


First things first. You’ve been recording for what seems like a long time. What’s the release schedule?

We’ve got a single, and an EP – a Live EP – planned before Christmas. The album will arrive next year. The album’s pretty much recorded. We did it on analogue tape at Highbury Studio. It’s the way we wanted to record. So you get that warmth, and it also means you work in a certain way. When you’re recording digitally, you know you can fix anything. It feels a little bit like cheating… But our music is on 16 tracks, with some stuff bounced down (combined on one track), and that’s how it’s going to stay.

Is that a good discipline?

It’s great. It really tests us, because we do like to layer and layer and layer. We might put up five sets of strings on it. Then we need to add our harmonies, so it really is tight. It’s great for us, because we do get that warm, live feel; we’re all looking at each other – you can tell when we’re all grinning. It adds something to it. But we are going to get that digital side too, because all the tracks have been converted to digital for the mixing. 

The single is out at the end of October, and it’s being mixed by John Wood, who did a lot of work for Joe Boyd back in the day. 

Vintage names from the heyday of Brit folk-rock!…Do you sometimes feel you were born thirty years too late?

We’re quite content where we are! It’s just what we listen to. There’re artists from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s that people still listen to. We want to be the band from 2012 that people listen to in thirty years’ time. 

Talk to me about finances – there’s a lot of stuff to pay for here.

Finances? it’s tough. Obviously, most bands at our level – in terms of where we are release-wise – don’t get 400 people to a gig. So that’s unbelievable for us. But then we’re still financing the band. We’re putting in £40 a month, each, and that pays for our practise room. 

So you are still funding the band? No rock and roll lifestyle yet? 

Absolutely. We don’t take any money from the band at all. It’s all done for the love of it. 

 But you’re getting a name…? There has to be some light at the end of the tunnel?

We’re getting looked at. Some producers - names we’d never dream of - have checked us out. There are publishers and labels looking at us. We’re happy to stay with Static Caravan, who released our last EP. If a bigger label came along to give us that marketing push, we’d be happy. But we still want to do everything ourselves. If we make any mistakes, it’s down to us. We’ve had a few sync offers come along, which is nice, bit I’m very wary of all that, especially if it means losing publishing rights. I don’t mind doing one-off non-exclusive deals where we keep the rights in the long run, but that’s not the way most sync deals work. I don’t want to be the guy sitting in the pub at Christmas when my Christmas hit comes up, knowing I’m not getting anything for it.

Are we talking about 'Wenceslas Square', maybe perhaps….?

Well…

About Wenceslas Square… would you mind telling me how much you paid for that very wonderful video?

It’s a difficult one. The person I did that video with would have charged a lot more. I could tell you that the puppets and the puppeteer cost a thousand pounds. And there were twelve people working on it. It took a year to make. Does that give you an idea?

So, not cost-effective whatsoever?

Not yet! But there were a lot of favours done.

Let’s sum up: The band’s had a good year. Lots of lovely new songs, a growing audience, you’ve reinforced your standing; if I was still programming at radio in Birmingham, I would happily be playing your stuff; I can't understand why people don't… and yet and yet, and yet – it’s all to play for in 2013, and there’s not a precise plan yet. It’s almost like you’ve casually surfed into this position on the back of your songs and onstage appeal…

I think that’s fair. In terms of the band, we’ve done everything we wanted to do. Next year, we’re going to step up. But we’re not in a rush. Bands who are in a rush just bang stuff out.

So Moseley Folk is done and dusted; I thoroughly enjoyed it. But you’re in kind of a tricky position, as you book most of the acts. So you are... a gate keeper: people have to come to you for a slot. How do you keep everyone happy?

You don’t. I’m picking the acts, but I’m picking for the Festival. If I have a friend, and I don’t think that friend’s very good, I can’t give him a slot. If some industry person is looking for some new talent, and I have a bad reputation for bias, they’re not going to respect my choices. So when I book people, there’s no favours being done, it’s people I genuinely think will go over well.

There’s more talent emerging than you can fit onto the slots you have.

With local bands, some people, you see them once, and they’re in. I don’t care about their Facebook page. It’s what they do live. 

How much sleep do you get when you’re doing the Moseley events?

I’m up about 5, putting the last things together… and I go to bed about 2 the next morning. I stay away from the afterparties… until Sunday. And Goodnight Lenin played on the Saturday as well. You know, I'd planned to sleep for a week after the end of Moseley Folk 

Did you?

Of course not! 

And the Christmas show has been announced now. Tell me about it. 

We’re back at Birmingham Cathedral, which we sold out last year. We're not sure about support. I’ve got a few ideas. There’s this new girl I’ve found. She’s mind-blowingly good. I’m kind of... helping her, not being her manager or anything. She’s just 17, so she’s got a lot of choices. I’ve just told her to speak to me if she needs some advice.

That’s highly creditable. 

But it’s what I love doing. 

Katherine Priddy at Moseley Folk 2012 - picture Richard Shakespeare


 The ‘new girl’ John Fell has found is Katherine Priddy. She made her Moseley Folk debut in the Acoustic tent on Sunday, in the middle of the afternoon, and it pretty much felt like she owned the place after two songs. I talked to her last week after a support set in Birmingham. She plays a mix of originals and material from Nick Drake, John Martyn, and some more contemporary songwriters. 

It’s rare to find someone so new digging so far back into the golden age of British Folk and Folk-Rock.

I was brought up on a mixture of Led Zeppelin and Frank Zappa! … but also John Martyn, Richard Thompson… I really really like that sort of music, and so I decided to follow it myself. My dad used to sit around and play those songs, so I chose to to do that tool. He played one song in particular – John Martyn’s 'Golden Girl' – which made me decide to try to teach myself guitar. 

How many gigs so far?

Not many! This is probably the first that people have paid to see, with me as a named support. Moseley Folk Festival was probably the first ‘big’ gig.

So now you’re writing, writing, writing… who are you using to bounce your songs off?

John is good! Lots of people, really. I upload a lot of stuff on YouTube. I got some good responses, and now have quite a lot of subscribers; they’re quite dedicated, and give me some very honest feedback and critiques. I met John by chance at Lunar Festival. I kept sending songs over to him on Facebook.

Next steps? 

University, hopefully! I want to keep on playing for the sake of playing. If it did go somewhere, that would be lovely, but if it doesn’t, it’s a lovely hobby to have. 

Goodnight Lenin website and full gigs list
Katherine Priddy on Facebook

Shambala and Moseley Folk: summer scheming in the bleak midwinter

Quiet relaxing times for Birmingham's festival planners? Not a chance.

I’m so old, I was at festivals in the 60s. Dylan, The Band, Family, Third Ear Band, Tom Paxton, Richie Havens, the Moodies and more, at the Isle of Wight. It was chaotic, good-natured, and, of course, stoned; but not particularly expensive. The next year, Shepton Mallet: Zeppelin, Santana, Fairport, Canned Heat, Byrds, Country Joe, and on, and on, and on. More expensive; indescribable toilets. Just as stoned, of course. The UK Rock Festivals site covers all this rather well. I dug around to see if I could find myself in the crowd shots, but you try picking out one bearded pony tailed bloke with John Lennon shades from dozens of others on the grainy black and white crowd shots. A needle in a suburban hippie haystack. 
 
Those 60s and 70s festivals were full-on free enterprise ventures, overlaid with the faintest idealist ethos. Since then, festivals have - I use the word deliberately - mushroomed. There's hundreds. Some are great, some diverse and eccentric, some super-specialised, and some - too many - built to separate you from your money as efficiently as possible. Idealism is rare. Glastonbury is still seen as cool, by the BBC at least, and is a must-play venue for artists. Others give you little more for your money than touring acts on the take, a sea of mud,  expensive concession stands, and corporate branding upfront and centre.

There are exceptions…..

Summer festivals feel like a lifetime away. But for those who do the planning, right now is when it gets complicated and frantic. Birmingham’s Mostly Jazz, Funk and Soul has already had its launch party; the festival itself isn’t until the end of June. Its big brother, Moseley Folk, runs at the end of August. And fabled but elusive Shambala, held in remotest Northamptonshire but organised from Birmingham, runs the preceding weekend.  

Half a year away from d-day, both Moseley Folk and Shambala are trying to pull off the interesting trick of bringing in advance ticket sales without revealing too much - or indeed, anything - too far in advance. Mystery, magic and surprise is part of the deal at Shambala, while Moseley builds anticipation by going  public about its star billings in a splashy, deliberate and calculated way. It's an interesting challenge to try to glean details of what's been settled already.  While I'm pretty confident about some of the brilliant local bands and acts who will appear - you'll find quite a few of them featured on this blog - it looks like both festival teams are busy painting their portraits not so much on canvas as on water.

Squeezing time out of organisers at this stage is difficult, but I eventually had long chats talking Shambala with Jonathan Walsh, of Kambé Events and Jibbering, and Moseley Folk with John Fell,  who also fronts the excellent Goodnight Lenin. Both were gracious, if rushed off their feet. Kambé also work with St Paul's Carnival Bristol and Reggae City Birmingham. Jibbering, some people may remember, was once a hip record shop in Moseley, with great expresso, cool music, and free wifi. A fine combination for customers. Sadly, there was only so much free browsing time Jibbering could afford to dish out to customers who then used Jibbering's free wifi to order the records Jibbering sold... from Amazon. Jibbering continues with regular promotions at places like the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham, and elsewhere 

Jon Walsh first…

It’s a crowded festival timetable. Yours takes place on the same weekend as Reading.
What’s the most important thing to nail right now?

JW: At this time of year, boringly, one of the most important things is the budget. What venues are we going to have at Shambala, what the make up of the event is going to be, what proportion of the budget we’re going to put into art installation, as opposed to music or site services…

When you started, what did you have in mind? Has it deviated? Is it a monster out of control?

JW: It is a monster, but it’s not out of control. When we started, it was a stage, and a few friends…. and a party!. Twelve years on, fundamentally, that’s still what it is. The analogy is, it’s a bit like a rolling stone that you guide along its path. It’s such a creative force in itself – new things pop up, new perspectives arise each year.

If we weren’t in the 21st century, I’d have thought I was having a conversation with you about a festival from the late 60s, full of idealism and goodwill. But this still a business, and it’s still got to pay its way…do you ever get caught in the middle?

JW: You're right. That ethos is still very very true. It’s a massive event with massive budgets now. Hand on heart, we try to make sure the whole event is fair. We won’t suddenly go out and book an artist for £50,000, and have to skew what’s happening across the rest of the event. In the early days, we did beg and borrow kit and make it happen. Now, we’ve moved into a realm where we have to put money in, and then balance that shift from doing it for the love of it to having to pay for certain things.

So, a philosophical approach. Beyond discussing the multimedia approach of  Shambala, John will not be drawn, either on who is appearing, or exactly what sort of non-music events are planned for the Festival, except to say that they do, inevitably, suffer from leaks... and this year it may lead to their publishing some details in advance... which might help sales along.

JW: The difference is that Shambala isn't so much about the acts, it's the fabric and depth to the event... the people, their respect for each other, and their open mindedness... something to discover every step of the way...

Nor is the Shambala location, a constant for some considerable time, ever formally disclosed. This may seem wilfully perverse, but it’s part of the package, and it works. Those who go swear by the festival, and return yearly if they possibly can. If you want to find out more, you need to ask around, or try to read between lines on the website. It was amusing to see the Guardian describe Shambala as a boutique festival last year – my guess is they didn’t have much of an idea what was planned.

But that doesn’t stop the marketing exercises, which are in full swing on Facebook right now.  And here’s a sweet video made last year.


Again, it comes down to selling the festival as an idea, rather than a music destination. Nor does it stop the advance sales. All the Shambala Early Bird tickets are already gone, and sales are 80% up this year on last.

Compare and contrast to Moseley Folk, five minutes away along Fazeley Street from Kambé's Custard Factory headquarters. The Moseley Folk team also delivers the Jazz/Funk/Soul festival and a string of other events throughout the year. Tickets do not go on sale until the end of this month. Moseley Folk announce details of headliners in advance of the event (but not just yet), following up with details on freshly booked acts,  to hopefully generate a steady stream of ticket sales. The affable John Fell of Goodnight Lenin - not a total surprise to see them happily already on the bill, as you'll see - does most of the festival publicity. 

What’s the most important thing to nail right now?

JF: The most important thing about any festival should be the music. At present, we’re working hard on bringing the line up; there’ll be a lot of acts that the usual Moseley Folk crowd may have not heard. We’re trying to confirm some international acts. We need to tie these in early to make sure we have the music which we want to promote.

When Moseley Folk started up, what did they have in mind? Has it deviated? Is it a monster out of control?

JF: The key aim was to give folk a platform. The same philosophy is still there although now at at a higher level. We are especially proud to offer local bands the opportunity to play along international household names.

Moseley Folk and Shambala have very different policies on announcing headline acts. You go public early. How soon to you tie yours down?

JF: We start to look into the line-up two months or so after the festival has finished although don’t start confirming bands until the New Year. Although we are confident that Moseley Folk has a regular audience who trust our programming, we like to announce the headliners as early as possible. This year we will be announcing the line up in segments to add a little excitement.

What about an early scoop on a star name - just one - for when I publish this conversation?

JF: Ha! Goodnight Lenin are on the Saturday bill!... Unfortunately, we're not announcing before 1st March. It's all very nu-school.

Shambala runs on exactly the same dates as Reading, and that is deliberate. What sets the timetable for Moseley’s festival dates?

We always run on the first weekend of September. It’s the best time: all the commercial have been and gone, and we can relax in the autumn with a beautiful independent inner city festival.

Posters, press, radio or word of mouth? What's best for you?

JF: Everything! There is a lot of competition when it comes to festivals although we don’t see it like that. We encourage new events all the time however have to be wary that if we don’t focus on all promotion channels we may not reach all those that would be interested in the acts that Moseley Folk books. Therefore we work with Radio, Press, and Posters which all help in creating a word of mouth buzz around the festival.

The festivals do not overlap; the choice is therefore yours - Shambala, Moseley, or even both. One thing to bear in mind: you’re going to see an awful lot of the same people at both festivals. It’s just that at Shambala people may look a little… weirder… but in a good way. Prices? Full price at Shambala will run you £119 for up to four days; Moseley Folk haven’t announced their prices yet, but the three-day Jazz Funk and Soul event will run you around £79; I expect something similar for Folk.  For comparison, Glastonbury tickets ran you £195 in 2011.

Shambala 
Moseley Folk