Landed Festival Interview

So how did Landed start?

There were a few of us from Mid Wales working at various events and festivals, after a while, we thought, ‘Why don't we do this ourselves?’ We all have expertise in different areas so we just put it all together and went for it. It's become a huge focus for all of us, and without a doubt, it’s one of the hardest things we've done, but come festival time it’s all worth it. It’s a lot of fun, and seeing other people enjoying themselves makes it all worthwhile. The other great thing is that as we get bigger we can pull more people in and create work for other people in Mid Wales too.

 

How is the planning going?

We're working really hard to get everything together, and it's going very well. We basically live on site a month before the event preparing all the stages. We often have meetings that start at 11pm as we all have other jobs as well as Landed! It gets a bit stressful sometimes, but it all comes together in the end!

 

How many acts are confirmed so far?

We've got over 30 acts on two stages, but that's just the musicians. We've got countless other performers, too – walkabout artists, jugglers, stilt walkers, fire performers… We’re also excited about Livewire Animatronics, from Cardiff, and his latest creation. Vagabondi puppetry will be leading the kids into a Pirate World on the Sunday, so there’s lots of fun planned for children that come to Landed as well as amazing music from around the UK and local talent.

The other act we're all so excited about is the brilliant Lost in Translation Circus - an emerging contemporary circus company from across Europe - who have added us to their European Tour for 2013. We feel very lucky to have got them, especially as this is a brand new show with a Steampunk theme set. That’s going to be a ‘must see’.

 

How are ticket sales going?

Ticket sales are going as we would expect, but there are still some available. We’ve sold out of ‘early bird’ tickets, so we’re doing day tickets for £25 (£20 on Friday), and an all inclusive weekend festival pass is £60. We were fed up with attending festivals where you get charged for everything: charged on the door, charged for parking, charged to live in your vehicle, charged for shows and attractions – it just felt wrong to us so we wanted to do something different. Children aged 12 and under (accompanied by an adult) get in free, because if you've got a family of 4, and they've all got to buy a ticket, it costs an arm and a leg and we want to be family-friendly.

 

 So there's lot of stuff for kids to do?

Yes, we have all sorts. We’ve got a craft village running workshops throughout the day, an aerial trapeze performance and Panic Circus are back with puppet shows and circus skills workshops, and there’s Vagabondi’s Pirate puppet show. Our kids area has a packed programme of events from kids drama workshops, craft sessions, hula hooping and environmental arty stuff.  Plenty to see, make and do for the whole family... And the Landed Duck Race will be back, of course, so there’ll be plenty of chances to ‘pimp your duck’....the list goes on!

 

Can you describe the stages for this year?

The Main Stage has original live music including headline acts ‘Bombskare’, ‘The Magnus Puto’ and ‘Spacehopper’, some great established festival acts like ‘China Shop Bull’, ’Lu Cozma’ and ‘Mad Apple Circus’. We’ve also got some really exciting up and coming bands like ‘Land of the Giants’, ‘Smiling Ivy’ and ‘Fasta Benj’, alongside some great local artists like ‘The Misty Blue Trio’, ‘Dodgie Jammers’, ‘The Nuclear Weasels’ and ‘Thin Vision’. There are over 20 acts across the 3 days and a great eclectic mix of stuff!

During the day, the Cabaret Stage will be hosting workshops in drama, dance and drumming, open mic sessions and puppet shows. In the evenings there’ll be music and a bit of comedy – and the big Cabaret show on the Saturday night! Friday night has a fairly local feel to it, with acts like ‘Pre Sleep Monologue’, ‘Dirty Ray’, ‘Too Loud for the Legion’ and ‘SyntheticA’. Saturday will see another eclectic mix of artists including ‘Cosmo’, ‘The Big Fibbers’ and ‘Quercus Burlesque’, who will lead us up to Lady Layton hosting the Cabaret night .On Sunday – after the Landed Festival Duck Race – we'll see ‘Gary Hall’, ‘Scribble Man’ and ‘Rarething’ before headliners ‘The Former Members’ finish off the weekend in style!

We have the new A-V Dome this year where we will be showcasing talent from film-makers across the UK including short-films, documentaries and animation. Hopefully we will have some classic recordings from the award winning Mid Powys Youth Theatre archives. We will also see creative approaches to language with talented performances of poems, lyrics, readings, monologues and radio plays.

 

Are there any you'd recommend that people might not have heard of?

Bristol based ‘Poor Old Dogs’ are a stomping folk act and they’re definitely worth checking out. There’s another band from Bristol called ‘Mad Apple Circus’, with an infectious mix of ska/punk/reggae/funk. Also, we’ve got ‘Smiling Ivy’ coming down from Sheffield and they may well be the band this year who makes everyone go, ‘Who was that?’. Another act we’re really excited to see is Nel Jenkins, her voice is mesmerising, it made us stop in our tracks for sure! ‘Jiezuberband’, who are coming all the way from Scotland, are old school 70s prog rock, we absolutely love them. We can't forget the amazing ‘China Shop Bull’, who are a lively mix of ska-rave and drum and bass.

 We look specifically for up and coming and unsigned acts and we’re really chuffed that so many of our acts have gone on to play major festivals. Molotov Jukebox came to play with us in our first year, and they're a big act now. Slamboree, Dr Meaker, Lazy Habits, Goldray … all bands who have played Landed and gone onto bigger things.

 

How is Landed different to other festivals?

Landed is the festival we all wanted to go to, but couldn’t find. We wanted a more intimate setting where you watch a band play and then go and hang out with them in a chilled out friendly atmosphere. A good example of this was Dexter Dextrous last year: once they played their set, the entire horn section came and sat around the camp fire and entertained everyone – there's not many festivals that can offer this interaction with performers.

Also, Landed has a beautiful backdrop of the Welsh countryside, and the river running next to the festival site. So many people arrive on the site and are bowled over – it’s something very special.  

We also like to support local businesses as much as possible, so as well as the bar stocking a range of Waen Brewery Beers and Orgasmic Cider, we’ll also have local caterers and traders and an amazing collection of craftspeople –  you can see a rundown on our website, but we’ve got silver- and coppersmithing, wood turning, rag art, den building – and the chainsaw carving and stone balancing that have been so popular in previous years...

Another thing that sets us apart is that we throw away a tiny amount of waste – last year it was only a few binbags, which is not bad for over a thousand people! –  We’ve become experts in reusing waste materials. For instance, our bunting is made from reused carpet and broken umbrellas! We are one of the few festivals that allows glass on site so that it can be collected and turned into other products locally. By reusing materials we are helping to protect our natural resources and by finding local solutions we are conserving energy, reducing transport costs and carbon emissions. But it’s not just us! ‘Creative Recycling’ make sculptures out of waste materials collected from the River Ogwen in Gwynedd and will be joining us again this year to showcase their latest interactive art exhibits..

 

What are the main changes to this year’s Landed?

We’ve changed the layout of the festival to use the space more effectively and give families their own camping area. We have the new Cabaret stage, A-V dome, therapy area, and more going on in all the performance areas, a bigger range of craftspeople, and, of course, the ‘Lost in Translation Circus’, which is going to be amazing. This is going to be best yet!

 

Can people still get involved in Landed?

Absolutely! Landed Festival simply could not run without the hard work and dedication of many people who give up their spare time to help create something for the sheer joy of it. If you fancy getting involved in the running of the festival, or you’re a local trader who’d like a pitch, then get in touch. We're looking for volunteers all the time so send us an email to applications@landedfestival.co.uk and we'll let you know what's needed.