ArcTanGent Festival - Off The Stage with Metal For Good, Head Above The Waves, The Guitar Wrist, Heavy Metal Therapy & Safe Gigs For Women

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_05]: And welcome to Fandomentals, the podcast that explores pop culture one conversation at a time.

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_05]: I am your host, Harley. Every episode I interview different people from around the world to discuss

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_05]: a variety of topics within the world of pop culture. Thanks for joining me on this journey

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_05]: and I hope you enjoy the episode. Welcome to the first off the stage episode from the

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_05]: Festival. In this episode, I interviewed a number of non-profit organizations and charities

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_05]: to talk about their work behind the scenes at music festivals. In this episode, I'm joined by

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_05]: Metal For Good, The Guitarist, Heavy Metal Therapy, Safe Gigs For Women and Head Above

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_05]: The Waves. Each of these organizations has an absolutely fantastic story behind them

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_05]: and do so much for the community at music festivals. I was inspired to talk to all of

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_05]: them when I was wandering around ArcTanGent this year and just seeing the work that they

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_05]: were doing, the way they were engaging with the community, I felt the need to reach out

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_05]: and just interview all of them. I'm so grateful that every single one of them took

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_05]: out the time from their very busy schedules at the festival to talk to me. As always,

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_05]: there will be links in the show notes you can find out more about each charity and non-profit

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_05]: and how you can get involved with their fantastic causes. So that's enough from me,

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_05]: let's just get to the episode. This is off the stage at the ArcTanGent Festival with Metal

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_05]: For Good, The Guitarist, Heavy Metal Therapy, Safe Gigs For Women and Head Above The Waves.

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_05]: Hello Katie and welcome to the Fundamentals podcast. Hello. Thank you so much for coming

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_05]: on. I really appreciate you taking time out of a very busy weekend. You're very welcome.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_05]: So Katie, I would love you just to introduce yourself to the audience and what you do here

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_01]: at the festival. Okay, okay so I'm Katie and I'm one of the co-founders of the charity Metal

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: For Good and we are one of the charity partners of ArcTanGent and we're here this weekend

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_01]: raising money and all the money that we raise gets awarded to community projects that

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_01]: use music to help people. Wow brilliant, how long has this been going for? So we're coming

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_01]: up to kind of two and a half years. We've been a registered charity a little bit less but you

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_01]: know kind of out in the world probably about two and a half years. So yeah we're still quite

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_01]: young and the kind of grand scheme of being a charity but you know I'm really pleased to say

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_01]: that the kind of response we've got and the support that we get means that you know things are

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_01]: moving and growing and you know we seem to be able to, we've captured something hopefully

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: and you know we're trying to get more money out to projects as we speak. Yeah so is it

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_05]: these couple of festivals that you're doing at the moment? Yeah this year we in terms of kind

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: of main festivals 2000 Trees and ArcTanGent are our big ones but we've done quite a lot of kind

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_01]: of smaller events and indoor festivals and that kind of thing. Lovely. So but we're you know

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01]: like I say a young small charity voluntary led so we can't spread ourselves too thinly at

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_01]: the moment but we hope for the future that will be you know a presence at many more of

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_05]: the kind of alternative music at festivals. Yeah and yeah it's nice to hear that so

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_05]: you were saying today apparently you've had quite a few donations right and like a really

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_01]: positive response from everyone here. Yeah definitely and you know part of the reason why

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_01]: we set Metal for Good Up is because we want to celebrate a community that we feel are you know

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_01]: really inclusive and socially minded and you know despite the fact that we might look a bit

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: scary you know you're some of the you know friendliest people I think you're me and

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_01]: you know that's really reflected then when we do go to festivals and you know

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_01]: in particular at festivals we raise money through selling our merchandise so we have a lot of our

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01]: own branded merchandise but we also have a heavy metal thrift store so we donate their old band

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_01]: t-shirts and alternative clothing and then we sell that off at festivals and as you can imagine

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_01]: that goes down well at festivals where people can come get a bargain or some crazy outfit

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01]: that they like but support a charity that you know hopefully resonates with them as well.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah I think that's really cool and definitely on the community side of things yeah like

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_05]: as a metalhead yeah I completely understand where that comes from and yeah I think it's something

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_05]: about being part of a subculture right is you know I think for the most part most people will

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_05]: you want to bring other people into it you want other people to be like yeah come and

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_05]: be a part of this weird and wonderful part of pop culture you know and just enjoy it.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_01]: No absolutely and you know we don't want to sugarcoat things we know that you know there

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_01]: are people who gatekeep and there are people who you know aren't necessarily you know they

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_01]: don't follow some of the values that I think we've identified but by and large you know we

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_01]: have seen and experienced ourselves as fans of heavy music for many many years

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01]: and you know that community is something special and it's not just the music that

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I think keeps you involved in that community it's the experience of being in a festival

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: or at a gig and feeling like you are part of something bigger than yourself and yeah we want

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_01]: to kind of show the world that but also you know lots of people get so much from music

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: you know whether it's being at a live music event or playing music or talking about their

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: favorite album with their best mate whatever it might be we want other people to experience

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_01]: that for their benefit so the projects we fund is any you know kind of community

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_01]: organization or project that use music to help people and it's generally across three

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_01]: areas so projects using music to help people with their mental health and well-being

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_01]: projects using music to support young people to thrive and achieve their confidence or

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_01]: projects that use music to bring communities together or support underrepresented groups so

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_01]: right okay that's our kind of focus and we funded our first projects last year and at the

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_01]: moment we're in the process of receiving applications from lots of community organizations

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_05]: for funding that we're going to award in october wow okay amazing so watch this space

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah yeah no definitely yeah there's a lot going on at the moment but it's all it's all good really

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_05]: positive that's awesome uh katy i'd love to know on a personal level i want to go back a

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_05]: little bit in your festival going experience what was the first festival that you went to

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_01]: so um well the first i first festival i went to the so it wasn't a camping festival but

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_01]: my first proper big gig and kind of outdoor gig was the big day out in 99 which was

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_01]: lined by metallica and had like marin and manson and like loads of bands it was that was great

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_01]: so i was a teenager and i to this day don't really understand why my mum let me go there

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_01]: unsupervised but she did and it was amazing and then um yeah and then you know i'm from

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_01]: that generation that went to reddinghill leads so you know as soon as you get your gcsc

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_01]: results you're off down to reddinghill leads and obviously at that point i think alternative

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_01]: bit more representative represented on the lineup so saw some awesome bands and we went to reddinghill

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_01]: leads as a group of friends um for nine ten years and then very much switched our kind

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_01]: of big festival of the year over to download and then i think as we've got older you know

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_01]: really appreciate the smaller independent festivals as well and what they offer as opposed

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_01]: to the big corporate ones as great as they are you know yeah we love download still and

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah having had the opportunity to experience act tangent and trees and you know even bloodstock

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_01]: and the independent ones there's a lot to offer in different ways they really do it's funny i was

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_05]: chatting with my friend who's uh ollie's with me today and saying like a lot of these festivals

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah not only do i like personally yeah the independent side of it and the community because

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_05]: you're right it's a different feel um but even some of the acts they're getting man

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_05]: they're competition i mean like today we've got like mishuga you know one of the

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_05]: behemoths of heavy metal and then like bloodstock just put out an insane lineup for next year

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_05]: i know right you kind of look it down and you go you're gonna step up your game guys

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_01]: got some competition i know but then i think bands you know as much as there might be

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_01]: an attractive paycheck sure uh you know attached to something like dial-a-day i think there's

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_01]: a lot of kudos and you know a value alignment with some of those smaller festivals as well

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_05]: for sure for sure and i'm sure you find this like working here like yeah it's the people

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_05]: that run it yeah right and when you sort of have that familiarity with the crew and this

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_05]: and everyone else that's here yeah makes your life so much easier as a band coming in and

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_05]: out whereas if you're going in and maybe it's changing over hands quite a bit you might be

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_01]: a bit unsure a bit uncertain no definitely and yeah the teams that you know we we have worked

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_01]: really closely over the last few years with the team here at arktan gen it's the same

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_01]: as 2000 trees and you know from an artist perspective i can see that but also from a

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_01]: charity perspective it's it's fantastic it feels like its own community and we almost feel part

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_01]: of their team when we come along and yeah you know they've treated us so well and supported

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_01]: us in so many different ways and you know i'm sure that's reflected whether you're just a

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_01]: food trader whether you're an artist you know a volunteer you know it it does feel like one

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_01]: rather than just a big entity yes running an event over a weekend absolutely absolutely

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_05]: as i'm curious katie what have been some of your favorite memories of going to festivals

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_01]: oh that's a really good question actually i have to say that a recent favorite memory was seeing

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_01]: kill switch engage at bloodstock last year i'm a big fan of kill switching

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_01]: so i was really excited to see them um but actually the the performance they gave it was

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01]: faultless and brilliant it's very rare that i um almost feel like emotional yeah

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_01]: like i love it and i you know i have great time but there are points during that set i was

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_01]: like i'm god i'm choking up a little bit but they were they were just so great and it was

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: such a euphoric set and you know everyone was really behind them so i i loved that but

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: you know my co-founder of metal for good is my husband chris and we've got a big group of

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01]: friends who all go to festivals and you know some of our early memories of being you know

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_01]: 20 something teenagers going to these festivals and yeah it's just life-changing life-forming

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_01]: experiences of yeah probably not behaving ourselves very well but also having a great

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_01]: time and you know bonding over that experience of being at a festival and getting through it

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_01]: still having a good time and so yeah so many probably too many to try and yeah that one from

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_05]: a band experience does stick out to me from last year yeah yeah i gotta say i was i didn't

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_05]: wasn't able to make that one unfortunately but yeah i big fan of kill switch and again just

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_05]: nice to hear them getting the opportunities to do that right certain bands like that where you

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_05]: go they have been around for like 20 years so they are they are worthy of headline slots

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_05]: you know so yeah these sort of more independent festivals it's a nice chance for them to get

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_01]: that opportunity absolutely and i think they my feeling was that they won over a lot of people

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_01]: that that set you know i think there were people there who maybe were just a bit indifferent to

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_01]: them or like you know i know that song yeah they're fine and i think they put on such

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_01]: performance that um you know there were there were people who maybe were a bit indifferent

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_01]: or skeptical who came away as big fans and that's great to see because they've got that

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_05]: platform like yeah yeah that's it and that's the beauty of festivals right yeah you get a

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_05]: discover something new or yeah bands to grow and yeah it's lovely it's lovely yeah i think again

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_05]: it's really nice to see just yourself and people like yourself uh your your colleagues

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_05]: and other people are different charities that i'll be speaking to that are just

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah trying to just plug in some good into that community and i'm really pleased to hear

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_05]: just that you're getting a good response from it and it's just it's nice to see genuinely

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_01]: it is but then you know we have a lot to thank for you know from the organizers of

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_01]: like yes you really see the value of having um charities or non-profits or you know more

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_01]: socially minded businesses on site and yeah don't just go for the same old traders you know there's

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_01]: lots of people doing great stuff out there and it's it's no disrespect to them but

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_01]: you know it feels like they really carefully curate who they have here and what they offer

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_01]: and i think that's really reflected on site and that's why we do well because yeah you

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_01]: know we're doing something slightly different and people buy into it so it's good definitely

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_05]: i guess it's a chance as well to sort of pay back the community right that supports you because

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_05]: without them yeah you wouldn't be able to put on these events in the first place yeah yeah

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_05]: absolutely nice so i guess my final question to you um and this is a question everyone finds

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_05]: really hard but i think it's really fun go for it if you were to have your own festival

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_05]: katie i want to know what's it called i know and who are the three dream headliners

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_05]: and listen you can have anyone you want dead or alive okay cool uh well i think

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_01]: it would be an opportunity missed to not call it the metal for good festival yes i agree and we

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_01]: or melt for good fest maybe i think that's got a nice ring yeah yeah it does uh and you know we

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_01]: have had pie in the sky conversations about one day maybe that's something that we could do

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_01]: and you never know you never know exactly so yeah it'd be mouth good fast and actually um i

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: think during i might have been during lockdown where you know obviously no one had

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_01]: anything to do chris and i sat there with a few drinks maybe one night talking about our

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_01]: dream lineups and i brought up my phone somewhere like these lists of dream limers but um yeah i

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_01]: think i think we ended up having like a these this is the lineup that could actually happen

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_01]: because people are still alive and this is the lineup that is very much you know it would never

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_01]: happen okay and i you know what i would throw in some curveballs i would love someone like

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_01]: fleetwood mac to headline yeah particularly metal but i love fleetwood mac yeah um so

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_01]: be my like you know classic yeah liner night yeah um rumors era you're thinking yeah oh yeah yeah

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah i mean it's not gonna happen but i'd love it oh yeah no but again it's a dream dream

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_05]: headliners and it's not the first time fleetwood maca come up so i would totally see that

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah um i would think you know so this is a band that i love and i've seen loads of times

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and they do you know headline various festivals but if it was a big festival i would love to

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_01]: really earned it i totally agree yeah yeah i think they should be a future

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_05]: headliner of something like downlaid and i could see them doing a festival yeah definitely

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_01]: headlining for sure they do headline smaller festivals but you know yeah i'm thinking big

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_01]: i'd love someone like antishikari yep love it uh and then who else um

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_01]: oh i don't know maybe i'd go like grunge era or something i really like um stone temple

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_01]: it's like a

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah that'd be great so yeah very eclectic yeah but i like the eclectic answers i think they're

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_01]: the best ones yeah massively heavy but you know well my taste is quite broad you know i love

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_05]: as it should be yeah yeah and that would be quite an eventful weekend

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_05]: what a diverse crowd i'd imagine oh yeah absolutely absolutely brilliant katie thank

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_05]: you so much for coming on the podcast cheers welcome thank you hello ollie and welcome to

[00:15:23] [SPEAKER_05]: fundamentals podcast thank you very much for having me oh my pleasure thank you for coming on

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_05]: me so yeah ollie if you could do me a favor just introduce yourself and the people that you work

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_04]: with and what you're doing here at the festival yeah sure thing so i work for the guitarists

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_04]: we're a not-for-profit who takes used strings from artists and we turn them into jewelry then

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_04]: each artist will pick a charity and all profits will go to that charity of choice awesome

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_05]: absolutely love that great concept um i gotta admit since i bumped into yesterday i was

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_05]: looking at your instagram and like just the amount of artists you guys have had come through

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_04]: is incredible it's absolutely incredible cheers thank you very much yeah today's been uh this

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_04]: year's been pretty good for artists we uh did very well at download signing most of the

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_05]: headline is there so incredible looking on the up yeah yeah brilliant brilliant and uh yeah what

[00:16:08] [SPEAKER_05]: sort of charities were kind of uh where did the funds go basically for something like this

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_04]: so uh again it depends on every artist of course yeah we have lots of contributions so

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_04]: example iron maiden they have the heavy metal truance which is a bunch of charities beneath them

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_04]: nice but we see a lot of artists choosing teenage cancer trusts as well but

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_04]: wow sometimes you get very niche personal ones as well which is nice for the fans to see

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_04]: how their artist relates to what communities they want to help i bet yeah and then people

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_05]: can sort of buy that and just have like a piece of that i suppose as well yeah i mean it's

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_04]: very special especially when you've been to that concert we usually know where those strings

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_04]: been played so if you can have something that you've been to of an artist that you love and

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_05]: you get to hold on to it it's pretty cool in our eyes yeah charity and recycling it's a good

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_05]: combo i already like it i really like it so i'm curious always on a personal level what was the

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_04]: first festival that you got to go to um as working for guitarists well actually a bit

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_05]: of both yourself personally and then yeah definitely where the charity got started or

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_04]: the non-profit got started yeah yeah i think for me i think it was 2000 trees it was

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_04]: quite a while ago okay cystic uh festival to hear yeah yeah that was probably my first one i was

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_04]: quite young then but um do you remember who was headlining really rocking my brain here

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_04]: might have been marmosets actually well they were definitely on there that they are

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_05]: remembered from that first concert but yeah lovely lovely and yeah and how about the uh

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_04]: how about guitarists uh yeah so we've been running for about six seven years now um we've

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_04]: been hitting up mostly sort of download blood stock all those big heavy metals but we're

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_04]: trying to find new uh festivals yeah help our products so yeah of course fans

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah yeah well it sounds like you've had quite a few already i mean to do but to do these two

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_05]: like yeah arctic tangent trees download there's some pretty good ones to tick off straight away

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_04]: exactly yeah um we did uh we did start off with uh 2000 trees initially nice but just uh

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_04]: schedules mix up but either way um we're happy to be back here at least yeah try it out so

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_05]: i imagine as well like the more artists you sign on the perhaps the more doors will open right

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_04]: exactly yeah we've seen a lot of um improvement in that area well for example we used to be

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_04]: reaching out to artists now we've had this year coldplay reached out to us before whoa

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_04]: so that was a big step in our sort of reputation i guess but that's incredible

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah wow love that for you guys so i guess yeah you find that the response then to

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_05]: what you do here at festivals quite positive then yeah exactly i think once people figure out

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_04]: what we're about and what we're trying to do that we're trying to recycle we're trying

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_04]: to give you guys an awesome product memorabilia we're helping out with the bands as well and for

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_04]: charity we think it's a pretty good mix and a fit here so yeah i like that i like that a

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_05]: lot and uh what have been some of your favorite experiences and memories of going

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_04]: to festivals then so far um i think definitely when you meet one of your

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_04]: idols and you get to explain something that you can interact with them as well

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_04]: yeah for example we got to meet uh wes borden from the biscuit download this year that was

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_04]: pretty epic for me yeah and yeah just being able to but to have an artist see your product

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_04]: and genuinely show appreciation and interest and want to be involved that's one of the

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_04]: awesome things about this so yeah how many artists are such lovely people and what

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_05]: yes so yeah well that's it yeah and i mean i think as a concept it's great and

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_05]: especially again if it goes towards a good cause and something they personally believe in

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_05]: why not you know it's a very hard pitch to turn down i would think exactly yeah that's what we're

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_05]: getting nowadays so it's good yeah yeah that's awesome rory i'm just i am curious if you had

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_05]: to put on your own festival i want to know what would be the name of the festival first

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_05]: of all and who would be your three dream headlines you can have anybody you want

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_04]: dead or alive oh that is a very tough choice but i'll try and answer it i'll try and figure

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_04]: a name for it at the end we can circle back yeah that's yeah i'll say top three artists um

[00:20:07] [SPEAKER_04]: very random mix but something that i just feel like i enjoy so we've got 21 pilots okay muse

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_04]: and then what would we finish off with um should be maiden for the memories yeah

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_05]: so very very strange mix but no i like it and you know what some of the best answers

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_05]: had to that question have been the eclectic ones where it's completely different bands completely

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_04]: different genres yeah kind of keep it interesting i think a festival with a whole variety yeah

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_04]: would be awesome i mean our tangent is pretty cool so what do you understand yes yeah exactly

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_05]: exactly i guess so what about a name i know it's tricky that's the thing most people struggle

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_04]: with i'm gonna go really basic and just go echo fest because it sounds cool echo fest i like

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_05]: that's cool yeah yeah very nice very nice quite a good lineup is there anyone you want to see this

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_04]: weekend anyone you're looking forward to yes show me the body tonight oh okay i heard of

[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_04]: them about four years ago i'm not too sure how long they've been around but sure i listened

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_04]: for about four weeks on end just every album they had after i first heard them i just really

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_04]: love their style yeah that's who i'm looking out for this weekend yeah that's amazing well

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_05]: you enjoy the show thank you very much you too ollie thank you so much for coming on the show

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_05]: thanks again cheers hello kate and welcome to the founder mentals podcast thank you for having me

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_05]: that's my pleasure so kate if you could do me a favor just introduce yourself to the audience

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_00]: who you work with and what you're doing at the festival yeah so my name is kate i'm a co-founder

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_00]: of a community interest company called heavy metal therapy and we work with the metal

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_00]: community in terms of we create peer support resources for mental health and neurodiversity

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_05]: we've got a stall here at arctic tangent for the weekend nice lovely and yeah how's that been

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_00]: treating you guys so far yeah it's been great so we've been able to have lots and lots of

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_00]: conversations with fans coming to talk about mental health tell them a little bit more about

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_00]: what we do and share some resources and give away some freebies as well which always goes

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_05]: down well yeah of course it does yeah i've had a chat with a couple of the other guys

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_05]: here and um yeah it's really nice to see actually i know a lot of people like yourself

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_05]: just giving people those resources right so that they can yeah just just have some tools

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_05]: to help get through life because it can be difficult we can all have those moments we

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_05]: struggle with different things and yeah it's just nice to see guys like you at these

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_00]: festivals giving people those tools yeah so i think one of the things i would say is that

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_00]: everything that we do is co-produced so what that means is it's by people with lived

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: experience that are from the metal community brilliant so i suppose i'm i feel as if i'm

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_00]: not like going from like an expert position saying oh sure this is advice or whatever it's

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_00]: more about um you know what people have told us uh it's helpful for them and how we can kind

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_00]: of share that share that knowledge so it's very much like a peer support model that we use

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: which is that's online but also we run like peer support groups as well

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and so people can come together from uh yeah the metal community to talk about um

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_00]: mental health in in those kind of in-person settings and hopefully online as well soon

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah yeah and you finally get quite a positive response from that yeah so they've been really

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_00]: popular so far which is really good um and we're trying to expand so we can use different

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_00]: locations so at the moment we've got um some in yorkshire so wakefield and castleford

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_00]: the midlands coventry in birmingham london at camden um and also here in bristol but

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_00]: eventually we'd like to have more all over the country if we could yeah oh and i imagine

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_05]: it's one of those things the more that you do things like this right the more doors that

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_00]: open the more opportunities you get yeah absolutely so we've talked to people from

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_00]: absolutely all over the place this this weekend um so um what we yeah what we'd hope is that

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_00]: you know the more we spread the word the more people might be interested in setting up groups

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_00]: or supporting us to set up groups yeah and yeah so we've got loads of really good leads

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_00]: already at this festival for people who might be interested in in doing that or being involved

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_00]: in that which is yeah that's really good because a lot of the stuff that we've done

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_00]: traditionally has been more up north because we started off in yorkshire um and yeah so it's

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_00]: good to come here to kind of bristol and and meet a whole different group of people from

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_05]: a little bit further afield yeah lovely i'm curious on a personal level kate what was

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_05]: one of the first festivals that you went to do you remember right i'm aging myself now okay

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_00]: but um so i i went to the first um leads festival when it went so you know reading

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and lead together so i went to the first leads festival and i think i went to see

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_00]: i think red hot chili peppers we just went for one day red hot chili peppers played

[00:24:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and the offspring you know the punk band the offspring yes the offspring got me into

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_00]: metal definitely i know the punch is a gateway to metal though yeah absolutely 100 but in those

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_00]: days which was like the late 90s early 2000s they had sick lineups at leads festival so

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_00]: i saw slipknot you know like heavier stuff you know all the metal which was was in vogue

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_00]: yes

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_05]: it sure is yeah is there anyone in particular you're looking forward to seeing

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_00]: so so author and punisher yesterday love them because that's really like exactly what i'm into

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_00]: we're all about yeah we're all about electric wizard yeah i can't say that

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and i think animal is the leaders on today and yes yeah looking forward to that as well

[00:25:45] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah likewise likewise could just stand there just staring like how how do you do that that's

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_05]: not fair yeah it's very technical isn't it's like them plenty and then mishugga you just want

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_05]: after the other just like i'm gonna give up playing yeah masterclass isn't it that's the

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_05]: thing i love it i love it and um yeah i guess something i'm curious about with these

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_05]: charities and these non-profits is it just festivals you guys do i mean are you meant

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_05]: from running support groups but do you go to other events as well yeah we do so um we

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_00]: often go to smaller events actually than this so we don't do loads and loads of

[00:26:20] [SPEAKER_00]: of like overnight festivals but we we also talk at like you know like mental health

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_00]: events and things like that so we don't just do like metal settings we go through kind of

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_00]: mental health settings i suppose makes sense yeah but yeah so if if festivals would like us

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_00]: to come and provide resources and you know have a space to chat about mental health

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER_00]: you know we're more than happy to do that we're not it's not like welfare though do

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_00]: you know i mean it's it's a different it's a different thing so yes obviously we're not

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_00]: there to provide a mental health service or whatever um it's more about yeah as i say

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_05]: setting up that peer support cool stuff for people well i find that can be a good sort

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_05]: of gateway into perhaps deeper stuff i think peer support and tools and professional help

[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_00]: i think you need both personally yeah so we always say we're not um we're not you know we're not

[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_00]: not a replacement for mental health service it's sort of like something that's additional yes i

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_00]: guess okay and obviously we we always signpost people into mental health services if that's

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER_00]: something that they think that they they might need um yes it's not quite the same as welfare

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_00]: but it's about having that those those resources there hmm yeah yeah that sense of

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_05]: community i think is powerful you know i was talking with um sci over from head above the

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_05]: waves and we were saying like how important that is for people to feel that you know a sense

[00:27:34] [SPEAKER_05]: of community so they don't feel lost and they don't perhaps feel like there's no hope right

[00:27:38] [SPEAKER_05]: or they yeah and and coming to places like this where everybody is here for the same

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_05]: reasons just to enjoy good music and just to hang out that can be a perfect place for

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_05]: somebody to perhaps take that step and go actually do you know what i need i need this

[00:27:50] [SPEAKER_00]: other side of the community as well so the mental community generally is quite supportive

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and i think what we're sort of doing is is um harnessing the power like within the metal

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_00]: community if that makes sense because like you know yeah it runs on enthusiastic people who

[00:28:04] [SPEAKER_00]: want who want to help other people and then definitely themselves kind of have had um often

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_00]: you know quite positive experiences of engaging with with metal but also like you know coming

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_00]: to festivals those feeling like uh safe places for them um and yeah them benefiting from the

[00:28:20] [SPEAKER_00]: of the metal community so that's kind of part of the model i think it's it's about it's about

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_00]: community and it's also about how we relate emotionally to music so i think those two things

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_00]: are big time important parts of why we do what we do yeah yeah i mean that's huge right

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_05]: that's uh yeah definitely something i very strongly agree with for sure actually i'm curious

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_05]: have you had any sort of fond memories or experiences from being at festivals and

[00:28:43] [SPEAKER_05]: connecting with music yourself in uh in that way yeah yeah and i think you know quite formative

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: experiences really you know when i was like quite quite a bit younger than i am now um just

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_00]: you know those those being places where you felt like you were accepted places where you felt

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_00]: like you'd found a bit of a tribe um and you know i can remember going to those like you know

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_00]: going to festivals like download going to festivals like leads in the early days um and

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_00]: you know seeing all kinds of people that you could um relate to when perhaps i felt quite

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_00]: different in other in other settings maybe yeah yeah so it was almost about yeah like

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_00]: coming together i think or finding your tribe or whatever you want to whatever you want to say

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and those are really important in my formative like you know becoming an adult kind of

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_00]: adolescent yes years um and we see it now we affectionately call them gothlings but

[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_00]: they come to talk to us about like you know you know how they find community how

[00:29:40] [SPEAKER_00]: they find identity and some of us have been around a bit longer you know wanting to help

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_05]: support support them with that i love that that's really nice to hear awesome awesome

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_05]: i got a question for you that everyone struggles with but everyone loves okay bear with me if you

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_05]: were to have your own festival kate i want to know what's it called and who are your three

[00:29:59] [SPEAKER_05]: dream headliners are you gonna have anyone you want dead or alive anyone i want anyone so lots

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_00]: of people have said oh you know you should have a hmt fest one day oh there you go

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_00]: my fantasy is it could be music and also like well-being stuff but not like

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_00]: not like really kind of like cheesy kind of like tinkly music well-being stuff but like

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_00]: you know like golf well-being yeah that's all about so i'd have hmt fest nice and then

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_00]: my apps so i drone on about this all the time with my absolute favorite band is nine inch

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_00]: nails nice they would be my headliners like definitely okay um so they're great

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_00]: and who else do i like um well i've been i've been repping them all week so i'd say

[00:30:41] [SPEAKER_00]: green lung which is a doom band that i think oh yes okay they're not playing here but i think

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_00]: they played at bloodstock last week um so they can they can go on it as well yeah um and who

[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_00]: else so i'm i am a new metal kid at heart um and i'm gonna say corn you know because

[00:30:59] [SPEAKER_00]: they played some really big gigs like yes recently and they've been amazing so they can

[00:31:04] [SPEAKER_05]: they can be my headliners i like that that's a good weekend that's a very good weekend

[00:31:08] [SPEAKER_05]: hmt fest with corn green lung and the mighty nine inch nails i think that's a really good lineup

[00:31:16] [SPEAKER_05]: brilliant kate thank you so much for your time you're welcome it's good to speak to you thank

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_05]: you hello alex and welcome to the fundamentals podcast hey well thank you for having me

[00:31:28] [SPEAKER_05]: oh it's my pleasure so alex if you could do me a small favor just introduce yourself to

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_05]: the audience what you do here and what brings you to the festival sure yeah so i'm alex

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_02]: and i'm a senior lead volunteer for safe gigs for women and we work with festivals to ensure

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_02]: that there's a safe space for all at festivals and to try to reduce the incidence of sexual

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_02]: assaults at live venues and festivals around the uk fantastic and yeah how long have you

[00:31:55] [SPEAKER_02]: guys been going for so we started back in 2015 there was a significant spike in assaults

[00:32:01] [SPEAKER_02]: and actually our founder tracy experienced a sexual assault at an event that she was at

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_02]: and she soon realized that there wasn't a lot of support or awareness around sexual assaults and

[00:32:14] [SPEAKER_02]: providing safe spaces for people who have experienced that at live venues and live

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_05]: music gigs yeah it's a shame that that needs to be a thing really but no fair play for

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_05]: taking a stand and you know making awareness because i suppose when it gets to big crowds

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_05]: it's easy to just yeah let things slide isn't it but obviously that's not acceptable so no

[00:32:34] [SPEAKER_02]: it's not and it is a shame that we have to exist we kind of wish we didn't have to exist

[00:32:40] [SPEAKER_02]: i suppose our end game is to not have to exist but unfortunately we do and and i think

[00:32:46] [SPEAKER_02]: the more work that we do around the uk and the broader access piece that we have with

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_02]: festivals and bands yeah asking us to come out on tour with them to show that actually

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_02]: don't want that at their gigs themselves i think that the message will get across

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER_05]: oh okay so you're doing festivals and shows as well we do yeah so some of the festivals

[00:33:06] [SPEAKER_02]: that we do we work with bands at the festivals and then subsequently when they go on tour they

[00:33:11] [SPEAKER_02]: ask us to go out with them we've got over 100 volunteers up and down the country that's

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER_02]: amazing yeah we're able to go out on tour with them and actually be in the venues with

[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_02]: them yeah really sharing that message around safety for all yes yeah brilliant i take it sort

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_05]: of staff and and just general crowd goers are sort of quite happy to get involved and and yeah

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah absolutely absolutely and it just it just shows that it kind of portrays certainly from

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_02]: band's perspective that they don't want that within their fan base right it's a really clear

[00:33:40] [SPEAKER_02]: message to their fan base of course safety for everyone and everyone to experience a gig

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_02]: in a festival on the same level and enjoy it in exactly the same way brilliant i love to

[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah i take it that the more you do this right you have more people showing more interest right

[00:33:56] [SPEAKER_05]: i mean i take it this weekend you've been quite busy we have been busy yeah we've been really

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_02]: busy we've been talking a lot to people about bystander theory so there's a theory that says

[00:34:04] [SPEAKER_02]: that the more people that are around the less likely somebody is to step in if something happens

[00:34:09] [SPEAKER_02]: right somebody else's issue someone else will deal with that but actually we try to talk

[00:34:13] [SPEAKER_02]: to people about different methods that they could use so if they do see something happening they

[00:34:17] [SPEAKER_02]: experience themselves but if they do see something happening there are methods that

[00:34:21] [SPEAKER_02]: they can use to actually keep themselves safe while also trying to intervene in a safe way

[00:34:26] [SPEAKER_02]: so we use bystander theorem we use something called the four d's okay and they include so

[00:34:32] [SPEAKER_02]: direct if you're confident enough like we are like i am we'll go up and say you know stop

[00:34:37] [SPEAKER_02]: that or get involved directly if you feel confident to do it but if you don't and

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_02]: it's they don't feel safe to do it they could also maybe distract that person so

[00:34:45] [SPEAKER_02]: like going up and sort of saying hi how are you even if you don't know them you know i've

[00:34:49] [SPEAKER_02]: not seen you for ages you want to go for a drink and there's if there's that interaction

[00:34:53] [SPEAKER_02]: say actually oh yeah how are you you know they want to be distracted and even if they go sorry

[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_02]: i don't know you there's less embarrassment in that instance yeah but also if they don't

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_02]: feel that they can do it themselves delegate it so there's security there's staff welfare

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_02]: we're also around as well yeah yeah but to delegate just somebody else or point out the

[00:35:12] [SPEAKER_02]: happening and then the last one is delay so even if you see an incident happening

[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_02]: and you don't necessarily feel safe or you don't there isn't an opportunity for you to go up to

[00:35:22] [SPEAKER_02]: them at that point sure you could actually speak to them afterwards and just say are you okay

[00:35:25] [SPEAKER_02]: that didn't look comfortable and actually just reassuring to find out actually are they okay

[00:35:30] [SPEAKER_05]: and if they need any additional support right that's brilliant thank you so much for sharing

[00:35:34] [SPEAKER_05]: that i really appreciate that that's some really good advice yeah so i'm curious alex

[00:35:38] [SPEAKER_05]: yourself um what was the first festival that you went to do you remember oh wow the first ever

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_02]: festival i went to god it was a long time ago i'm not going to show my age too much that's

[00:35:48] [SPEAKER_02]: like asking a lady the right um i think to be honest i think it was download okay yeah i think

[00:35:55] [SPEAKER_02]: the first full full weekend festival i went to i went to a few day festivals here there

[00:35:59] [SPEAKER_02]: but the full weekend festival was download with my with my now husband back in

[00:36:04] [SPEAKER_02]: 2005 lovely yeah quite a while ago do you remember who was headlining um oh gosh you're

[00:36:10] [SPEAKER_02]: asking me a good question now i want to say possibly garbage um and i want to i want to

[00:36:18] [SPEAKER_02]: say system and maybe sit not like it's quite that would make sense yeah yeah yeah lovely

[00:36:23] [SPEAKER_05]: lovely that sounds like quite a good weekend yeah it was a very good weekend yeah what was

[00:36:28] [SPEAKER_05]: the first festival that you guys got to go out as part of your charity organization

[00:36:33] [SPEAKER_02]: so we've as a charity organization so we're not well a non-profit yeah yeah sorry so

[00:36:39] [SPEAKER_02]: the organization we've worked with many many festivals but um we were really focused on

[00:36:45] [SPEAKER_02]: things like 2000 trees so they were really supportive about them early days we work quite

[00:36:49] [SPEAKER_02]: a lot with frank turner um and he actually brought us into some of the festivals there

[00:36:53] [SPEAKER_02]: um and and since then we've grown significantly so we do a huge amount of work across

[00:36:58] [SPEAKER_02]: country with yes multiple festivals um downloads reading leads um most of the

[00:37:03] [SPEAKER_02]: festival public festivals nice tangents 2000 trees and some of the smaller day festivals

[00:37:09] [SPEAKER_02]: like wireless and um creamfields also yeah a real broad array in different genres of music

[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_02]: as well which i think is important that's i think there are different issues at different

[00:37:18] [SPEAKER_05]: genres of music of course yeah i was people are people aren't they at the end of the day

[00:37:23] [SPEAKER_05]: and they are large groups of people with things again out of hand you need somebody

[00:37:26] [SPEAKER_05]: to step in i think yeah absolutely yeah makes a lot of sense i'm curious alex what have been

[00:37:32] [SPEAKER_05]: some of your fondest memories of going to festivals you have anything that stands out to

[00:37:36] [SPEAKER_02]: you oh wow see arctic tangent is a really sort of special festival for me and certainly

[00:37:42] [SPEAKER_02]: for my husband um so we've this is that this is my fifth time at arctic tangent nice yeah

[00:37:47] [SPEAKER_02]: it's quite a lot of us punters so the first the first time we came here was in 2015

[00:37:51] [SPEAKER_02]: it's a little bit like i get onto this festival site yeah and it kind of calms my brain so i get

[00:37:58] [SPEAKER_02]: into a field with like-minded people and it just really comes up but there's something

[00:38:02] [SPEAKER_02]: really special about this festival um i don't know what it is don't know whether it's because

[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_02]: we're in just in a beautiful part of the country anyway that's true um surrounded by say

[00:38:11] [SPEAKER_02]: like-minded people who like the same sort of music and yeah it's just something that switches

[00:38:16] [SPEAKER_02]: my very busy brain off yeah um so yeah definitely arctic tangent has a very special place in my heart

[00:38:22] [SPEAKER_05]: i like that you're the first person to kind of talk about that side of uh of things such as

[00:38:26] [SPEAKER_05]: having that calming environment and that being a positive memory i think that's really lovely

[00:38:30] [SPEAKER_02]: that's good to hear yeah no definitely and it's it's very bizarre there are times when

[00:38:34] [SPEAKER_02]: my heart rate actually drops even at my festival my heart rate drops throughout the weekend

[00:38:39] [SPEAKER_02]: that i'm at a festival even though maybe quite a heavy festival yeah my heart rate's

[00:38:44] [SPEAKER_02]: going down because i'm yeah switching my brain off is always a good thing yeah no that's true

[00:38:49] [SPEAKER_05]: and i suppose when you're just connecting with other people it's easy isn't it just to kind

[00:38:52] [SPEAKER_05]: of relax and let that happen and people are coming to you with positive energy and they're

[00:38:56] [SPEAKER_02]: like yes we love what you do let's talk about it yeah absolutely absolutely and i think being

[00:39:02] [SPEAKER_02]: coming as a sort of a punter compared to coming and working is very different but it's

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_02]: i think the work that we do here is so vitally important um and we've had a lot of people say

[00:39:14] [SPEAKER_02]: to us this weekend that they feel safer because we're just here oh nice which is amazing it's

[00:39:19] [SPEAKER_02]: exactly what we want to have you know we're here to fundraise for the organization because

[00:39:24] [SPEAKER_02]: we are all volunteers we all have day jobs um we all have very caring day jobs there's a

[00:39:28] [SPEAKER_02]: lot of us working in the nhs in schools um in charity work anyway um so we care naturally

[00:39:34] [SPEAKER_02]: but hearing it firsthand that actually us just physically being here is is feel making other

[00:39:41] [SPEAKER_02]: people feel safe is just doing that's exactly what we want that's wonderful to hear genuinely

[00:39:45] [SPEAKER_05]: that's fantastic um i've got a bit of a tricky question for you but it's my favorite one to

[00:39:51] [SPEAKER_05]: ask people is um if you were to have your own festival alex oh no yeah this is going i'd

[00:39:57] [SPEAKER_05]: love to know first of all what's it called oh goodness and who are your three dream

[00:40:01] [SPEAKER_05]: headliners i'm gonna say you can have anyone you want dead or alive oh wow okay okay i might

[00:40:07] [SPEAKER_02]: have to come back to you on what's it called that's that's a really tough one to people

[00:40:11] [SPEAKER_02]: struggle with that yeah that's a tough one yeah um but a safe festival for women festival

[00:40:17] [SPEAKER_05]: safe festivals for women or say or it's a festival festival or fest yes yeah or just

[00:40:22] [SPEAKER_05]: safe i'm just thinking just so i'm just trying to use the name that's all okay

[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_05]: festival people do that they lean into like yeah yeah okay yeah no i don't know yeah i could i

[00:40:32] [SPEAKER_02]: could probably do the bands either than i can the name go for the bands yeah let's hear it so

[00:40:37] [SPEAKER_02]: the bands i i'm gonna have i'm gonna have to say nifana yes any particular era or just sort of

[00:40:44] [SPEAKER_02]: well well yeah preferably when he's alive yes yeah well that much i mean i mean in terms of

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER_02]: like a cycle no i just think i just think having that i just have never never got to

[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_02]: sort them alive even though it's around at that time yeah and able to go to gigs i've just never

[00:41:02] [SPEAKER_02]: got to see them live um sure it's a good shout i like that yeah um these are gonna be these

[00:41:10] [SPEAKER_02]: are gonna be very different so the mars walter okay i'm a huge mars walter fan like it yeah

[00:41:16] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah big mars walter fan absolutely loved the fact that they've reformed and got to see them

[00:41:21] [SPEAKER_02]: again have happened yeah oh it made my it made it was 20 years it is the very first gig that

[00:41:27] [SPEAKER_02]: me and my husband ever went to together that's amazing 20 years ago or 21 years ago

[00:41:32] [SPEAKER_02]: and then they reformed and we saw them 20 years later that's awesome so they would have

[00:41:37] [SPEAKER_02]: to be there i think yes um yes and probably now then there's so many bands to choose from to

[00:41:44] [SPEAKER_02]: question um i'd probably have to say sound garden oh yes yeah i like that yeah because again never

[00:41:52] [SPEAKER_02]: got to see them live yeah same yeah for me yeah very different but yeah no but i like that i

[00:42:01] [SPEAKER_05]: like that and i like diverse answers to that question it's my favorite thing to ask it's

[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_02]: brilliant you're still going to go back to that festival question aren't you they aren't

[00:42:07] [SPEAKER_02]: the name of this festival the names are tricky yeah okay do you know i think i'd probably

[00:42:13] [SPEAKER_02]: call it rogue festival oh okay rogue i like that yeah nice one because it's actually a name with

[00:42:20] [SPEAKER_02]: the name of one of my dogs oh that's cool um but i think it works it does and yeah no i think

[00:42:26] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah rogue festival very nice i like it brilliant alex thank you so much for your time

[00:42:31] [SPEAKER_05]: no thank you for having me cheers hello sai and welcome to the fundamentals podcast hello

[00:42:39] [SPEAKER_05]: thanks for having me on oh it's my pleasure my friends so uh yeah so why don't you take it

[00:42:43] [SPEAKER_05]: introduce yourself and what you do here at the festival so yeah my name is sai martin i uh i

[00:42:50] [SPEAKER_03]: started heads above the waves which is a mental health non-profit we started that 11 years ago

[00:42:56] [SPEAKER_03]: now so it's 2013 we started and it's really scary to think you've done anything for 11 years

[00:43:01] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah but yeah so our mission is to try and support young people who struggle with their

[00:43:06] [SPEAKER_03]: mental health and in particular like our main kind of niche almost if you will is supporting

[00:43:11] [SPEAKER_03]: people who self-harm but we i we introduce healthy coping mechanisms and that's really

[00:43:18] [SPEAKER_03]: relevant when we're talking about self-harm but that's also just healthy coping mechanisms

[00:43:23] [SPEAKER_03]: so that's good for everybody so so i've got sort of uh expanded the definition and said

[00:43:27] [SPEAKER_03]: that we're a mental health non-profit so nice so we're here obviously to try and sell

[00:43:32] [SPEAKER_03]: merch to help uh raise funds to keep on doing the work that we do so you have a website

[00:43:38] [SPEAKER_03]: we share ideas we then take those ideas into schools and we deliver workshops in schools

[00:43:42] [SPEAKER_03]: we have sessions for staff and parents and uh well-being and resilience um and a specific

[00:43:48] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah set of workshops for supporting young people who self-harm and so yeah we hit a

[00:43:52] [SPEAKER_03]: raise awareness uh about the work that we're doing and um what's really cool is is that

[00:43:57] [SPEAKER_03]: we have a bunch of resources on our website and like physical resources that we send out as

[00:44:02] [SPEAKER_03]: and what's been really cool is the number of people who are here who are teachers or are

[00:44:09] [SPEAKER_03]: um working within like hospitals and healthcare settings who are exactly who we want to be

[00:44:14] [SPEAKER_03]: getting these resources to yeah so my phone is just full of notes of like email this person

[00:44:18] [SPEAKER_03]: send this person this you know so um so yeah we're here to sell merch we're also here to

[00:44:23] [SPEAKER_03]: talk about the work that we do and just generally try and encourage people to think

[00:44:26] [SPEAKER_03]: about the things that are going to help them keep their head above the waves yeah i love it

[00:44:31] [SPEAKER_05]: love the concepts i uh yeah i love that as well especially anything that can like you say just

[00:44:35] [SPEAKER_05]: help people just get through right because life can be stressful it could be hard there can

[00:44:40] [SPEAKER_05]: be a lot of things to deal with so yeah giving people those healthy coping mechanisms completely

[00:44:44] [SPEAKER_03]: agree that's a great cause and it's one of these things as well where and we were talking

[00:44:48] [SPEAKER_03]: about this with somebody earlier like okay something that really you could easily brush

[00:44:54] [SPEAKER_03]: off might be something that wipes out my day right sure and actually it's it's important

[00:44:59] [SPEAKER_03]: to acknowledge that everyone has their own thresholds as well of course things of course

[00:45:03] [SPEAKER_03]: and actually if i may if i may share a little tip with the listeners here now is that actually

[00:45:08] [SPEAKER_03]: it's important to have different coping strategies that are going to help um satisfy

[00:45:14] [SPEAKER_03]: different needs yes so for example what helps you when you're feeling angry won't necessarily

[00:45:20] [SPEAKER_03]: help you if you're feeling say anxious so it's important to have like within your toolkit

[00:45:27] [SPEAKER_03]: i know that if i'm feeling angry i can feel this i can try this and if i'm feeling anxious i could

[00:45:32] [SPEAKER_03]: try this and if i'm feeling this way i could try this um so and obviously the first step to that

[00:45:37] [SPEAKER_03]: is acknowledging how you're feeling and and being able to spot and give a name to that

[00:45:42] [SPEAKER_03]: feeling and that experience 100 agree yeah and then to have yeah a bunch of ideas and

[00:45:47] [SPEAKER_03]: just to really plug the website hatw.co.uk um on there there's a really as a section

[00:45:54] [SPEAKER_03]: i'm really proud of which is you click on things to try and uh there's a drop down menu

[00:46:02] [SPEAKER_03]: of like a list of different feelings and it gives you suggestions of stuff that's worked

[00:46:06] [SPEAKER_03]: for somebody in the past based on how you're feeling so yeah if if you're someone or you

[00:46:12] [SPEAKER_03]: know somebody who would really benefit from that i genuinely am really proud to point you

[00:46:18] [SPEAKER_03]: towards hatw.co.uk for that fantastic yeah dude i mean i'm gonna put links in the show notes

[00:46:24] [SPEAKER_05]: this anyway but that's a great tip really appreciate you sharing that with everyone thank

[00:46:28] [SPEAKER_05]: you um i guess my question my first question really to sort of go back in your festival

[00:46:32] [SPEAKER_05]: going history is i want to know what was the first festival that you went to so this came up

[00:46:37] [SPEAKER_03]: on my my facebook memories the other day okay it was it was 10 years ago yeah we've been

[00:46:43] [SPEAKER_03]: going for a year it was 10 years ago this week that we went to heavy festival was our

[00:46:50] [SPEAKER_03]: wow heavy was such i think i went to it as a like a regular festival goer for a couple of years

[00:46:57] [SPEAKER_03]: okay okay and so then to be trading at it i felt like oh my gosh we made it yeah grownups

[00:47:02] [SPEAKER_03]: and i must have been like what 24 at the time i think sure um i'm 33 now and i still feel

[00:47:10] [SPEAKER_03]: like a child you know what i mean oh i get that okay but yeah i think yeah it was heavy

[00:47:16] [SPEAKER_03]: and we were next to skull and bones boys club okay i don't know where they're from leads i want

[00:47:23] [SPEAKER_03]: to say maybe yeah but they were again they were a brand who i'd known of and i was and again

[00:47:28] [SPEAKER_03]: the fact that we're next to them i was like wow are we actually legit yeah yeah did you

[00:47:34] [SPEAKER_05]: ever go to heavy as well uh no i didn't no no no um i was always aware of it though growing

[00:47:38] [SPEAKER_03]: up yeah the cool part about it was that it was the festival site was right next to like a

[00:47:44] [SPEAKER_03]: wildlife park and they agreed some sort of thing where if you had a ticket to the festival you

[00:47:50] [SPEAKER_03]: could go to the wildlife park as well oh that's so cool yeah it was wicked man so um

[00:47:55] [SPEAKER_03]: so yeah uh there was there would be just like you'd go there for just a trip and there'd be

[00:48:01] [SPEAKER_03]: families it was still open public there'd be families just kind of walking around and then

[00:48:04] [SPEAKER_03]: all of a sudden this descending wave of like people wearing black

[00:48:08] [SPEAKER_03]: arms

[00:48:12] [SPEAKER_05]: you'll just want to see a panda yeah legit um yeah so yeah heavy 20 about 10 years ago yeah

[00:48:22] [SPEAKER_03]: 2014 i guess was the first festival that heads did yeah incredible yeah and you say that was

[00:48:26] [SPEAKER_05]: one of the first ones you went to as well was it just as yourself i think it was the first

[00:48:31] [SPEAKER_03]: like proper festival that i attended as a as a festival goer yeah um because funnily enough

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER_03]: i've never done like reading leads download i've never done any of those as a festival goer i've

[00:48:43] [SPEAKER_03]: only ever worked them um which is nice it's been a way that i've been able to go yeah yeah

[00:48:48] [SPEAKER_03]: festivals without having to um yeah without having to worry too much yeah sure sure that's

[00:48:53] [SPEAKER_05]: really cool i like it i like it and you find the response then at these places is really good

[00:48:58] [SPEAKER_03]: for you and your work and what you guys do yeah so i think that actually there's something

[00:49:05] [SPEAKER_03]: about particularly alternative music and particularly heavy alternative music that really

[00:49:11] [SPEAKER_03]: draws yeah which comes first i suppose people people struggling and being drawn to heavy music

[00:49:17] [SPEAKER_03]: or or people listening to heavy music and struggling but um but yeah i i think a lot

[00:49:22] [SPEAKER_03]: of the people who listen to this sort of music and alternative heavy music tend to get

[00:49:29] [SPEAKER_03]: what we're saying i think yeah like i think a lot of the time with something like 2000 trees

[00:49:38] [SPEAKER_03]: arc tangent download even slam dunk like a lot of these places the people who come here

[00:49:45] [SPEAKER_03]: we're the alternative ones and so by that definition we're the ones who kind of stand

[00:49:49] [SPEAKER_03]: out and maybe are a little bit more like loners or there's maybe like one or two metal

[00:49:53] [SPEAKER_03]: heads in your town yeah yeah and then you come to this place and suddenly you fit in and you

[00:49:58] [SPEAKER_03]: absolutely belong and that's such a beautiful thing so um i think yeah people really get what

[00:50:04] [SPEAKER_03]: we're all about in those spaces and plus like it's just you know my background i've played in

[00:50:10] [SPEAKER_03]: bands for years like my background is very much in alternative music yeah hannah who was

[00:50:16] [SPEAKER_03]: one of the original founders she came from like kind of promoting background as well so i'm

[00:50:20] [SPEAKER_03]: like club night background so yeah yeah it's our world basically yeah this is this is this

[00:50:26] [SPEAKER_03]: is our people and it's really nice to just connect with the people who get that heavy riffs

[00:50:31] [SPEAKER_03]: can help with heavy feelings you know what i mean yeah yeah i very much agree with i'm gonna

[00:50:36] [SPEAKER_05]: put that on a t-shirt for next year that's gonna say that's okay beat me to it fine fine

[00:50:41] [SPEAKER_05]: i'll let you have that much idea that's fine

[00:50:45] [SPEAKER_05]: that's great i get the next one though that's that's the deal yeah yeah 10% yeah yeah exactly

[00:50:50] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah sponsored by yeah

[00:50:54] [SPEAKER_05]: just put my logo somewhere in the corner or you can't see it yeah yeah yeah no i like that

[00:50:59] [SPEAKER_05]: genuinely that sentiment is is very true i've always felt that personally like you know if

[00:51:03] [SPEAKER_05]: people ask me what's my kind of music i just say drop tune high gain nonsense like that's

[00:51:07] [SPEAKER_05]: my thing that's my jam because it's good fun and but like you said it's i definitely

[00:51:12] [SPEAKER_05]: agree there is something about the subculture and the sort of yeah the heavier music the

[00:51:20] [SPEAKER_05]: yeah

[00:51:21] [SPEAKER_05]: there are people that think you know deeply about life you know what i mean it's not just

[00:51:29] [SPEAKER_05]: right a catchy chorus usually it's like no i want to say something with this song and i

[00:51:33] [SPEAKER_05]: think that that draws in a certain kind of audience that like you said have all those

[00:51:36] [SPEAKER_05]: feelings but you know let's be honest sometimes we don't know what to do with

[00:51:40] [SPEAKER_05]: those feelings so that's where you guys like you can come in and go let's help and even

[00:51:45] [SPEAKER_03]: yet don't know what to do with the feelings or even don't know don't have the language or the

[00:51:49] [SPEAKER_03]: right yourself right that feeling so actually yeah being like one of the things to me that

[00:51:55] [SPEAKER_03]: really stood out so i come from a very pop punk background right sure like a lot of pop

[00:51:58] [SPEAKER_03]: punky bands but like it's when you find artists who almost say how you're feeling

[00:52:05] [SPEAKER_03]: better than you can yes you know what i mean sometimes i can't really sum up how i'm feeling

[00:52:09] [SPEAKER_03]: but i say i can sort of say this song yeah this energy is how i'm feeling and absolutely

[00:52:14] [SPEAKER_03]: what's fascinating to me as well is with with arctic tangent there's obviously a lot of instrumental

[00:52:18] [SPEAKER_03]: bands here as well yeah and so when you haven't got that lyrical connection but

[00:52:22] [SPEAKER_03]: you have this really uh powerful human condition of like connecting with music and um

[00:52:33] [SPEAKER_03]: it's a very similar thing when you listen to classical music if you listen to an orchestra

[00:52:37] [SPEAKER_03]: live you just feel things yeah like and you do 100 that you can't put your finger on yes

[00:52:44] [SPEAKER_03]: like we watched explosions in the sky last night and i feel like that's kind of yeah like

[00:52:49] [SPEAKER_03]: a plugged in orchestral music do you know what i mean yeah yeah outer faster um classical music

[00:52:56] [SPEAKER_05]: or ghost yeah yeah it's true yeah i mean that's i not long ago did a whole series on songwriting

[00:53:02] [SPEAKER_05]: and it was such a fascinating thing to dive into people's approaches and yeah but it's exactly

[00:53:06] [SPEAKER_05]: what you just said that's from as an audience member someone who loves music who loves writing

[00:53:10] [SPEAKER_05]: playing it's myself like i totally agree is that special moment when like you just hear

[00:53:14] [SPEAKER_05]: something like you said lyrical or instrumental that just makes you go yes i don't know why but

[00:53:20] [SPEAKER_05]: yes it's great it's beautiful and festivals are a good time to get that en masse right and

[00:53:25] [SPEAKER_03]: well and to discover new stuff as well like 100 percent yeah i go home from all these

[00:53:29] [SPEAKER_03]: heavy festivals and i go oh do you know i i don't think i really listen to heavy music

[00:53:33] [SPEAKER_03]: so much anymore like i love like phoebe bridges and like bonnie there and yeah well

[00:53:38] [SPEAKER_03]: funnily enough i really love like the genre of the spotify calls trap queen as well like

[00:53:43] [SPEAKER_03]: okay lockdown i discovered it's what a what a balance in life over lockdown i really got

[00:53:48] [SPEAKER_03]: into god speed you black emperor mono caspian but i also really got into like cardi b eric

[00:53:54] [SPEAKER_03]: about nicky manam and i was like my my spotify wrapped is an exciting place yeah yeah but all

[00:54:00] [SPEAKER_03]: which is to say is that i go home and i go i don't know if i listen to heavy music

[00:54:03] [SPEAKER_03]: to a festival and when you experience it live i'm like this is the best music in the world this is

[00:54:10] [SPEAKER_03]: so good and maybe it's like a shared experience and a shared connection and i think so i think

[00:54:17] [SPEAKER_05]: anything that's kind of like it's funny you say the word subculture and i'm doing air quotes

[00:54:22] [SPEAKER_05]: because we're in a field of like thousands of people so it's not that sub is it like there's

[00:54:28] [SPEAKER_05]: people to literally fill out a entire festival but in the most mainstream sense i think yeah if

[00:54:34] [SPEAKER_05]: you're into heavier alternative music it's what's called alternative for a reason right yeah yeah

[00:54:38] [SPEAKER_05]: so i personally feel like you feel like you're more connected to a sort of smaller community

[00:54:43] [SPEAKER_05]: right you know just in terms of like that versus going to like i'm just picking the name

[00:54:48] [SPEAKER_05]: out of the hat here but like a taylor swift gig which nothing wrong with by the way

[00:54:51] [SPEAKER_05]: you know that'll be a good show a very good show yeah but you know that's like huge

[00:54:56] [SPEAKER_05]: mainstream everybody radio everyone loves it and that's great but when you come to a show

[00:55:01] [SPEAKER_05]: where it's like yeah like a couple hundred people or a couple thousand people it just

[00:55:05] [SPEAKER_05]: something feels a bit more special i guess in a way yeah i mean well so to get kind of deep

[00:55:11] [SPEAKER_03]: with it right go for it we talk about um when you get into talking about suicide prevention

[00:55:17] [SPEAKER_03]: right one of the really big protective factors so something that has been proven

[00:55:24] [SPEAKER_03]: to reduce the rates of suicide in communities is feeling a sense of like a strong sense of

[00:55:31] [SPEAKER_03]: identity and a strong sense of belonging yes yes that i think i genuinely think that that's

[00:55:37] [SPEAKER_03]: where like something like alternative music and feeling like that's something that you have

[00:55:42] [SPEAKER_03]: a strong sense of like this is who i am and this is something that you know this is how

[00:55:48] [SPEAKER_03]: i've made all my friends and this is the people that i know and this is the stuff that

[00:55:51] [SPEAKER_03]: we're all into yeah not feeling alone yeah genuinely and that's the thing and again

[00:55:57] [SPEAKER_03]: that's why i think festivals and events like this are so important is because you like i said

[00:56:03] [SPEAKER_03]: you might be at home being like i'm the only person who likes metal in my town i'm the only

[00:56:07] [SPEAKER_03]: person who listens to some shouty music or whatever but then you can come here and be like

[00:56:13] [SPEAKER_03]: actually i belong and this is this is my crowd and this is my people and really can

[00:56:19] [SPEAKER_03]: like genuinely have like clinically proven impact on like on us as human beings you know so

[00:56:28] [SPEAKER_03]: 100% so yeah it's super important and i i'd almost i don't know if i have so much of a

[00:56:33] [SPEAKER_03]: scientific backing for this but like i'd almost make the case for it being like the more niche

[00:56:37] [SPEAKER_03]: of a thing it is yeah the more strongly you associate with it do you know what i mean so

[00:56:43] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah yeah totally instrumental math rock yeah nobody passively listens to instrumental math

[00:56:50] [SPEAKER_03]: rock either really love it yeah just don't really fuss with it like so yeah i think that

[00:56:55] [SPEAKER_03]: gives an even more like strong sense of belonging and yeah feeling like you're welcome agreed

[00:57:02] [SPEAKER_03]: and the other i mean the other sorry i'm talking a lot it's a podcast there's no

[00:57:06] [SPEAKER_03]: such thing as too much talking i'll just sit silently for the next 10 minutes yeah that's

[00:57:10] [SPEAKER_03]: becomes a problem yeah when it's one word answers and i'm like oh no but like the other the other

[00:57:16] [SPEAKER_03]: really nice thing is is that with um specifically arctic tangent and 2000 trees who have been

[00:57:21] [SPEAKER_03]: fantastic and had us here so many years and like just been a great team to work with and

[00:57:25] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah shout out to the team behind arcan trees um they're very like family friendly festivals

[00:57:33] [SPEAKER_03]: yes it's a real it feels like a family and i was talking to talking to a couple earlier

[00:57:38] [SPEAKER_03]: and saying that compared to somewhere like somewhere like one of the bigger festivals

[00:57:46] [SPEAKER_03]: and even something like a reading and leads that's become a lot more kind of

[00:57:50] [SPEAKER_03]: it's yeah it's not more radio commercial yeah i agree i agree that's true yeah the the people

[00:57:55] [SPEAKER_03]: coming to art tangent and to 2003s feel like almost a sense of ownership on the festival

[00:58:02] [SPEAKER_03]: if that makes sense like yes and by that token definitely kind of self-police it almost and

[00:58:08] [SPEAKER_03]: no i agree wants to keep it clean because they're like this is our space and this is where we come

[00:58:14] [SPEAKER_03]: to blow off steam or to feel happy or you know i've got a couple of guys helping out with me

[00:58:18] [SPEAKER_03]: this weekend and they're like this is my favorite place on earth because art tangent and i'm like

[00:58:24] [SPEAKER_03]: that's such a like special thing people like yeah save up and wait for this event to happen

[00:58:30] [SPEAKER_03]: like people are already getting tickets for next year yeah because it's something that

[00:58:34] [SPEAKER_03]: so much to them so it is yeah so yeah i think long may the small independent

[00:58:43] [SPEAKER_05]: niche festivals continue i totally agree i totally agree yeah there's a lot to be said for that the

[00:58:48] [SPEAKER_05]: the the spirit of of places like this and trees and i know like bloodstocks another one that's

[00:58:53] [SPEAKER_05]: on a lot of people's minds at the minute and various other shows you know i totally agree

[00:58:58] [SPEAKER_05]: there's a lot to be said for it when it helped i don't know about you i've even gone

[00:59:01] [SPEAKER_05]: to like small town festivals where it's like a blues festival or something right and it's just

[00:59:05] [SPEAKER_05]: a great vibe because like you said it's just people have got a small group of people have

[00:59:09] [SPEAKER_05]: got together and said we really love this type of music yeah and we just want to throw up some

[00:59:13] [SPEAKER_05]: tents and people have a good time and when that's your intention i yeah i think it goes

[00:59:18] [SPEAKER_05]: a lot further than necessarily perhaps the more i'm not saying a bit cynical but the

[00:59:23] [SPEAKER_05]: more sort of corporate approach you know which i you understand that that's that's an element

[00:59:28] [SPEAKER_05]: of music right like there is an industry for a reason and that's that's fair enough but

[00:59:33] [SPEAKER_05]: i agree i i personally find these way more enjoyable to come to and that's the that's

[00:59:38] [SPEAKER_03]: the bit of sweet nature of it isn't it is that like you want everything to stay it's

[00:59:42] [SPEAKER_03]: like when you discover a band when you're like yeah we've all had an experience of like

[00:59:45] [SPEAKER_03]: i was there when there was 10 people in the room and now they're headlining some festival

[00:59:49] [SPEAKER_03]: right yeah that's such a special feeling to be like i've seen that band grow and like i you

[00:59:57] [SPEAKER_03]: ownership over that and like i would love for arctic engine 2003 to become massive festivals

[01:00:03] [SPEAKER_03]: i think they will yeah go on i kind of want them to stay small forever so that it's

[01:00:08] [SPEAKER_03]: special and ours do you know what i mean it's yeah a little bit more like yeah

[01:00:13] [SPEAKER_03]: that is yeah it's hard isn't it it's the same with bands as well like you obviously

[01:00:16] [SPEAKER_03]: want trans to do well and blow up and take over the world but you also want to feel a

[01:00:20] [SPEAKER_05]: little sense of ownership and yeah and you also want to you kind of missed the days where

[01:00:24] [SPEAKER_03]: you had to pay 20 quid instead of 60 quid to see them yeah dude yeah the world is just getting

[01:00:31] [SPEAKER_05]: more expensive i know i'll say to my friend driving down i was like there's a bunch of bands

[01:00:35] [SPEAKER_05]: like my favorite artist just bought tickets this week and i'm like i'm gonna buy them

[01:00:38] [SPEAKER_05]: but it's 100 quid for me and my wife to go so i'm like well i've got to get that

[01:00:43] [SPEAKER_05]: my hero if you're listening you know actually shawn smith i'm calling you out if you're

[01:00:48] [SPEAKER_05]: listening to this episode you promised to get me his info you have yet to do it so i'm

[01:00:53] [SPEAKER_03]: calling you out go on shawn get me in the room give tremontia get me in the room

[01:01:01] [SPEAKER_05]: oh even i promise i won't even say anything i'll just sit

[01:01:05] [SPEAKER_03]: more awkward if i just sit in the corner dude i had it sorry this is a total time no go for

[01:01:10] [SPEAKER_03]: it go for it it's an arc i love it is yes i i play i play drums for an artist called

[01:01:16] [SPEAKER_03]: novo amore and we played a festival in ireland recently lovely and did you watch the

[01:01:21] [SPEAKER_03]: dexter uh no i'm aware of it though yeah so i'm in catering and i'm having my lunch

[01:01:26] [SPEAKER_03]: i look across i'm like that guy looks really like the actor who plays dexter isn't that funny

[01:01:30] [SPEAKER_03]: oh what's his name yeah yes yes so i ended up googling it and i was like sure enough he's

[01:01:35] [SPEAKER_03]: got a band and sure enough he's playing before us on this seriously i was like that's funny so

[01:01:39] [SPEAKER_03]: i watched the inside of stage and i loved dexter like but i adore that show and i um

[01:01:44] [SPEAKER_03]: interesting i saw the show finished and i was like i desperately want to go and say hello and

[01:01:49] [SPEAKER_03]: i was like i was like in my head i'm like i am such a great guy because he must have everybody

[01:01:55] [SPEAKER_03]: coming up and being like oh you're dexter you're dexter you're dexter and i was just asking

[01:01:58] [SPEAKER_03]: questions about the band and like yeah weird about the tv thing i didn't yeah i really wanted

[01:02:03] [SPEAKER_03]: to be like i love dexter please can i have a photo but i didn't nice because i was like

[01:02:07] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah i think i'm doing him a favor but actually in reality he might have been like

[01:02:11] [SPEAKER_03]: don't you know who i am so yeah so shout out if michael c hall if you're listening uh

[01:02:16] [SPEAKER_03]: please can i have a selfie next time and your band was very good i do not i had no ideas in

[01:02:22] [SPEAKER_05]: a band after check that out that's very interesting the name escapes me at this moment

[01:02:25] [SPEAKER_05]: but yeah it was i'll find it chuck it in the show notes i like that uh sorry my final

[01:02:30] [SPEAKER_05]: question to you it's been my favorite question to ask everybody if you were to have your own

[01:02:34] [SPEAKER_05]: festival i want to know what's the festival called and who are your three dream headliners

[01:02:41] [SPEAKER_03]: have anyone you want dead or alive nice nice nice nice nice this feels like the sort of thing

[01:02:46] [SPEAKER_03]: i should have prepared in advance i mean you kind of have a name that you know but yeah but

[01:02:51] [SPEAKER_03]: that's that's the magic of it i suppose okay oh okay so let's talk let's talk headliners

[01:03:01] [SPEAKER_03]: let's talk yeah okay okay um let's make it the wonder years oh i called the wonder years

[01:03:10] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah they're like such an important band for me that yeah yeah they've done loads

[01:03:16] [SPEAKER_03]: for my mental health and that thing of like connecting with lyrics and stuff as well

[01:03:22] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah there's a song called local man ruins everything and there's a the chorus ends

[01:03:25] [SPEAKER_03]: with it's not about forcing happiness it's about not letting sadness win and that absolutely

[01:03:31] [SPEAKER_03]: sums up what heads is all about so yeah nobody has got a headline there nice um i think if we

[01:03:37] [SPEAKER_03]: go a little bit uh iconic with it it's got to be playing 182 they're lovely they're the reason

[01:03:45] [SPEAKER_03]: why i started playing drums i think really and yeah yeah understandable led to a lot of cool

[01:03:50] [SPEAKER_03]: things in my life is through blink lovely um and then we'll throw a curveball in and we'll

[01:03:55] [SPEAKER_03]: have erica manx headline who's she's one of those trap queen rappers as well i was wondering

[01:03:59] [SPEAKER_03]: if that was gonna come back yeah that's gonna yeah that's gonna really either yeah bring a

[01:04:05] [SPEAKER_03]: lot of people together or confuse a lot of people so i like eclectic i like genuinely

[01:04:10] [SPEAKER_05]: they're my favorite answers when someone's like i'm gonna go over here then i'm gonna go over here

[01:04:14] [SPEAKER_03]: and yeah do it special shout out to god speed you black emperor as well because that was the

[01:04:18] [SPEAKER_03]: other one if it wasn't blank it would have been them because i saw them at arc a couple

[01:04:21] [SPEAKER_03]: of years ago when uh i didn't really know who they were but i was just sat watching it

[01:04:25] [SPEAKER_03]: i was like this is really cool lovely um and then i listened to them loads of a lockdown so

[01:04:30] [SPEAKER_03]: shout out to them amazing and the festival is gonna be called

[01:04:39] [SPEAKER_03]: it's gonna be called yeah go on then fest yeah go on then do you want to watch this yeah go on

[01:04:46] [SPEAKER_05]: then i like it i like it yeah go on then yeah that's great sigh thank you so much for your

[01:04:50] [SPEAKER_05]: time thanks so much for having me on man cheers a massive thank you to metal for good

[01:04:56] [SPEAKER_05]: the guitarist heavy metal therapy safe gigs for women and head above the waves thank you

[01:05:02] [SPEAKER_05]: so much for your time i really do appreciate it it was such a joy to talk to all of you and

[01:05:08] [SPEAKER_05]: to find out more about the incredible work that you do at music festivals please do yourself a

[01:05:13] [SPEAKER_05]: favor folks and go and support these non-profit organizations and charities as i said at top

[01:05:19] [SPEAKER_05]: there are links in the show notes you can find out more you can check out their websites

[01:05:22] [SPEAKER_05]: their social media pages i'm sure they will greatly appreciate your support thank you also

[01:05:28] [SPEAKER_05]: to hailey holey and matt from the good as gold group for helping out with these interviews

[01:05:32] [SPEAKER_05]: they were very kind in helping me organize them and their work has been absolutely instrumental

[01:05:38] [SPEAKER_05]: across all of these episodes from the ark tangent festival so thank you for that

[01:05:42] [SPEAKER_05]: if you have not heard any of the episodes from the ark tangent festival please do yourself a

[01:05:47] [SPEAKER_05]: favor and go back and have a listen there are three episodes featuring wonderful interviews

[01:05:51] [SPEAKER_05]: from 10 fantastic bands that played across the weekend they are well worth your time

[01:05:57] [SPEAKER_05]: if this is your first time listening to fundamentals thank you so much for checking

[01:06:01] [SPEAKER_05]: out the podcast i really do appreciate it as i said there are previous episodes from ark

[01:06:06] [SPEAKER_05]: tangent which you can check out there's also some episodes from the recent 2000 trees festival

[01:06:10] [SPEAKER_05]: those could be some great jumping off points but there's also a lot more to explore with the

[01:06:15] [SPEAKER_05]: podcast this is the podcast that explores pop culture one conversation at a time and if you

[01:06:20] [SPEAKER_05]: have a look through the episodes you will see that that is very much the case i go all over

[01:06:24] [SPEAKER_05]: the place with pop culture with some absolutely wonderful guests from all over the world to have

[01:06:30] [SPEAKER_05]: a look through i'm sure you'll find something that you will enjoy also be sure to follow and

[01:06:35] [SPEAKER_05]: or subscribe whatever it is that you have to do so that you do not miss out on more episodes

[01:06:40] [SPEAKER_05]: i have one more episode from ark tangent coming up very soon featuring some wonderful

[01:06:45] [SPEAKER_05]: conversations with even more guests behind the scenes at the festival i've also got

[01:06:50] [SPEAKER_05]: another season following directly after this one that you do not want to miss out on it's a

[01:06:55] [SPEAKER_05]: recurring season is one of my favorites to record and i'll have plenty more to say on that

[01:07:00] [SPEAKER_05]: very soon you can also head over to the social media pages which are linked in the show notes

[01:07:04] [SPEAKER_05]: we can keep up to date with the podcast and find out more about a prize giveaway that

[01:07:08] [SPEAKER_05]: i'm doing that's right i'm giving some stuff away for free go into the social media pages

[01:07:14] [SPEAKER_05]: specifically instagram to find out more about that and if you have enjoyed the podcast

[01:07:19] [SPEAKER_05]: then please consider doing a few simple things to help me on my journey as an independent podcaster

[01:07:24] [SPEAKER_05]: first and foremost just tell somebody i don't mind who you tell or how you tell them so long

[01:07:30] [SPEAKER_05]: as you do if you've enjoyed this episode make sure you share it with them in some way so that

[01:07:34] [SPEAKER_05]: the podcast can grow i'm an independent podcaster i'm a one-man band i do everything here

[01:07:40] [SPEAKER_05]: except the artwork that is alex jenkins but everything else is me so anything you can do

[01:07:45] [SPEAKER_05]: help me on my journey will go a really long way and is greatly appreciated you can also head

[01:07:50] [SPEAKER_05]: into your favorite podcatcher of choice and leave me a five star review or rating if you have done

[01:07:56] [SPEAKER_05]: that and i don't know about it just yet please tell me because i would love to give you a thank

[01:08:00] [SPEAKER_05]: you on an episode of the podcast after all it really is the least that i can do you can

[01:08:06] [SPEAKER_05]: also contribute to the cost of running the show if you're feeling generous there are links

[01:08:10] [SPEAKER_05]: in the show notes to the donation pages or the merchandise store featuring the wonderful

[01:08:14] [SPEAKER_05]: artwork designed by the aforementioned alex jenkins links are in the show notes right

[01:08:20] [SPEAKER_05]: that's enough from me i'll be back in two days time with the final episode from my time at the

[01:08:25] [SPEAKER_05]: arc tangent festival that will be out on friday the 30th bright and early in your podcast feed

[01:08:30] [SPEAKER_05]: so make sure that you come back for that trust me when i say you do not want to miss it

[01:08:36] [SPEAKER_05]: thanks again for listening to the podcast and i'll see you then