INTERVIEW BY JEZ SILCOCK

Last August saw local promoters ‘Hevy’ put on their first major outdoor live event; the Hevy Music Festival, which brought three stages of live music to Folkestone’s seafront. Now, the Hevy Music Festival is back with a bang, taking place over three full days, giving the event it’s full weekend festival upgrade for 2010!

The site for this year’s event has moved to the Port Lympne Grounds, and promises to host extreme sports displays and a fully fledged funfair, as well as the mass of live music on show.

Jez Silcock met up with James from Hevy to discuss the festival…

Can you tell me a little bit about your background and the thinking behind putting on a totally hardcore festival?
“Claire and I started Hevy just under 3 years ago. It all started with a few pub gigs in Canterbury, but over time the bands got bigger, then the venues got bigger and soon we were tackling events at the Leas Cliff Hall – one of Kent’s biggest venues! Last year the first ever Hevy Music Festival brought a one-day, 3-stage event to Folkestone seafront. It was a bit of a test run for us, to see if we were capable of staging something of this scale – but the plan was always to go for a weekend camping event this year. The line-up was pretty broad last year – from Gary Numan to Cancer Bats and just about everything in between! We had a very specific idea for what we wanted from this year’s line-up and it’s totally focused at a specific market. There’s some fantastic little festivals down here that offer a great family-friendly product. But we’ve always felt there’s a need for something a little heavier, and that’s what we hope to be – Kent’s alternative music festival. We’ve booked incredible bands from all corners of rock, punk, hardcore and metal.”
 
Last years Hevy attracted some big names but this year you really have excelled yourselves. Who are you looking forward to seeing most this year?
“For me it has to be Glassjaw – the band are truly legendary! They have directly inspired just about every band you’re likely to see in the pages of Kerrang! and Rock Sound today, and they NEVER venture over to the UK for festivals. To be flying them over from New York for a one-off, exclusive UK appearance this summer is incredible and far beyond what we ever hoped for.”
 
And how much better is this years Hevy going to be?
“This year’s Hevy is going to be epic! We’re moving to Port Lympne, which is a spectacular site and somewhere we hope to develop this event over the next few years. We have 4 stages of huge bands, insane extreme sports displays and some hand-picked state-of-the-art thrill rides! We’ve spent months planning this festival from the ground up and everything on site has been chosen because it’s a bit different to the norm. This is a totally new breed of festival for the UK, and it’s right on your doorstep.”

Which act would be your dream act to book?
“Ha – that’s easy. We have this tradition that each year we ask Rage Against The Machine to headline Hevy. Last year we were a few million short – ah well – one day….”
 
Can we expect a Hevy 2011 and if so, can you tell me the dates now so my wife doesn’t book my bloody holiday smack bang in the middle of it?
“Ha ha – we’ll be back! Probably at a similar time in August. I’ll make sure we consult you before confirming our dates – we don’t want that happening again!”

You obviously keep an eye on the local music scene too. Any bands caught your eye (or ears) especially? Feed The Rhino were added to the bill early…
“There’s a crazy amount of talent in this corner of the UK. We have our Local Heroes stage to showcase some of the area’s greatest bands. It’s right next to, and alternates with the main stage which gives these local bands the chance to play alongside the huge acts that they aspire to – which is really cool. We’ve always wanted to support and develop the local music scene as much as we can, especially as that is how we started – with upcoming bands in tiny pubs.”
 
Who would you recruit for your fantasy super group (dead or alive artistes)?
“I’m a huge Chilis fan, and used to play drums for a band so it would definitely be Chad Smith providing the beats. We also have a soft spot for ridiculously meaty bass riffs so Rage’s Tim Commerford would take care of that nicely. Omar Rodríguez-López from At The Drive In on guitar – because he’s a genius, and probably Brandon Boyd from Incubus on lead vocals because his voice is amazing – and Claire fancies him.”
 
Ha ha and finally James, any ridiculous rider requests as yet?
“We need to find some Star Wars figurines for one of the bands – which is a bit weird! But mostly its a lot of alcohol – lots and lots of alcohol!

Tags: At The Drive In, Brandon Boyd, Cancer Bats, Chad Smith, Feed The Rhino, Festival, Gary Numan, Glassjaw, Hevy, Incubus, James Dutton, Jez Silcock, Kerrang!, Leas Cliff Hall (Folkestone), Local Heroes (Hevy), Omar Rodríguez-López, Port Lympne, Rage Against The Machine, RockSound, Star Wars, Tim Commerford

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