Interview: Rob Da Bank
- Apr 22, 2009
Legendary DJ and founder of the Bestival festival, Rob Da Bank, takes time out of his busy schedule to speak to me about his talk at the Southbank Centre's Ether festival this Friday and his book The A-Z of Festivals, coming out May 1st.
Tom Sowerby: Morning Rob, I'm calling because you have your new book coming out The A â“Z of Festivals and you have your talk coming up this Friday at the Ether festival, and I was just wondering what exactly we can expect to hear from you?
Rob Da Bank: Good question, I've got no idea really! I think it's going to be a bit of a Q & A to start with, with Miranda Sawyer who's a really good person to get involved with talking about festivals because she has a lot of opinions about the current state of them. I've been reading a lot about her, talking about the costs of Festivals and things, so I think it's going to be me and her having a bit of a chat about personal festival experiences and talking about festivals that I love or hate! There'll also be a panel of DJ's and stuff talking about the future of festivals, like where they're going. Hopefully it will be entertaining and informative.
TS: Yeah, that sounds great. I also have a few questions about festivals in general. Obviously, with Bestival being a huge success I was wondering what exactly you think makes a great festival?
RDB: Erm, I think a lot of effort really, particularly on the promoters and the crowd I suppose, it's as simple as that really. I mean obviously you need decent music and ideally a lot of other things to do but you know there are some brilliant festivals out there that are pretty much dependant just on the music offering and that's fantastic stuff, the people know what they want, and they want to watch some bands, drink some beer and have their festival experience. At the same time there are other festivals like Bestival, Latitude or The Big Chill where it's a lot more about other things as well as the music, so I think the thing that makes Bestival sort of special is the atmosphere and the magic that's created by everyone that turns up and makes all the effort to make it a mad experience.
TS: Can we expect anything different this year from Bestival?
RDB: Yeah, I mean obviously we had a wet year for the first time last year and that sort of made us think about the site, so that will be changing a lot in terms of layout. We're moving the main stage around, so for people who know Bestival well the site will have radically changed, but for those who don't: there'll be the usual madness, fun and games and we've called 2009 the year of the spectacular, which roughly speaking is to do with making it an amazing show in addition to the music which is what we've always wanted to do. We've got this thing called Blastival which is a kind of Firework installation, like a theatrical piece, it's kind of hard to describe but essentially it's the story of this guy trying to blast himself off to space in his rocket through various means which culminates with me DJ-ing in this rocket on Sunday night just before it blasts off. Hopefully I won't get lost in space or anything, but yeah there's going to be a lot interactive stuff as ever with Bestival.
TS: Wow, that sounds unbelievable, I think 'spectacular' is the word! I was also wondering do you prefer playing at festivals or is it more enjoyable just going without any of the worries of it?
RDB: Erm, it's a total mixture actually; I mean I love chilling out; it's pretty good at Glastonbury, the less work I have to do there the better, because there's just so much there to see! Though at the same time I'm totally into DJ-ing at festivals; I've had some of my best DJ sets at festivals. This year I'm really chuffed I'm going to be DJ-ing at the exit festival in Serbia and it's another European show, so it's probably the only way that I'm going to get out to these shows, by DJ-ing and normally it's really good fun and I enjoy the challenge of getting the crowd going, it's normally actually easier than a club crowd! They're always really up for it!
TS: Where are you planning on going this summer for festivals?
RDB: Well obviously Camp Bestival and Bestival! I'm also DJ-ing at Glastonbury and generally going to hang out, Exit in Serbia, hopefully Sziget in Budapest and then as many of the usual suspects as possible, you know; The Big Chill, Latitude or The Green Man. I also like popping up to Reading or V Festival for the day, I really want to see Radiohead at Reading and just some of those highlights of the year really.
TS: Can you think of one particular stand out moment in all the festivals you've been to?
RDB: Yeah, probably going to Coachella four years ago in the States and seeing The Cure, Radiohead and Kraftwerk all on the same bill, three of my favourite ever acts, all playing. The whole weekend was amazing, definitely worth the journey.
TS: Yes, it sounds great. I just had one last question: I saw on your MySpace page about your Volkswagen Camper. Do you ever drive that around to festivals?
RDB: Hah, I used to drive to all of them, but now I've got two kids I need to be a bit more mobile; they don't like sitting on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck. So my camper's consigned to the Isle of White at the moment, I just drive it around there where I can't get too lost or too far away from home but going away in the camper or going camping full stop is my favourite thing. It's not quite as relaxing with kids, but yeah, I still love camping!
TS: Excellent, well thanks very much for taking the time out to talk to me about Ether festival and the new book, I hope it all goes well!
RDB: Thanks very much, thanks for your support.
As part of the Ether festival Rob Da Bank is giving a talk at Queen Elizabeth Hall at 8pm, Friday 24th April.
- Go Here to find out more about Rob's talk and to book tickets.
The A-Z of Festivals, Rob's new book detailing his personal experiences of festivals all around the world is available through Pan Macmillan from May 1st.
- Go Here to find out more about Rob's new book.
To find out more about Rob Da Bank visit his MySpace page
