To begin with, here's the first lineup announcement from OutsideIn, taking place again at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville, Sydney on September 21.
Zomby (UK)
Freddie Gibbs (USA)
Astral People presents Since I Left You (AUS)
BadBadNotGood (CAN)
Jam City (UK)
Objekt (GER)
Laurel Halo (USA)
Mark Pritchard (UK/AUS)
Cosmo's Midnight (AUS)
Oisima (AUS)
Andras Fox & Oscar Key Sung (AUS)
Rainbow Chan (AUS)
Impressive, right? Tickets go on sale this Friday (June 28) at 9am. We asked Lee Danilewitz from Astral People a few questions about it all.
Zomby and Freddie Gibbs are both great pulls. How early did you secure them? How early do you start booking?
We started thinking about the line up as soon as we wrapped up last year. We wanted to spend as much time as possible putting together a lineup that would outdo last year’s. Freddie Gibbs, we started talking to around six months ago. He's someone that we've wanted to get straight away and thought he was a perfect fit. Zomby was more recent. We had another headliner locked in and then he pulled out and we discovered that Zomby was making a come back and we didn't think twice about booking him to close OutsideIn.
It's a largely international lineup. Is this due to favourable pricing for those acts, a creative decision, or both?
It's a combination of both, We're not very big on recycling lineups, so we aim to bring artists to Australia that have never been out here before, as we always aim to give our audience something different and fresh. In regards to Australian acts, the bigger ones cost an absolute bucket load to book. We approached some acts and pretty much they would've cost our entire budget to book, so in an effort to keep ticket prices as low as possible, it was in our best interests to get international acts. In saying this, our next announcement is full of some of Australia's most exciting acts, which we can't wait to share with everyone.
What areas do you hope to improve upon or build further from last year's event?
We were generally happy with how last year’s event ran considering it was our first year, but obviously there were a lot of things to take on board. Straight after last year’s event, we sat down with the venue and went through a whole bunch of things we wanted to improve, particularly focusing on making the event as comfortable for the attendees as possible, so we'll be adjusting the venue layout and adding a lot of elements to ensure the day flows smoothly.
What was the biggest shock first time around in pulling off something like this?
Up until the first announcement last year, it hadn't really sunk in that we were running a music festival. Pretty much I spent my entire time in high school doodling mock festival bills, so for it to actually turn into a reality was pretty special. The fact that last year’s turned into something much bigger than anyone of us had ever dreamed and people having a really good time and wanting us to do it again was a shock in its self.
I know it's only your second year, but have you considered expanding into other states?
After last year’s event we got approached by a number of interstate promoters to bring the festival to their cities. Moving interstate isn't something we want to rush, but it's definitely in our future plans.
What would your advice be to someone planning to start a similarly sized/aimed event in their city?
Do the event for the right reasons; if you see the event as way to make a load of cash, there you're doing it wrong. All we wanted from this event, was to bring out interesting acts, put them in an intimate venue and give people the best time possible for as little money possible.
Obviously there was controversy surrounding Fuzzy's similar event. They hit back at your 'rip off' comments stating they don't plan to encroach, and the differences will be evident once their lineup is released. How you do feel about it all now that lineup is out?
Well their lineup is quite different to ours, but we knew a while back that that was the case. Regardless of whether they ripped us off or not, the fact is that a company of their size should be doing their research. We follow every event possible, whether there are 10 people attending or 100,000 to ensure that there is a point of difference between what we do and what others do. Claiming to be a coincidence is not a valid excuse, there are enough people working there who know what we do, who should've spotted the similarities. It's over now though and we don't plan on taking anything further.
Is Thom Yorke down again for OutsideIn 2013?
From what we heard, he had a great time last year, we definitely plan to send him an invite.
![Cuisine Scene: Channel [V]'s Billy Russell on fried chicken](https://cdn.eventfinda.com.au/uploads/content/transformed/254218-1596-33.jpg "Cuisine Scene: Channel [V]'s Billy Russell on fried chicken")
