exclusive Malcolm Haynes interview

eFestivals spoke to Malcolm Haynes coordinator and programmer of the new look Silver Hayes Dance Village at Glastonbury Festival to find out more about the area's revamp.

Can you tell us about what changes have been made to Glastonbury Festival's Dance Village?
Basically we have gone for a total re-vamp the Dance Village has been running 2005, and we just felt that it needed to have a re-vamp and an uplift so we've renamed in 'Silver Hayes' and this is because one of the fields that we use is called, 'Silver Hayes'.

What we've tried to do is give it a new look so we continue with the 'Wow Stage' which will feature lots of good underground music, but we'll have a new interesting frontage on it which will look very similar to a boat.

We've got a new superstructure, called 'Sonic', using Saddlespan tents, but it's never been put together in this configuration in the UK before. That's going to look quite futuristic, and we're going to do quite a lot of videomapping on the outside of the tent, and lots of LED screens and projections inside. We're going to incorporate some of the cubes outside as well, we're not doing 'Cubehenge' anymore, but we are going to use the cubes as sculptures outside the tent.

Then at night-times we're also going to feature the our 'Heads-party' which is our own version of a silent disco. We've got a new system this year which is a headphone with 3 channels, and the headphones light up and flash with the music. So, you can see straight away who is listening to what channel, because each channel flashes a different colour – that's a little bit of a novelty. Once again, just as in 2011, we will use a deposit scheme on that. You just pay a £10 deposit and pick your headphones up, and then as long as they're not broken or in pieces, you get your £10 back.

Will that be held within Sonic?
Yes, we're just going to do the one venue this year, if it goes well, we might roll it out to some of the other venues which might have to close early. That takes place from around 12.30am each night after curfew, but we will be opening early on Thursday about 8pm with that as well.

The way we plan to run the channels, is we will probably have 2 channels of DJs, and one channel of VJs that goes with that.

Any other changes?
The Pussy Parlure, is re-named the 'La Pussy Parlure Nouveau', we've decided to get rid of the Spiegeltent. A couple of reasons for that, firstly we feel it's no longer a new thing at a festival, and secondly we felt we were too restricted on the capacity. So, with the new Pussy Parlure we're going to put it into a traditional tent, the money that we save on not hiring the Spiegel we will put into the décor for the new venue. The front of it is going to look very different, it will be as though you are entering a mansion house, and then the decor is going to look quite fabulous. We're going to really up the antics on the types of bands that are going to be in there. To give you an idea by the time Glastonbury comes along I anticipate there will be at least four or five of the bands that will be in the top 50. There will definitely be some great B and A list bands in there.

The 'BBC Introducing Stage' is moving position from where they used to be, and are coming more into the fold, and they're going to be in the position where the West Dance used to be and they will be programming a mixture of indie and dance stuff under the BBC Introducing banner.

Then the rest of the field we have split into two and we're creating a reggae area which consists of an open air stage, called 'The Gully', and that will feature lots of live bands and a little bit of African music as well. DJ Mo from Mali, is somebody that will be appearing. The Festival is officially supporting Mali, and DJ Mo is Salif Keita's manager so he will be coming along with his unique mix of not just Malian, but also African music. We will also have a big African band headline that stage on one of the nights, which we will reveal at a later stage.

Also, on one of the days on that stage is David Rodigan, who will be presenting and curating one of the days. Then the Sunday will again be a mixture of reggae and pretty much all live bands on this stage. It's very much a live music stage.

Has that got a visual theme or look to it?
What we've done this year is brought in an Artistic director and it's they're job to deal with all the artistic side of the field, we will dress the stage, but I don't have information on that at the moment.

Then the other part of the reggae area is called 'Blues' which takes it's name from the old 50's and 60's small West Indian clubs that used to dot themselves around some of the major cities of the UK. This going to be a set build, so it's going to look like a street and it's going to feature reggae sound systems all weekend. That will kind of be replacing 'The Bubble' and that will run from 12 through until 3am in the morning, and 2.30am on Sunday.

So, the three main venues that are open late are La Pussy Parlure Nouveau, The Wow, and The Blues. The BBC Introducing, The Blues, The Gully, and The Sonic have a 12.30am curfew, then the Sonic and the silent disco will go through until 7am. That in a nutshell is the new field.

Do you have anything else up your sleeve?
We're hoping to bring in lots of other visual features, with the video mapping of the main stage and bringing some lasers into the field as well, and various sculptures throughout.

Are we going to have some authentic reggae food stall to go with it?
Yes, as part of The Blues, we are paying a lot of attention to detail, we're going to have a sort of Jamaican rum shack down there, so you can get lots of rum cocktails, and we hope to feature a couple of good West Indian stalls down there as well.

With all the projections and installations presumably Silver Hayes is going to draw people visually at night?
It's our plan that the new Silver Hayes is just a very pleasant thing to come and have a look, and a really nice space to hang out at night. Our main bar doesn't close until 4am either, and there's a lot of stalls, and a few little micro things going on. They've got their own tiny little hi-fi systems, so the idea is that it will be a very vibrant place to hang out at night.

With all those venues, you must have only announced the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to acts announced for the dance village.
I'd say we've only released probably around 20% of our line-up and there's still quite a few names to come along in that for all the areas. I would say there's probably quite a lot to still be announced. I'd say that maybe half of what have announced is coming from Sonic, and then the other half is coming from all the other stages. There's quite a few big names to announce for Sonic, and a hell of a lot more for all the other stages.

Of the acts you have announced, who do you think Festivalgoers coming to Dance village for the first time should definitely see?
I'd say all of them. But, I suppose, we are really, really excited about having Nas. Also Jamie Jones' Hot Natured – he's probably the hot favourite of house music at the moment, and we've got Disclosure, with a good garage sound, and Rudimental. I really looking forward to seeing The Family Stone, even though they haven't got Sly because I saw them 2 years ago in Australia, they're still with 3 of the original members, and they were absolutely awesome. I didn't realise just how many hits and how responsible he was for shaping the whole R&B, funk, and pop bands of the 60s and 70s. They actually have a new keyboard player who looks like Sly, and talks like him, and is actually very funny. When I saw them, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble were supporting them. It was the first time I'd seen, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, who we also have got this year. I thought they were fantastic, and I assumed The Family Band, being a heritage band would come out and die, but they came out and took it up another 2 or 3 notches. Just incredible. So, if i recommend people to come and see anything, I recommend them. I realise they're up against The Rolling Stones, Public Enemy, and Chase & Status, but if you're into your funk, and you want to see a true heritage band, then the Family Stone is definitely who you want to go and see.

I do think that apart from the die hards most people will want to see the first few numbers of The Stones, and then they'll want to go and see something else. A lot of people go and see the headliners, watch the first few numbers and then go and see something else. It's a really interesting Saturday night actually, there's a lot going on.

Glastonbury Festival takes place from Wednesday 26th June until Monday 1st July 2013 across over a 1,000 acres of beautiful countryside at Worthy Farm, Somerset and, as ever, includes a free programme. Once again, the Festival will be raising funds for Oxfam, Wateraid, Greenpeace and a host of local charities and causes (in 2011, more than £2m was raised).

A further release of a limited number of cancelled tickets will go on sale from 9am this Sunday, 21st April 2013, although in order to do so you must have registered beforehand to be eligible to buy a ticket. However, it's unlikely that they'll be a huge number of tickets available on that day.

Anyone aged 13 or over (when the Festival starts) who wishes to buy a ticket must be registered. Registration involves providing contact details, a valid e-mail address, and a passport standard photo.

Online registration can be carried out by clicking here.

For more detailed registration and ticket information click here.

As well as standard Festival tickets (priced at £205 + £5 booking fee), there will be a number of Combined Coach and Festival Tickets on sale. These tickets include either single or return coach tickets from a range of locations around the UK.

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