Kat Morris talks to eFestivals

eFestivals spoke to Kat Morris, who has worked on the festival since 2007, and this year has taken on the role of festival director of The Great Escape for 2013.

First off, how did you get started in the music industry?
I was originally an intern at Finger Lickin' Records where I created a filing system for their record back catalogue. Then I moved on and worked at MTV in the events team, and then I've been working on The Great Escape for the last seven years.

This year's bill must be pretty much in place now, how long a break do you get until you have to start on the next one?
It doesn't really stop. The pace becomes slightly less intense after the festival, but we've already started planning 2014, and we actually had a conversation this week about 2015 as well. So, we're always thinking ahead, and there's always a lot to do.

You say there's a lot to do and it keeps you quite busy, what do you do when you're not working on it?
I actually work all year around on The Great Escape, if you imagine once the festival ends then we already need to start contracting venues and speaking to festival partners, and our sponsors, and tickets go on sale straight away. We also travel to different showcase festivals and industry conferences between one Great Escape and the next, to network, and promote the festival, and also to listen to bands from outside the UK for the future. All of those trips help to shape next year's festival.

Do you work on any other events?
Nope, I'm just The Great Escape through and through.

You say that you go to events to discover acts, what's been your favourite event to visit so far, and why?
Gosh! You're putting me on the spot there. Well... I love Eurosonic to me that's a good other similar event to The Great Escape, and it's great because of the time of year it's held, and the talent pool it showcases is very strong there, and the conference is really good there too.

That happened earlier this year were you there to spot acts for this year?
Yes, we were still booking in January this year.

What do you look for in act that fits with The Great Escape ethos?
Obviously it's a showcase festival for new music, so, we choose artists that we feel will be appropriate to our audience of music lovers and international industry delegates. We're looking for someone who will breakthrough in terms of both the national and the international music scene.

You mentioned delegates, you must have a lot of other festivals come to The Great Escape too?
Yes, a lot of bookers, a large proportion of our delegate database is other festival bookers and promoters who come to select bands for their events. We also have a lot of festival bookers from Europe, a handful from the USA, and also Japan, and China, as well which is fantastic.

What is the most far flung place you've had come to visit?
We've had someone from Thailand this year, as a booker, and fingers cross they make it over.

What's your daily routine on site?
There's no set routine. The only set thing is that I have an 8am meeting with the production manager and the event manager where we review the previous day, and have a status check. We then have another one at 4pm, and we talk outside of that, but those meetings are locked in. Outside of that there is absolutely no routine to what my day would normally be like.

Outdoor festivals always have to have a health and safety approval at the last minute before they open the gates, do you have to go through the same process as an indoor event?
It's not exactly the same but we still have health and safety policies, and checks that we do in order to assure the safety of our attendees. But it's not quite the same.

How would you encapsulate the line-up for this year's festival?
I think it's frankly wonderful. I really hope I get the chance to see some shows, and if I get the chance to I don't want to miss Wall, I think they're wonderful, and Phosphorescent I think are incredible too. There's also Melodys Echo Chamber, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra I think they're wonderful too, oh and Jagwar Ma, and Merchandise, and also I wouldn't miss Everything Everything playing The Dome. They played the Corn Exchange a couple of years ago, so it's really nice to see them back.

For The Dome shows do you try and sort out who is playing them quite early on in the process?
Yes, we do try to, they're one of the first things we try to book, but obviously sometimes it takes up the timeline a little bit.

Do you have a group of acts that bringing a new sound to this year's event?
I don't know if it will be heard for the first time, but there's obviously a '60s revival, and a lot of artists that are playing at The Great Escape, and a lot of those who are around at the moment, bands like Temples, Eddi Front, and Jacco Gardner. They're coming to the fore off the back of Jake Bugg, and it's that '60s sound that's making a comeback at the moment.

What's the most off the wall act you have at The Great Escape this year?
I would say the lady rapper Brooke Candy.

Do you notice any global music trends happening?
It seems to change all the time, for The Great Escape it's usually indie folk music and indie electro that we're looking for. Although the kind of folk revolution with Mumford & Sons happened a few years ago, but we're still seeing many, many folk artists coming through as a result.

Each year we put a spotlight on a different country specifically as well as showcasing bands from all over the world and this year our showcase is on Poland. We started to build our relationship there with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute about 4 years ago, and we've gradually been showcasing an increasing number of Polish artists over the last couple of years. We've made a really good foundation to now put a proper spotlight on them now. We've got around 8 acts from Poland coming over which is fantastic. We've got a cross section of music from there including tres.b who are indie folk, Brodka who is wonderful, Kamp!, and Daniel Drumz are a bit more dancy. Plus Teielte, Pictorial Candi, Enchanted Hunters, and The KDMS we've got lots of different genres which is great.

Do you find that different territories throughout the world tend to have different focuses in terms of what artists they showcase?
Not really, most of the bands from different countries cover different genres and they don't all fit the same genre at all. Most of the events I've been to always try to showcase as much variety as possible. Although usually they are very regional, as opposed to being as international as The Great Escape is.

How many events do you normally visit in a year?
Me personally I tend to go four or five, and then the whole team will cover 20 to 25 different events.

Are you aware of any major changes happening in the UK festival scene?
I think it's great that the festival scene is still thriving in the way that it is, especially during the extended recession it's been hit with, I think that it shows the British nature in the best possible way, we love to have a good time. In terms of The Great Escape I'm really pleased that we've managed to retain such a fantastic attendance every year. Hopefully, they are going to continue to go up, and that's partly to do with the fact that we're an indoor festival but it's also because our tickets are really good value for money, and that's the main thing.

The Great Escape takes place at venues all over Brighton from Thursday 16th until Saturday 18th May.

They are more than 300+ bands announced, performing in more than 30 venues spread across Brighton over the course of three days. The line-up includes Everything Everything, Bastille and Billy Bragg, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, King Krule, Chvrches, Tom Odell, AlunaGeorge, Title Fight, Eddi Front, Awaken I Am, The Black Heart Rebellion, David Rodigan, Dinosaur Pile Up, Drenge, Dune, Ed Harcourt, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Jacco Gardner, Night Engine, Soak, Superfood, The Trouble With Templeton, The 1975, A.M.E, Andreya Triana, Bo Bruce, Sons And Lovers, Spencer, The Blackout, We Were Evergreen, The Nextmen, Brodka, Brooke Candy, Diiv, King Krule, Kodaline, London Grammar, Mac DelMarco, On an On, Only Real, Phosphorescent, Scrufizzer, Ruen Brothers, The 1975, Allah-las, Deap Vally, Ed Harcourt, Evert and the two Dragons, Iggy Azalea, Indians, Klaxons, Luke Sital Singh, Merchandise, The Neighbourhood, Soak, Susanne Sunford, Temples, The Blackout, Tres.B, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Velociraptor, Big Deal, Chloe Howl, Chvrches, David Ram Jam Rodigan (MBE), Jagwar Ma, Little Green Cars, Mary Epworth, Mausi, Nick Mulvey, Parquet Courts, Swim Deep, The Midnight Beast, The Strypes, Three Trapped Tigers, Toddla T Sound, Woods, and many more.

For the line-up details as available please click here.

A three day ticket is priced at £49.50. To buy tickets, click here.

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