Lisa Meyer interview

Supersonic is an indoor festival which runs every October at Birmingham's Custard Factory.

The event, curated by Capsule showcases, all things avant-garde spectrum, from the eclectic and experimental, and offers an audience of 2,500 a mix of new and emergent talent alongside established and international acts. The focus is mainly on experimental music, although Supersonic also acts as an umbrella for creative practice in any media or art form, and utilises the venues many rooms for music, art and film.

eFestivals spoke to founder Lisa Meyer about how the festival is shaping up.

How did you get the idea for Supersonic?
We've been running Capsule for eleven years now, and Jenny (Moore) and myself both came from art backgrounds and are big fans of music, and having gone to places like Sonar Festival in Barcelona we were really inspired by the idea of combining film, music, and art and having it in an environment that wasn't necessarily a muddy field, but a place where you could move from space to space and discover new artists and have all those different media closely linked as well.

Was it easy to get the festival off the ground?
Our first year which was in 2003 was a one day event and we had Coil, and LCD Soundsystem play on the same day. In essence it was a bit of a fluke, because we were quite naive and just wrote to the bands that we really loved and we managed to get them to come and play. I think that LCD's first show outside of London at that point. We had them as a full band for £800, and now if you consider that they have headlined Creamfields and the like.

It was just naive enthusiasm that started things off, and without an understanding of health and safety, and the bigger realities of running a festival. We've had to learn all those things along the way.

How do you go about choosing the acts?
I think they have to be things that we really love, you just can't properly promote something that you're passionate about. So, it's either acts that we're really interested about or we can see a link of how they influenced a contemporary or emerging artists.

...and how do you decide who plays when?
That takes a lot of Excel sheets, and moving names backwards and forwards around a timetable, because we try to build up an atmosphere on a day. Each stage's programme is really carefully crafted in terms of how we want people to see artists from one act to another, and that there that very subtle relationship between them without being very obvious. I think that's one of the beauties of the festival, that by almost not noticing people come away having really appreciated the way we have constructed the weekend.

Did you always craft the festival like that, or was it a bit more hit and miss when you started?
I think as fans we have programmed for other fans, so we have always had that in mind, and that's really how we have run the company as well. We have always put ourselves in the position of the audience member and thought, "What would we like to see? What are we interested in, do we want to be drinking good ale?" Those sort of questions – the whole experience.

What has been your favourite act you've seen at Supersonic since it started?
It's really hard to say because there has been so many amazing acts, but, the first time we put on Battles, their first show was pretty incredible, and we've since had them back, quite a few times. There have been so many amazing acts that either we haven't known that much about in terms of having the opportunity to see them live before – bands like Harvey Milk who we brought over to the UK for the first time.

There's also been quite a few acts that have really surprised, us and the audience, in terms of just how good they are live.

How did Swans go down last year?
They were fantastic! Swans are who are they are and Michael Gira is a really intense performer, they headlined on the Sunday night and I think they were the perfect 'numbness' to finish off the festival.

Who are you most looking forward to seeing this year and why?
I'm really excited about The Skull Defekts because we've been really listening to their album over the last 12 months, and we think that they will be pretty amazing in a live setting. That's what I mean in terms of whilst you hear something on record it's that moment of being able to share that live moment with other people in a hot and sweaty place.

What sort of people does Supersonic attract?
We attract people who are fans of music that also want to have a good time because it really is a sociable environment, and we try to create a sense of community. The music that we programme is relatively niche but really there is quite a global audience for it, and so it's bringing all those people together for one weekend, which I think is what makes the festival.

It's that sense of community I enjoy most, we have people who return year on year, that come from all over the world, and all over the UK, and it's really nice to see old one, and welcome new ones too.

Apart from the music what else does Supersonic offer this year?
We've got a number of UK premieres for some really great films. We've got a series of talks and exhibitions, and we also have a market place where independent record labels, distributors, and illustrators are able to sell their wares. Quite often these people only 'exist' on the internet and so it's quite nice to meet them face to face over the weekend. We also have a tea room with really great cakes as well, I think it's quite important to have that little sugar buzz half way through. That's part of inviting people in and making them feel welcome, I think having the first cup of tea, and some cake is an important part of that.

Do you also offer proper food for your audience?
Yes, we have a number of stalls, everything from a Japanese Curry stall to Italian cuisine, and they are all independents. We are quite keen on not having crappy burger vans.

What's been the biggest lesson you've learnt from putting on Supersonic?
I think that would be the health and safety aspect on the very first year. At the Custard Factory there's a big pond of water, and we fell in love with the idea of it looking really beautiful. So we had the stage built over the water, with two screens projected either side of where the acts were playing. While Coil were on stage someone jumped into the water and swam across, knocked their head and then got on stage dripping wet across Coil's electronics. Thankfully nothing happened but it made us realise we were responsible for a thousand plus people. That was quite a big learning curve in terms of realising that it's not just about programming but the logistics of running a festival as well, which takes quite a lot of planning.

Are you involved in any other events?
We just ran the Home Of Metal project which was celebrating Birmingham and the Black Country as the birth place of heavy metal. We’ve just finished a huge series of exhibitions across the Midlands, and looking at the social history of heavy metal and it's birthplace.

Then as Capsule we run a year around programme of events as well. So, we keep ourselves fairly busy.

Do you think the post recession slump has dampened demand for festivals?
I think that it's harder than it ever has been for festivals, but equally it pushes you to think about doing things in innovative ways, and I think the onus also has to be on the audiences. If they want these things to happen, then they have to invest in them and support them. We are as reliant on word of mouth, and support from our audience to keep us going and making sure they buy tickets, otherwise thing like Supersonic and other festivals will just disappear.

What advice would you offer budding festival organisers?
I think there's two ways of doing it. You either have to be totally commercially driven, or you have to be really passionate about it. When you really love it, then I think that shines through, and the audience pick up on it. It's about being driven by what you really love. If you're starting off something small, that's something you remember, because you're not going to be making tonnes of money from it, and you have to must keep in mind why you are doing it.

The 9th Supersonic festival takes place at The Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham from Friday 21st until Sunday 23rd October 2012.

The line-up is as follows:

Friday: A.P.A.T.T., Cloaks, Drumcunt, Mike Watt + The Missingmen, Part Chimp, Scorn, Scotch Egg, Secret Chiefs 3, Slabdragger.

Saturday: Agathe Max, Alexander Tucker, Antilles, Backwards, Bardo Pond, Berg Sans Nipple, Electric Wizard, Klaus Kinski, Kogumaza, Lucky Dragons, Monarch, Mute Synth, Nathan Bell, Orthodox, Pharoah Overlord, Skull Defekts, Teeth Of The Sea, Wolves In The Throne Room, Zombi.

Sunday: Alva Noto, Astro, Barn Owl, Byetone, Circle, Cut Hands, Drunk In Hell, Drum Eyes, Envy, Eternal Tapestry, Fire!, Iconaclass, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Modulate, Ore, Pekko Kappi, Selfless, Silver Apples, Tony Conrad, Turbonegro, White Hills.

Early bird tickets are no longer available. A ticket is priced at £75 for a weekend ticket. Day tickets are now on sale priced at £20 for Friday, and £35 fro Saturday or Sunday. To buy tickets, click here.

The event also offers a programme of films, exhibitions, talks. Whitehouse/Cut Hands front man William Bennett will be giving a talk which will then be followed with a screening of the Vice film. There's a selection of film shorts from Fonal. The Finnish label includes artists Es, Islaja, Lau Nau and Circle, who will be performing at the festival this year.

London based artist and illustrator Conny Prantera will be showing a new piece titled Kore Kosmou, a video installation consisting of photomontage and drawings synced to a series of audio loops and drones. Other screenings include late night horror, programmed by Psychotronic Cinema who will be bringing 'Flesh for Frankenstein' and 'Suspiria'.

Birmingham experimental artists and producers SOUNDkitchen will be in residency at the festival, presenting their 'Cinema for the Ears' plus a concoction of installations and performances in a site-specific immersive sound sculpture. They will also be contributing the sonic element to the Imperfect Cinema performance on Sunday.

The Birmingham Zine Festival have invited some small press publishers to sell their books, comics and zines, alongside an exhibition of zine artwork. Continuing the zine celebrations, there will be a screening of Joe Biel's '$100 and a T-shirt'. Also a panel, From a to Zine, featuring Alex Zamora, Nic Bullen and Charlie Woolley who will discuss the history of zines, their inspirations and how this feeds into modern DIY creativity and publishing.

The festival also offers a programme of workshops.

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