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home » festivals » Bearded Theory » Bearded Theory 2009
Bearded Theory's Richard Bryantalks to eFestivals about his festivalMonday 16th February 2009 First off, for those who don't know the Bearded Theory festival, how would you describe it? I think we are officially the biggest Bearded fancy dress party in the UK, not that we have much competition in this area.
We try to capture the small bit of randomness you see at other festivals and create a festival full of it. We are not a fashionable event and we don’t try to be. The event is not run to make money, we run it for the love of the festival community and to try and give something back. All the money we do make is given away to charity. This year it's Shelter and Padley Homeless Centre. Last year was the first year of the festival. How did it all come about? Basically from a Birthday party I had in May 07 where I had a handful of singers and a band play and some good friends turned up and we camped in a field after. We thought afterwards about it and thought maybe we could do something similar but raise money for charity. With the hindsight of a good 8 months now since the first festival, what were the strengths and weaknesses? We had a couple of ups and downs on our way and we are still learning all the time. Last May we did everything in house and it paid dividends as we were in full control. In October (for the We Started It, Let's Finish It all-night gig in Derby) we took our foot off the gas as we were shattered from the May event, we used a proper box office for tickets, a promotion agency and listened to the wrong people regarding pricing. That event failed because we farmed the workload out and because the price was too high. We learnt from it and invested in better equipment so we could do everything in-house. I sat down and put my own marketing plan in place – this paid dividends and we have been in 8 regional newspapers, 2 local TV shows, 3 radio interviews and 2 national magazines. I never want to think I could have done more again and never want to let people down again. Those that went were, in general, full of praise for the event. What aspects are you keeping in place? Last year was special because of the people that came and the ethos surrounding the event such as the price. This year hopefully the same people will come back and we still offer good value for money and the ethos is still there. Conversely, what's new that's really exciting you? The dance stage this year is amazing and not a run-of-the-mill dance line up. Having a proper main stage and not having to make it out of pallets is very exciting as well!! How much of a change will the new site be for punters? It's better all round, the site is flat, all the space is usable and we have a small wooded area for the children. The capacity's increasing to what this year? And how did you come to that figure? 1,500 tickets are on sale. The reason for this amount is because we can offer everything we wanted to if we sold this level of tickets. However we have not been stupid and we can scale the event down if we had to without losing the magic of the event. For those that are thinking of snapping up the remaining tickets, what can you offer in terms of: Family entertainment – The area is being made huge and we have invested a lot of time and money to get this right. We want to offer the best, not to win an award but to offer children a life changing experience away from a computer screen. Adult entertainment – We have our very own Beard Parlour this year, where you can get your beard styled and dyed. Medieval living camp is a camp by a re-enactment society who will show people how they lived in the medieval era; they will live like this for the entire weekend, along with a few reenactments and courses. Plus there'll be loads of workshops, and 5 stages of amazing music. Night-owls – A very late night/early morning campfire stage with music and comedy, dance tent open until 2am and Scouse and J will do you a lap dance if you are getting desperate. Food & drink – Good beer (real ales/ciders) at very cheap prices with not a Vodka Kick in sight. We hand-picked traders to offer good value for money and the beer tent is being run by an old friend. Food-wise it's still being put together. We have Malinkeys who are a 1920s themed restaurant in an amazing vehicle that you can sit in, we have the usual hot-dog stands, and a veggie restaurant. This is still ad-hoc and things will be added all the time to offer a good selection but also to allow fair competition for traders. Transportation – Road access is brilliant, we offer a lift share initiative on our own forum and we have shuttle buses to the festival from Belper Train Station. Camping – It’s flat and we can guarantee if it doesn't rain it wont be muddy. Disability facilities – We are trying our best on this one. We offer a managed disabled area, disabled parking, and a viewing platform. We'll assemble tents if assistance is needed, and will basically look after people until they go home or get bladdered. Value for Money – We try to offer good value, through the cheap ticket prices of £45, and not charging for children activities. We want to continue to allow everyone to access the event and try our best not to price people out of it. Environmental factors – We have a large recycling project and our new litter chief Jeff has a team to go through all rubbish bags to see what can be recycled. Security – Our security are friendly, have been festival goers, and are the nicest people to have at such a chilled out affair. What ways are there for people to get involved before the actual festival? All our pre-festival planning meetings are open door and are advertised on forums. Failing that go onto efests and start suggesting things as we do act on them.
It's amazing. 95% of all the acts were requested by the people on our forum and festival forums, they have done a great job and should be proud of themselves. Anyone being kept under wraps at this stage? Yes well kind of under wraps ha ha. A band in my opinion that reflects the people that attend the festival. What are the festival's unique points? So many festivals don't have corporate branding nowadays which is great but we want to have a meaning as well as that. We are a festival for the people and run by the people. The festival tries to move mountains by involving and giving access to people that maybe would not have the option of attending festivals. In 2009 we are inviting people from the homeless community to help steward the event who in turn will be fed, given accommodation and spending money. Once they have completed their shifts we will write them a reference in the hope this will help them find work and get them back on their feet. What's been the hardest aspect of it all? The worry of letting people down I think What are your favourite memories of last year's event? 500 people rammed in a gazebo, in fancy dress beards going mad to Dreadzone. That and someone molesting an Ostrich with a Kazoo. With all the money and persuasive powers in the world, who would you personally line up as headliners in 2010? I love this question. Bruce Springsteen, Credence ClearWater Revival, and Hawkwind. As there's less money around overall with the credit crunch, what impact are you anticipating for your festival and festivals in general? We are doing well out of it as people are choosing us as we are a bargain event with a good line-up. Festivals will struggle this year as a whole but the thing that annoys me is that people think well I can’t spend £160 to go to Glastonbury so I won’t go to any festival at all. They should be thinking well I cannot afford £160 but I can afford £60 and go to a festival for that value as it will still be amazing.
Agents for bands all piss off to the North Pole and life would be so much easier! Also I have always wanted to get the people that attend the large corporate money-making festivals that are sponsored by alcho pops and to send them to a smaller festival without the corporate crap and say here you are this is a festival, this is what the word festival means. Money might buy the best bands in the world but money cannot buy an atmosphere, not like the one Bearded Theory 2008 had. Amen to that. Any final comments about this year's fest? The festival has expanded organically and we have had some of the best sales this week in February. The festival has added things you would not normally expect at a festival, such as the medieval living camp that celebrates the history of life and not the politics of it. I am also very pleased we have a Dub/Reggae tent which is being run by the brilliant Axis SoundSystem who have quite a name for themselves. The line up for this area will be released very soon. Thanks for your time Rich. interview by Clive Hoadley |
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