“We want to put on a great show”: 11 minutes with Laneway Festival co-founder Danny Rogers

So while they were announcing the launch of next year’s Laneway Festival in Singapore, which will feature bands like The Temper Trap, Yeasayers, Foals, Warpaint and Ladyhawke, Laneway co-founder Danny Rogers took a couple of minutes off his schedule to talk to us…

Foals

We’re just want to put on a great show. That’s all I really care about. Of course, we don’t want to lose a tonne of money, but the first year – it’s a process: A two-pronged thing. One, it’s putting on a great show with great amenities that no one has done before – that’s number one. Number two, introducing a lot of bands who may not have a platform here in Singapore, just because their profile isn’t quite as big. And then, that will hopefully create interest in the festival going forward. This is the one that people will say “we were there”.

Ladyhawke

In Sydney and Melbourne we have people who will just buy the tickets regardless. Sydney sold out within the day, and Melbourne was sold out within 24 hours. Adelaide and Perth, too are doing really well. And there’s pockets of towns where you really have to work hard to sell tickets, but they’re all really selling well.

Well, in the bigger cities there’re more kids and more mediums of music media that can introduce the music to the kids. Like (Australian radio station) Triple J is our most important commodity. And Richard, the programmer there, has revamped Triple J in the past five years. He’s a genuine music fan, he’s not a music snob, and he really supports music. And this is a real chance for bands to come here and make an impact.

Warpaint (pic by Mia Kirby)

They’re going to have a whole new territory for them to play shows. We’ve got people in Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan… all reaching out to us, saying things like, “Who’s coming? Can we do some shows with you in China?” There’s even a Facebook page in Japan. It’s great. It’s great for Singapore to showcase itself – this is an awesome city.

It’s just about putting on a show that has people talking about it for a long time. But you can’t run before you walk though. That’s why we only have one stage, that’s why we’re really committed to this. We’re really serious about giving this a real hot go.

!!! (Chk Chk Chk)

So get behind us Singapore, because you’re going get a really significant happening here. We want to make this as big as Sydney and Melbourne. But you’re lucky because we’re seven years in. We’ve made all the mistakes that we can make already. And we’ve learned as we’ve gone. We know what we’re doing. We know what we have to get right.

Yeasayer

Are you ready to be part of the amazing buzz? Tickets are priced at $99.50 (Limited Early Bird Tickets) and $109.50 thereafter and available from Sistic.