MugStock Festival
By: Sander van den Driesche
MugStock – A Festival of Music & Merriment – will be an intimate event set in a stunning and unique location just outside of Glasgow, from Friday 7th to Sunday 9th August, in a park with two castles and beautiful ancient woodlands. The festival will feature performance, workshops, local musicians and international headliners. Sander van den Driesche asked Festival Director Alan Govan some questions to find out more.
(((o))): Hi Alan, how are you? Can you tell us a bit about yourself please?
Alan: I’m very well thank you. I am a 33 year old male, living in Glasgow. I have brown hair and am currently wearing a red jumper. I have worked for various music related charities, including the last 6 years with Sistema Scotland, a charity which aims to transform the lives of children living in areas of deprivation. I make music under the pseudonym Helmholtz Watson, although strangely I’ve not found much time for that lately. Still worth a wee plug though!
(((o))): What inspired you to start MugStock?
Alan: I have been putting on gigs since I was 15. I grew up in the Scottish Borders, where the only way of getting gigs was to organise them yourself. T in the Park in 1999 was my first festival, and from 2000 I became a Glastonbury regular. A few years later I discovered smaller festivals such as Solfest, Traquair Fair, Knockengorroch and Kelburn Garden Party. The sense of community, safety, and the fact that the tickets were cheaper and the beer invariably better, really appealed to me, and I have been going to far more small festivals than big ones ever since.
I’ve been thinking seriously about starting a festival for many years and I’m always sizing up possible sites. About 5 years ago I was out for a walk in Mugdock Country Park, and being as I am a massive aficionado of the pun I said to my wife Charlotte “We should put on a festival here and call it MugStock”. I have been planning it in my head ever since. In 2014 I decided to go for it properly, and here we are.
One of the things which gave me the confidence to make MugStock a reality was being involved in a couple of significant events through my work for Sistema Scotland. In 2012 I helped oversee the production of the Big Concert, a 7000 capacity open air classical concert, which was televised as the launch event for the London 2012 Olympic festival. Last year I was involved in one of the segments of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. Being passionate about events I have taken the opportunity to soak up as much as I can from these experiences and from all of the amazing people I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years.
(((o))): Some people might think it’s not the best economic climate to start something new like MugStock. Last year a number of festivals didn’t sell enough tickets and didn’t manage to cover their costs and had to cancel, like the whole All Tomorrow’s Parties cancellation for example. Is this something that worries you?
Alan: It would be naive to assume that putting on a new festival will be easy, however whilst some of the larger commercial festivals such as Rockness have struggled, many of the smaller, quirkier events like Kelburn or Doune the Rabbit Hole have been going from strength to strength. In our favour is the fact that we are the closest festival to Glasgow. With 560,000 people it is the 4th largest city in the UK, and culturally is one of the most exciting and vibrant places in the world. We stuck a survey online to see if people were interested in a new festival, and in 4 days we had heard from over 850 people who told us that Yes they were. There’s clearly a demand.
(((o))): You’ve started a fundraising campaign to try and cover the costs. Can you tell us a bit more about this please?
Alan: We are a team of volunteers doing this for the love of it. We won’t make a penny for ourselves. We are running a crowd funding campaign throughout the month of March on Indiegogo.com. The purpose of the campaign is to bring in some money to pay for deposits for stages, tents, lights etc and for headline bands. We are offering extremely discounted tickets – as cheap as £95 for 2 weekend camping tickets, as well as mugs, t-shirts and some unique rewards, such as having your face appear as part of the main stage backdrop, or getting to go to an exclusive gig with Sunday headliners Orkestra Del Sol in Mugdock Castle.
(((o))): How’s the campaign going? Why is it important for people to help you now?
Alan: We’re pleased with the response so far. As of today (14th March) we have achieved 30% of our £5000 target. It is so important that we get support right now, as this will enable us to proceed with confidence. As organisers we are putting every waking moment of our spare time, and our hearts and souls into creating a great event for its own sake. When people donate or buy tickets through the campaign it’s like they are saying “We understand what you are doing and we support it”. It is natural for people to take their time and leave it until the last minute to buy tickets, but by stepping up and contributing early you will be helping make the festival much better. The more money we know we have, the more we can be confident about spending on the best bands, crazy interactive installations, nice, clean and well looked after toilets and beautiful decorations. We are going to do everything we can to make MugStock the incredible event we know it can be, but the scale and impact of the festival is really up to you, the beautiful supporters of MugStock!
(((o))): Let’s talk about the music. Who’s on the lineup so far?
Alan: Having spent the last month focusing on fundraising, site design and production, we are just beginning to get our teeth into programming in a big way. We’ve booked just a handful of acts so far, but hopefully they should give a flavour of what’s in store. Guitarist Preston Reed is widely recognised as one of the greatest players in the world. He pioneered a percussive 2 handed technique, which is mind meltingly wondrous to behold. One of Scotland’s greatest festival bands Orkestra Del Sol will close the festival on Sunday night. Their Balkan infused riotous performances are full of humour, style and virtuosic musicianship and have made them regular favourites at festivals including Glastonbury.
We are bringing up from Norwich a band called Mammal Hands who might be new to many people up here. Go and listen to their album Animalia. They are brilliant. We’ve also just confirmed the sublime Siobhan Wilson (Ella the Bird), fresh from a sold out Celtic Connections show at the Royal Concert Hall. She’s a captivating performer with stunning music. She’s just bloody marvelous. We will also give you an exclusive by announcing that children’s TV star of the 1990s, one man band Mr Boom will join us for 2 performances on Sunday 9th August. He’s coming all the way from the moon, so his expenses alone account for 1567% of our budget at present. Did we mention that we’re crowd funding?
(((o))): Is there a specific focus on a certain musical genre, or are you looking for various bands and artists to play?
Alan: I know that the line-up is extremely important to people and I can’t wait to confirm some more bookings. Musically, we have a policy of “if they can put on a mind blowing show, they are right for MugStock”. I can guarantee that all of the following genres will be represented by people who are at the top of their game: ska, funk, rock, folk, jazz, classical and electronica. We are slowly working our way through the list of over 120 bands and performers who have applied to play at MugStock. The calibre of people who want to play is extremely high.
(((o))): Talking about applying, if any local bands read this, would there still be an opportunity for them to apply for a slot on the festival bill?
Alan: Yes, there’s still time to apply online at our website.
(((o))): “Extraordinary occurrences” – tell me more! What might happen?
Alan: Ahh… well that would be telling. Mugdock Country Park is such a gorgeous and unique site, that we want to make the most of it by making MugStock more than just a music festival. We are rounding up a selection of character performers to walk about the site, creating random interactive performances and unexpected scenes throughout the weekend. We will also be inviting festival goers to join us in a serious attempt to set a silly world record: for the longest conga line made up of people playing a kazoo. One of our favourite things about festivals is how the atmosphere helps people to forget the grind of daily life and work, and enter a parallel universe of possibility. We’re all working our asses off, basically so that lots of nice people can get together and we can all have a laugh.
(((o))): There’s nothing like standing in a field with sustenance for the ears and soul- and also for the stomach- any food and drinkery that we can look forward to?
Alan: We are lucky to have 3 permanent eateries on site, and shall be augmenting these in order to meet demand. We’re most excited about our drinks offering. Williams Brothers Brewery have agreed to stock the bar, meaning that we will be selling some of the best real ale known to man, and for a non-alcoholic refreshment a nice cup of chai shouldn’t be too hard to find.
(((o))): Will there be more info on camping soon?- is it close to the festival grounds for example, and will it be good for kids?
Alan: The main camping areas will be just a couple of hundred yards away from all the entertainment. There will be general camping and family / quiet camping. Both campsites sit in the shadow of the impressive and sadly derelict Craigend Castle. Plans are being invited to develop this lost treasure of Mugdock. Who knows, in a few years time Craigend Castle could be an additional venue for MugStock! For now it’s still a lovely site to wake up to.
(((o))): What other characters are on the MugStock Team?
Alan: We are a currently a core team of 8 volunteers, with over 130 consultants, friends and helpers assisting us in various ways. We are in our 20s, 30s and 40s. We have 4 kids between us (as far as we know), we work in the fields of Engineering, Science Education, Circus, Social Development, Administration and Conference Planning.
(((o))): How can people get involved?
Alan: Buy Tickets, and other rewards through our Indiegogo campaign. It is the single best way of helping us bring MugStock to life and create a festival that we can all enjoy for years to come. Tell your friends about MugStock (not all your friends, just the really nice ones), follow us on Facebook and come and enjoy the festival. For the enterprising / skint there are a few ways of swapping your time, skills and banter for free tickets. We will soon need an elite squadron of volunteers to promote the festival, build the festival and help run the festival. Keep an eye on our website for details.
(((o))): Is there anything else you’d like Echoes and Dust readers to know?
Alan: If you’ve read this far I’m sure you’d like to know a little bit more about the festival. There will be 2 main stages, both of which will be completely covered for the audience, so we are weather proof. There is also a beautiful wee 50 seater theatre on site which will host intimate performances of music, spoken word, interesting talks, films and more. There will be a children’s area, some fabulous stalls and activities, and a wee dance tent. It will be easy to get to, with buses from Glasgow. It’s even possible to walk to the festival via part of the West Highland way.
We’re currently looking into providing a luggage transfer service called MugWalk, which would mean you can drop off your bags at Milngavie train station, enjoy a stunning walk (perhaps with a few festive suprises along the way), and find all your camping gear waiting for you at the gate of the campsite when you arrive. If you think this is a good idea, please send us an e-mail to hi@mugstock.org including the words “That MugWalk luggage transfer thingy sounds like a jolly good idea”. We’re also happy to answer any questions you might have about the festival! Thanks so much, and see you in August! Alan
Go to the link here for the Indiegogo.com crowd funding campaign!
Photos by Stuart Crawford.
