Last week, THE BAMBOOZLE revealed a massive pile of artists performing the three-day festival this spring. In gain to headliners you might expect-like Taking Back Sunday and the Gaslight Anthem-the festival made waves with the announcements of Lil Wayne and Mtley Cre. With plenty more artists still yet to be unveiled, we spoke with festival founder JOHN D`ESPOSITO about the plan for this year.Let`s talk about this year`s lineup.
here`s a lot to speak about. We`re highly excited about it, and there are however a lot of artists left to announce. This year, we had a really clear mind of what we wanted to do. I believe people often forget that we`re in this line to produce new artists and to establish relationships. While some of those other big festivals like Coachella can charge up on the "wow" factor with a lot of the performers they work in, we`re more about developing our own performers from inside and mix them with larger name acts who the fans-and the other bands-probably would never get to see otherwise. We break our bands in a very controlled, very careful way with a method behind it. In days past, we`ve definitely received a lot of buzz for the performers we announce, but this year, the moment we revealed Lil Wayne and Mtley Cre, the reaction blew all the old years out of the water. For us, it`s not about selling tickets or simply creating a card that will fill seats and then filling whatever spots we make in the lineup. It`s about bringing in new new talent and position them alongside major name acts in a way that will best benefit us not so often for this year, but for next year and years down the road. You see at the other headliners we announced: Wiz Khalifa was on last year, and the answer he got was so hard that we knew he was set for a movement to the primary stage. Look at his merch sales from last year-I believe our merch sales for bands has become an incredibly accurate gauge for an artist`s popularity-and he was huge. Putting him on the primary stage this class is a small bit different than our normal career trajectory, but he had the numbers to support it up. Taking Back Sunday are another band who played the primary stage before, but not with their original lineup. The theme of Snow was ever to advance from within. We`re also trying to anticipate what is leaving to be happening months down the road. Back in 2006 or 2007, we could be reactionary to what was popular. But thanks to iTunes and the changing culture, we almost have to be ahead of what`s popular.So when you`re looking for artists, you`re more disposed to take a position with a lot who has played Bamboozle before than one who hasn`t?Absolutely. Of course, we wouldn`t ignore the former band if they make a lot of forward momentum going and they have sense for us. But to us, we`re investing in the future. I can see three or four bands in the center of this year`s bill who could well be main stage bands next year. That`s what this festival is all about.Although you`ve always incorporated different genres of music into the bill, it seems like the centre is getting wider and wider.I believe we ever had a fairly wide focus. Last year, we had Drake [perform] and it was, without a doubt, the most-watched set of the festival. Kids-and bands who were all trying to get space on the position of the stage-knew every word from beginning to finish. It`s not the way it used to be, where different types of music had to be packaged only with similar sorts of artists. The lines are blurred, and all that`s left is what is relevant and what isn`t. Lil Wayne was an obvious choice and, honestly, I don`t think we`ve always had a star so mad and bore to be a percentage of the show. Same with Mtley Cre. That`s a lot who are a big influence on a lot of the bands out there now, and when would they ever be on the same bill? Thanks to Lil Wayne and Mtley Cre and others like them, we got publicity through places we never have before-including hip-hop and classic rock radio stations. We used to have to beg for radio placement. Now it comes to us. Obviously that`s a house we`re doing something right.A lot of fans commented negatively when the Lil Wayne announcement was made. Do you care about losing those kids who think Bamboozle should cling to "the scene"?I`m not disturbed about a few kids who might be upset, and really, if they looking backward at the story of the festival-like last year with Drake-Bamboozle has ever been diverse. We`ve had the B-Boy Stage and the Break ContestStage. And for those who are confused about Mtley Cre: Is that really so different from us having Bret Michaels in 2008? Or a Journey cover band? We never set out to be strictly about "the scene." From the beginning, it`s ever been about breaking new artists of all styles and providing an interesting point that will maintain the audience watching-that way, they occur across their next favorite band, and that band might be the next big thing next year. We "top loaded" this year`s lineup, which way we were able to get some of those big names to headline, but we`re doing it with a fraction of what, say, Coachella or Bonnaroo have. The key for us is making sure every set is an artist we need to get behind. We`re investing in the future.So collecting the card is kind of care a sports team drafting players?That`s actually the better way to put it. You can go out there and sign big name free agents, but for us, it`s almost acquiring these bands into our "farm system" and delivery them up over time. That`s really something we`ll be refocusing on with this year`s Bamboozle Roadshow. Last class was kind of an experiment. We really only wanted it to be a huge party, and with bands like All Time Low, a lot of those sets were incredibly energetic. But we wish to refocus and get to our core goal, which is exposing fans to new music. For the Roadshow, we`ll be going back to the clubs-House Of Blues-sized venues-and we`ll be concentrating on acts who will rise with us.Do you care about news of your artists leaking before your scheduled reveals?It`s something you get to consider about, but we use it to our advantage. We use that info to build suspense for the next batch of bands. We`re very careful when putting together the names we reveal. There are bands who will be a big surprise when we publish the news, but if we had put them in the issue with Lil Wayne, there`s a risk they would have been overlooked.As for the Bamboozle Festival, there are still plenty of reveals to come?I`d say there are nearly 4 or 5 more. Still some reunions and surprises to come, for sure. alt
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