Jebediah - one of the acts playing at Blueprint Festival
We interviewed Aaron, one of the organisers of Blueprint Festival, to find out about the festival, why he and a couple of his mates decided to start a music festival, and his big plans for the future.
1. So tell us the story of Blueprint… Who’s idea was it to put on a music festival? Why a music festival? Why Ararat? Why now?
Well its pretty much exactly like the story that’s on our website. Tristan (a friend) and I couldn’t decide which festivals we really wanted to go to and being a student I couldn’t afford most of the ones I wanted to go to and all the multi days seem to sell out these days so half jokingly I turned to Tristan and said “lets run our own festival” and here we are, 18 months later and we are actually doing it!! We decided on Ararat because we happened to know the daughter of the owners of the property and it’s such a magnificent site. Your jaw just drops when you walk into the “crater”, which is a massive hole in the ground about twice the size of the MCG and there’s this amazing green grass covering everything like silk. Why wouldn’t you take an opportunity like that?
2. Where did the name Blueprint come from?
The name came from us talking about putting a plan together for the festival. The thinking was “a blueprint of what the best festival would be”. Just like building a house or a town everything starts with a blueprint!
3. What is the capacity of the festival?
We won’t be selling more than 6,000 tickets because we don’t want to start too big too soon. In regards to the capacity in years to come though, we have hundreds of thousands of acres to play with so how many people can we fit? How about 100,000!
4. Is this the first time you’ve organised an event like this?
This is the first year Blueprint has run but our team is made up of people from some of the best festivals in Australia so with literally decades of experience we are equipped to handle anything.
5. With just over a month to go, how’s it all going? How’s the stress levels? Are you ready to kill each other yet?
Stress levels are high but our team get along really well and work great as a team. We are pumped to show off what Blueprint can really do. And it’s really exciting seeing so much planning come together after so long.
6. What have been some of the challenges with organising an event like this?
Probably trying to ensure everyone is aware that we are trying to be different to everyone else. We are not getting the same big bands or using the same avenues for marketing. We are using our own ideas and it’s hard trying to break the festival mould that people are used to seeing.
7. From what I’ve read, the festival has a bit of a Meredith Music Festival feel to it – rural Victoria, camping, natural amphitheatre, intimate atmosphere. Were you inspired by Meredith?
Meredith is one of the best festivals around and for a festival never have to market and still sell out, is just mind blowing. We were more inspired by festivals in the UK. These events have 100,000 people and they still find room to make sure the little things work for the punter.
8. I’m an avid beer homebrewer, so I’m loving the idea of a beer hall and microbrews on tap. It’s definitely not something you see at most festivals and I love that you are trying something new. Is there anything else you are planning for the festival that’s a little bit special, a little bit different?
Yes we are doing a few things that are a little different. The two main things are the beer hall and you may be interested to know there will be some home brew classes as well. The second thing we are pushing hard is the fact that we have a 400 seat restaurant serving awesome counter style meals at good price. Things like parmas and steaks for around the $20 mark. Something else we wanted to ensure is the fact that our sets for bands are at least an hour long with most headliners doing 75 mins, unlike some other festivals that have only 30 or 45 min sets so they can stuff more bands in. Our punters are paying to see these bands and I know when I go to a festival I hate it when the one band I wanted to go see only plays for 30 minutes.
9. It’s always hard to attract bands when you are a brand new festival. Looking at the line up you’ve managed to score a pretty interesting mix of Australian bands, something for everyone from roots to rock to hip hop and from old skool to up and coming bands. What were you aiming to achieve with the line up? Are you pleased with the line up and how the festival is shaping out music wise?
We didn’t want just hip hop or rock. We wanted an Australian line up that will appeal to everyone. We took some really cool bands that don’t play every music festival and put them onto our line up. We love our line up and we have over 35 bands dropping albums this year playing at Blueprint. Bands like Nation Blue, Red Ink and Hungry Kids of Hungary are going to be a few bands to watch in the next 12 months.
10. Is it cold in Ararat during September? Do I need to pack my beanie and my thermals?
Ararat does get cold at night. But being September it’s really hard to pick the weather. Definitely worth packing your beanie and thermals even if you don’t need them. The best thing to do to keep warm is just to get into the festival and have a great time. Our beer hall and restaurant are going to be heated all weekend so even if it is a bit chilly there is still somewhere to get some relief.
Blueprint Festival promises to be a fun weekend without breaking the bank. What more could you ask for? The festival is happening from 18-21 September in Ararat, Victoria. Tix for the festival will put you back $120 (bargain!).
Line up: Jebediah, The Panics, Blue King Brown, The Beautiful Girls, Tim Rogers, Drapht, Clare Bowditch, Funkoars, Wagons, Ash Grunwald, Resin Dogs, Bertie Blackman, The Galvatrons, Phrase, Shane Nicholson, Old Man River, The Basics, The Boat People, Epicure, Red Ink, Bonjah, Pablo Discobar, The Fauves, Calling All Cars, The Dirty Secrets, The Vandas, Nation Blue, Lowrider, Calerway, Sleep Parade, Hungry Kids Of Hungary, Ryan Meeking and the Few, Matt Joe Gow and the Dead Leaves, The Frowning Clouds, The Hello Morning, Gun Street Girls, The Spazzys, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Labjacd, Husky, Zoophyte, Twelve foot Ninja, Royal Chant, Me, Sierra Fin, The New Black, Matt Katsis, Polygon Palace, Matheson, Shannon Kennedy, Goodbye Motel, Winter Street.