Andre Hillas doesn’t look like someone who runs a music festival. He’s got this endearingly boyish haircut and a string of light freckles across his nose that recalls images of a youngin’s first day at school. He’s certainly not the coked up, trucker hat wearing moron I had imagined a festival organiser to be. I make a lot of superficial, appearance based judgements on people I don’t know, but if I were to see Andre in the street, I’d probably give him the thumbs up.
We met last week in a North Melbourne cafe to chat about Andre’s first solo venture into the world of music festivals. He was in the team who put together Melbourne indie phenomenon Inca Roads. This year, however, Hillas has gone solo, pulling names like Elizabeth Rose and Glass Towers to help him debut “Paradise Music Festival” in the picturesque Lake Mountain, country Victoria.
So you’re like, 23 right?
Yeah.
And you run a music festival? What the fuck? How?
Well, a lot of spreadsheets I suppose. A lot and a lot of Excel spreadsheets. Oh, and “to do” lists. My life is basically one neverending “to do” list. It also takes time. I spend over 50 hours a week organising things.
Is that all you do? Are you working as well?
Yeah, I also work full time as labourer. I work in a warehouse not far from here actually.
Shit, that’s a full schedule, but I guess you have to fund the festival somehow…
Yeah, I’m basically bankrolling the festival moment out of my own pocket. The main source of income for the festival is ticket sales though, obviously.
But how do you get money to pay the bands before hand? Or is all the invoicing done after the festival is over?
The bands work on a 50/50 pay schedule. So we pay them half before, and then the other half after they’ve played.
Oh cool, I always wondered that but I never knew. You must be pretty connected to the Melbourne music scene hey?
Well, yes,you’ve gotta be when running a music festival! A lot of the bands and acts playing are local talents, so I’ve seen most of them at least once before and have met most of them as well. That said, booking bands is a fairly straightforward process. You contact them, gauge their interest, see if they’re available, figure out a price and take it from there.
Surely there must be more to it than that?
Of course, there’s a bit of negotiation around branding and making sure that our audiences are the same. It’s sort of like shopping for a cup, but from a really proud cup maker. They’ll sell it to you, but only under the condition that it gets a really good spot on the shelf. The real challenge though is just putting yourself out there. I’m reminded by that a lot working with people in music, if you put yourself out there and just do it, regardless of what you interpret “it” to be, things will happen.
I think it’s a rarity in Gen-Y. There’s always a lot of talk, but you don’t come across people taking the plunge very often.
No, I totally get that! You’ll meet someone who wants to start “a thing”, be it a small business, artistic endeavour, whatever! Then you see them six months later and ask them how it’s coming along and they say things like “oh, yeah we’ve got big plans and have figured out some stuff, but we haven’t started doing anything about it yet…” and radda radda carry on.
We better not slam these lazy Gen-Y fuckers too hard, they’ll be the one’s populating Paradise right?
(Laughs), at least we’re hoping so. It’s a lot to ask sometime to commit a whole weekend to an event that you’re organising, so I feel pretty special everytime I check the ticket sales and see them going up.
What are the types of people one can expect to see at the festival? Be as stereotypical as you like.
We’re trying to steer clear of the whole “hippies for the weekend” vibe. I think we can all say that we’re pretty over people who think that camping in a tent gives you a magical ability to wear bindis and Lana Del Rey head flower pieces without looking like a douchebag. The team I’ve got organising it are all proud of their urban heritage, and we’re trying to reflect that in the set up of the festival. The festival aims to bring the city-dweller’s experience to the alpine setting. We’re even turning one of the buildings on site into a nightclub. The festival itself is located at a ski-resort (note: it will be off season), so the facilities are actually all pretty nice. I mean, who wants to shit in a port-o-loo and not shower for three days? Is that how we define an “authentic festival experience” now? I say enjoy the clean toilets, enjoy the showers, enjoy shelter, enjoy running water! The mentality is this: we are kids from the city, but we’re just going to party in the country, because it’s pretty.
And who’ll be joining you this year?
I’m really proud of the line up. There’s a nice mix of local talent mixed with some bigger names – it’s like, Elizabeth Rose and Dark Arts one night, and then Glass Towers and I’lls the next.
Did you have a few knock backs when you were putting the line up together?
Of course we did and that’s always hard.
Is it difficult a young man in an experience based game? Do you think people see you as less credible because of your age?
It’s a mixed bag. Most people are actually pretty cool. My age or experience isn’t relative. I think it’s generally because young people are the one’s doing cool shit. The only time I feel patronised or like I’m not being taken seriously is usually by bigger institutions. Banks and other adults who think it’s “cute” that you and a couple of friends are having a camp out with a lone amplifier. That can be pretty frustrating, particularly when you’re working 50+ hours a week to pull something together.
What do your parents think? Are they supportive of your festival endeavors?
Yeah, they’re really supportive actually. They’re even coming to the festival! I’ve given them a job at the information desk.
It must be strange for them to have watched you develop into this role. How did you start out anyway? Where did “Paradise Music Festival” get it’s beginnings?
Two years ago my friends and I started a Facebook event for a quiet party on my friend’s farm. We called it ‘Inca Roads’ and about 150 people showed up. The following year, we decided to develop it into a festival and pulled 400 attendees. I wanted to do my own thing this year though, so yeah. Paradise Music Festival.
What about before Inca Roads? Did you march out of the womb and start organising drunken get togethers for your toddler companions?
Not quite. I studied Fine Arts at VCA, and then went on to do honours.
Weird. I wouldn’t have thought a course like that would give you the skill set to organise something on the same scale as a music festival?
Mmm, but it kind of did. My passion for time organisation and the sense of satisfaction I get from completing a check-list isn’t something that any University could teach you. What VCA did do for me, was instill a passion for creating a space that others interact with. In my third year, I made an installation and built an entire beach. When I did my honours, I did a similar thing, but created a nightclub instead. It was designed to critique mainstream nightclub culture, so I just had tracks like “Bonkers” by Dizzee Rascal and “We Found Love” by Calvin Harris on repeat. I got such a kick out of taking a back seat when it’s all done and watching people interact with this thing that you’ve created. Especially if they’re having fun. “Creating a good time” sounds cliche and lame, but when you’ve worked so hard on developing the parameters of a project, standing back and watching it all unfold is such a rewarding experience.
Is there an element of megalomania there? If you organise enough festivals do you just end up turning into a massive dick?
(laughs) Well it’s possible, but I think it’s fair to say that when it’s 5am, the sun’s coming up and everyone is dancing because of your hard work, you’re entitled to a little smile.
You’re a cool dude André, thanks for talking to me.
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Paradise Music Festival runs from 29th Nov – 1st Dec. Tickets are available here.
Henry Boles is a freelancer writer whose socks have lots of holes in them. He is also the recently appointed editor of upcoming Melbourne writers site What We Wrote
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