Leeds is an area known for its excellent, up and coming music scene, but it also holds host to a number of music festivals throughout the year. The newest in the running is Kazoopa Festival, to be held on the 26th of November around various venues in the city centre.
The creators of Kazoopa Festival are Chantel Littlewood and Mick Dolman, usually found at a gig in their roles as promotors for their other company, Double Denim Live- so they are no stranger to the Leeds music scene!
They kindly found the time to answer a few questions for The Indiependent about their new venture, Kazoopa Festival.
What’s the story behind Kazoopa Festival and how did it come about?
It’s an idea that we thought about a couple of years ago but felt that we wanted to have more of a standing in Leeds, and i guess the rest of the country. We thought if we could make a good name for ourselves around the UK then we could seriously think about putting the plan into action, and here we are today, talking about the imminent arrival of Kazoopa Fest.
As gig promotors across Manchester and Leeds, how are you finding this new venture?
We are really excited about it, nervous at the same time so i guess its a kind of nervous excitement. We have and still have to, put a lot of hard work into it but we just love putting shows on, whether its in Leeds or Manchester, we get a great sense of achievement when we put a show on and bands from all over the country come and play to new fans, so Kazoopa is going to be an incredible feeling.
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How long has Kazoopa been in the planning and what has it been like to create your own festival?
For about 2 years i’d say, we were sat with our note pads just jotting down ideas on where we hope to see our selves in a couple of years and creating a festival was in the top 5 things we wanted to do. Two years later here we are, planning our first ever festival.
Being known supporters of up and coming bands, how hard was it to decide on Kazoopa’s line up?
Extremely hard, it’s taken a long time to decide on the acts we chose and we know so many bands who we could easily put on there, we could quite easily have the same calibre of bands on a completely different line up, it was that hard.
Being in it’s inaugural year, is Kazoopa Festival something you hope will continue or is this a one off event?
Kazoopa is definitely here to stay, this isn’t a one hit wonder, we are gonna be here for long time and who knows, we might even take it into different cities across the UK, it’s something to look at especially if it’s a success but we definitely wont run before we can walk…
What have you found to be the hardest or most challenging part of organising Kazoopa Festival?
Booking the bands, not bands being awkward or hard to get, just the fact of which bands to ask. We put a couple of posts out on social media and our website asking for volunteers and any media and the response has been phenomenal, so that part wasnt really that difficult. Booking the venues was relatively straight forward, as soon as we told them our plans they were all in, which again, made the process relatively easy. We know we have a lot of challenges to come but we are a good team and will make Kazoopa a regular date in the festival calendar.
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As promotors and festival organisers, what’s the best piece of advice you could give to small bands?
Depends on what level they are at to be fair, for instance if you’re just starting out and haven’t played a proper gig yet, make sure you have a good solid set of 5 or 6 songs, practice at least once or twice a week and just keep going through the set again and again until you think its good enough. When you think the times right, get out there and get as many shows as you can. We have a lot of young bands email us for help and advice on different things which is great and we always have time for them. We manage a great local band called The Barmines, and what you see on stage is what we see in the practice room, if you have that fire in your belly then you’re on the right path.
Anyone who knows about your promotion team, Double Denim Live, knows that you are very hands on with your events, is this DIY ethic something you are trying to instil in Kazoopa Festival as well?
Most definitely yes. Being in the crowd, back stage looking after the bands, helping bands get their gear in and out the venues, thats just us and we wont ever stop doing that.
It definitely feels like there is a ‘scene’ starting at the minute, with the likes of This Feeling helping bands to play festivals across the country. How important do you feel it is for small bands to get opportunities to play festivals like Kazoopa?
Very important, it gives them a stage to play to a crowd they might never have played to before which can only be a good thing. Their are quite a few bands on the line up who we know are yet to play out side of Leeds, or have only played once or twice in a different city so for them to play on different stages to people who have travelled from all over the country, it can only benefit them.
Finally, give us some recommendations of who we should check out at Kazoopa Festival…
Listen, Kazoopa Festival is going to be full of bands we believe are of a very good standard. Of course the headline band “Young Kato” are the main attraction, that’s why they are headlining. There are a lot of good, strong local bands like The Elephant Trees, Kell, The Barmines and Treason Kings. We also have bands from out of town like Lisbon who have just supported Kaiser Chiefs, Hello Operator from York and The Wholls from Bedford. All top bands who have all done great things this year, we would highly recommend you try see as many bands as possible!
Tickets for Kazoopa Festival are available here for £10.