Sound Island Festival

Competition winner

The lucky winner of our Sound Island Festival tickets with Hoosiers and Scouting for Girls in the line up was Sula Shepherd.

Behind the scenes

Charlotte and Lauren from the Youth Matter’s editorial board got the chance to go backstage at the Sound Island Festival for a quick chat with Dave Suter, one of the

Festival organisers who had spent months of hard work getting Scouting for Girls, the

Hoosiers and UB40 to play in Thanet, and Rose, sound and lights crew.

We spoke to Dave, the main man behind the festival about how he got into the music

industry:

So how did you get into the business?

I’ve always been into music, but when I worked at Donington Rock Festival I realised that it was what I wanted to do. I organised a few concerts locally but couldn’t make a living so didn’t work in the music industry for 10 years. I had a back injury that meant I went back to college and retrained, after which I volunteered to help with the Cancer Appeal Quex Prom. Where I met my business partner Albie, after 5 years

of hard work it resulted in our first major outdoor concert – Steps at Quex Park, and the rest is history.

You got real lucky there! You said the course was bad, is it still the same today?

Not really, there are still bad courses around, but the training is so much more relevant now than it was back then.

Everyone’s really looking forward to the concert, how long did it take to organise?

We’ve being working on it since November and we’ve been setting up on site for about a week before.

Bet you’ll be relieved when it’s over then! What’s the first thing you’re do?

We have a private party for all those involved to say thank you, and start work on events for next year. We also spoke to Rose, who is just 19, and the only girl on the sound and lighting crew:

So what made you choose this type of work?

Basically I couldn’t play an instrument but I wanted to get into the industry, so I choose sound and lighting and I just love it.

What’s it like then?

Well my first year has been very hard work but I love it, you gotta love it. I travel all the time so it does get hard, but I cope!

Not sure we’d be able to keep up! Does it get sexist, as not many women choose this type of work?

Well it’s very physical and dirty with long hours, so I do get respected for it. Obviously the guys do tease me but it’s not badly sexist.

Your job sounds so exciting, we hope you do well! Thanks for taking time out and we hope to see you next year!