Only a few minutes outside of Cape Town, the beautiful seaside Silwerstroom Resort will again play host to one of South Africa’s coolest music festivals. This year sees the 3rd installment of Endless Daze Festival taking place from 2-4 November 2018. Here’s what the organisers have to say about the festival and how it all started.
Could you take us through the formation process of Psych Night – and what sparked the Endless Daze initiative?
Psych Night started in 2012 with a desire to throw the kinds of parties that we wanted to go to, with attention paid to all aspects of the events – the lineup flow, the lighting, the poster art etc.
There’s a great, natural symbiosis between the five of us that made it possible to do things properly ourselves. At first at least.
The idea of an outdoor festival was always on the cards, since those early days.
By 2016 we’d done various shows and tours with local and international acts and it felt like the right time to try something new.
Vans were moving away from another festival and wanted to do something of their own, so the timing was perfect.
Could you briefly take us through the highs and lows of putting a small-scale festival together?
That ties into what I said about throwing the kinds of events that we want to attend. We like intimate affairs. It’s also why we starting booking international acts in clubs. We felt that the only time SA crowds got to see any half-decent bands from across the pond was at large scale festivals. So when it came time to do the festival it was important to us to keep that sense of intimacy, something I think we have achieved. That would be a definite high.
Another high is that we’re not trying to please the masses or sell 20 000 tickets, so we never have to compromise our vision or music choice.
It’s hard work and money is always stressful but I wouldn’t call that a low, it’s just the nature of the beast.
Could you give festival goers a short list of do’s and don’ts, that aren’t necessarily outlined in the festival’s “rules and regulations”, as well as some recommendations?
As organisers, we do as much as we can to create an environment for everyone to have a good time but at the end of the day, it’s the people that make or break it.
Be kind to each other and yourself. That’s absolutely the most important thing. We also compiled a list (with The Beach Co-op) of how to be more eco-conscious at the festival which you can view here.
While hosting international artists, I’m sure you have encountered some strange requests? If so, would you care to reveal?
White socks on a rider do not mean actual white socks.
And any campsite weirdness? What have been some of the strangest sightings or stories you have encountered and/or heard?
Stu and André from Retro Dizzy roaming around in robes playing the lute at 9AM was quite a strange site. But also kind of normal coming from them. God, those guys are great.
It seems as if you have kept the ecological/environmental aspect of hosting a festival in mind. Apart from recycling, how can one create an eco-friendly festival set up?
We’ll be introducing a cup deposit this year to encourage attendees to reuse them.
The carpool levee encourages fewer vehicles traveling to the festival.
We’re also having a big beach clean up on the Saturday morning at 8am. Trash can be exchanged for various VANS merchandise.
Which international acts would be on your headlining wish list?
André: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Simon: BRMC
Raoul: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Micah: Spiritualized
Mark: The Black Angels
For more information regarding the festival click here – http://bit.do/ezhGf