Ahead of the launch of this years Listen Out parties in Sydney and Perth this weekend that’ll feature a whopping serving of international and Australian talent including Four Tet, Flume, Chet Faker, ZHU and more we chatted with festival organiser Ming Gan on whats been done this year to make it that even better than it’s debut effort last year.

What’s on the cards? Last minute artist business, slight layout change for Sydney, bars and toilets of course, internationals to look out for and the role of the locals at Red Bulls Crate Diggers Stage.

SR:  Thanks for taking some time out to chat Ming, what are some last minute things you guys are working on in the lead up to Listen Out?

 

M: It’s mostly all Artist logistics for me a the moment. Making sure that all the Artists have all the information for their performances, double checking flights, itineraries, riders etc. And also practicing for the massive ping pong matches we’ll be having in each city against artists and patrons.

SR: What’s changed in terms of layout from last year to this year (toilets, bars, sound)? (Sydney)

 

M: We’ve moved all the stages further away from York Road to ensure that the sound can be much louder on the 909 stage compared to last year. We’ve also got distributed sound systems on both stages meaning that the sound can also be louder as speakers are closer to the patrons. There’s also more bars and more toilets through out the site this year.

SR: Which couple of internationals are you especially excited for?

 

M: I’m excited to see all the internationals and locals on the line up. But I think the real surprise act who I’ve heard is amazing live is Young Fathers. They’ve been very much under the radar here but have been shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Prize which is huge deal in the UK. I’m also very interested to see ZHU’s live show… this will be his worldwide debut of his live show and has been shrouded in all sort of secrecy and cloak and dagger… even we don’t know exactly what the show will look like until the day.

SR: The Red Bull ‘Crate Diggers’ stage looks out of control! Which got us thinking, what is the role of locals at the Listen Out parties?

 

M: The role of the locals on the Red Bull ‘Crate Diggers’ stage is to dig into their record crates (for all those young un’s – DJ’s used to play with vinyl on turntables and used to keep all their records in crates!) and play a set with a very specific genre and time period. It’s all about fun and taking people down memory lane. This is pretty much the opposite of what the internationals and major touring locals on the other stages who will generally be playing their own music and all the latest music.

SR: With Melbourne and now Perth sold out, what did you want to say to people who haven’t got a ticket yet?

 

M: Run! Otherwise you’ll be one of the 100’s of people that are posting on our Facebook page and gumtree looking for tickets to buy at double the price.

With Melbourne and Perth SOLD OUT and Sydney and Brisbane not far behind you’d better get a move on in securing one of the last tickets to check out Golden Features, Snakehips, Schoolboy Q and many many more.