News

Beltek Interview

The 6th annual Beltek Festival begins August 1st through the 3rd in Belmont, Maine. Maine’s only electronic music festival features music, art, camping, vendors, fire performers, and a fun environment for you to expand your mind. WPB chats with the organizers to get more info on the upcoming festival.

WPB: When and how did Beltek start?

Beltek: Beltek was started 6 years ago now. It started when different people all had the same idea: throwing a big party in a field that featured only electronic music. We wanted a party that went all night and that was free. At first Rick Kidson, the "owner" of BelTek wasn’t so hot on the idea. But after some time, he decided it was the thing to do and began getting his friends involved to create a lineup, get a tent or two, and get the sound equipment.

WPB: Who are the people behind Beltek?

Beltek: Different people have been involved over the years. The founder and creators are Rick Kidson and Erik Klausmeyer, but there has been tremendous support and assistance from Amanda (Dj Alchera), Dan Woodrow (Dj Seratto), Lester Lacombe (Illogik), and Tom Correy (Dj Mana Fest) over the years. At this point Rick & Erik could be called "co-directors" (though they aren’t too excited about titles), and the original crew is still involved.

WPB: What were the reasons for starting Beltek?

Beltek: BelTek was started for a couple reasons. First and foremost is was the chance for a party featuring electronic music that could go all night long until sunrise. The other really important reason it was started was a chance to create a networking environment for fans, promoters, producers, and the like. In 2003, when the festival was started, there were many different people all working towards similar goals, but without much contact. The festival was a chance for all these different people to come together around one event, and hopefully leave BelTek with several new contacts in their phone and ideas for what could be done during the rest of the year. This has really paid off well, because many promoters and djs around New England have forged bonds that are still strong because of their encounters at BelTek.

WPB: Do you attend any other electronic music festivals for ideas?

Beltek: One of things that has made BelTek08 so much larger and better was Erik Klausmeyer’s trip the Coachella Festival in 2007. Being at this festival gave Erik a vision of what BelTek could be. Granted, Coachella hosts over 200,000 people, far beyond what BelTek could ever hope for, but the multi-dimensional art and music that made Coachella so amazing could be applied to a smaller-scale event like BelTek. His trip out there really created a vision for BelTek.

WPB: What are your favorite kinds of electronic music?

Beltek: Rick’s favorite is hard to pin down. He’s got a huge catalog of music spanning the years, and his favorites include psy-trance, drum n’ bass, and electro house. John B is probably his favorite producer. As for the others in the group, it ranges all over the place. But it’s important to note here that we all make a conscious effort not to let our own personal taste get in the way of an eclectic, diverse event. When we decided the lineup, we made a real effort to have every genre of electronic dance music represented.

WPB: How many people are you expecting this year? / how many came last year?

Beltek: We are expecting well over 1,000 people this year, and are preparing for 2-3000. It’s impossible to know how many will be there, but the buzz and energy surrounding this event is monumental. 1,000 is a very very conservative estimate. If the weather holds out, get ready for 3000. We had about 600 last year, but to put it in perspective, last year we started our myspace page about a month before BelTek, we only printed about 2000 flyers, and no posters. This year we’ve already distributed 5000 flyers, 300 posters, we have BelTekFestival.com, press releases and ads in newspapers, radio stations, television and other community calendars, plus 5 years of solid built-in buzz. We’ve done about 10 times more promotion this year.

WPB: How do you get electricity out there? Do you use generators?

Beltek: Yes we use generators. Rick provides two, and this year Granville Rental in Holden, Maine donated two generators! Wish we could be green, but we need some green to do that. Any volunteers?

WPB: Who runs the sound?

Beltek: The sound has been typically provided by Rick Kidson and his 4800 watt sound system. This year Josh Gates will be providing some reinforcement with his B-52s.

WPB: How many acts asked to play this year?

Beltek: Ha, so many! It was really impressive to see the dozens and dozens of demos and requests to play. I think if we kept a count it would be somewhere on the order of 75-100 folks from all over the country that asked to play.

WPB: How do you decide who will play each year?

Beltek: This year we all sat down and spent several hours deciding the lineup. There were several things we took into consideration. First of all, after 5 years, we wanted to make sure that this year we had at least 50% new people, folks that hadn’t been here in the past. We pretty much hit that number. We almost wanted to make sure that it wasn’t too heavily weighted toward drum n’ bass or trance or any one particular genre. In fact you’ll hear a little bit of everything electronic represented. Lastly we made a serious effort to create a logical flow so that Saturday night things really build and build to a massive crescendo. We’ll see if that’s how it all goes down.

WPB: Will there be any interest in other genres of electronic music (i.e. hip-hop, dubstep, d&b) for future Belteks?

Beltek: Well, we have almost every genre of electronic music represented, except for hip hop and dub. We are always looking to diversify, but we don’t want to stray from the original purpose of creating an electronic music event.

WPB: How is maine’s electronic music scene compared to other places you’ve been?

Beltek: Well we all know that Maine’s scene is much smaller that your average big city, however where many strongholds around the US are declining over the past few years, Maine seems to be on the increase. There’s still a lot of room to grow and thousands of people around the state who haven’t even been made aware of what our scene has to offer. It’s important for all of us to get out there an recruit. We can all expect the usual’s to show up at our events, and we need to support them and keep providing what they expect, but we also need to market ourselves and our scene to the people who aren’t already into it. That’s where the growth comes from.

WPB: Are there any sponsors this year?

Beltek: This year we have sponsorship from the Maine Edge, check them out at themaineedge.com and Granville Rental. We’d love to have more but we didn’t know it would be so easy to get them! Next year we are going to make a serious effort to get much of this 5 figure budget covered by sponsors.

WPB: Have you ever considered electronic gear/software manufactures as sponsors? (i.e, vestax, ableton, yamaha, etc?)

Beltek: Nope, Thanks for the tip though. Wanna contact them for us?????

WPB: Is there any interest in bringing international DJs into the mix eventually?

Beltek: Well, this year we did have DJ Hydrator, of St. Petersburg Russia on the lineup, but he just recently dropped out. And a few years ago we invited Queensyze from Vancouver. However, as many of you know, all of our djs perform pro-bono. So, on the one hand we’ve always considered brining international djs into the mix and we’ve always wanted them, we just never have been able to pay them. The question is, will we get the turnout we need if we charge admission to this event? What’s a fair price?

WPB: Any last words, shout outs?

Beltek: Don’t miss this! It’s going to be massive. It’s a chance to meet like-minded, forward-thinking people, have a blast, and all you have to pay for is gasoline, food and water. Thanks to WPB for asking about our festival. And thanks to everyone who has volunteered their time, money, services, energy, and more. You are all what makes BelTek happen.

for more information on Beltek, visit them online here: www.beltekfestival.com

© 2008 WePushButtons.