The Mullumbimby Music Festival is drawing near. The 22-25th November in fact. So we thought it was a perfect time to chat with Glenn Wright, the festival’s founder…
Glenn, tell us how the Mullum Music Festival came to fruition?
I moved to Mullum in 2002, and although a small hub of activity during the week, it was the ultimate sleepy town at night and on the weekend. It seemed that at 5.30pm weekdays and at 1pm of Saturdays through to Monday at 8.30am the town went to sleep. It was like a ghost town.
There was all this parking and all this infrastructure just sleeping. What amazed me most was the amount of great venues on the same street, Dalley Street. The Civic Hall was closed at the time, but there was still the RSL, The Bowlo, The Drill Hall, The High School Hall and The Courthouse Hotel. When the Civic Hall was reopened it seem the town was crying out for an event.
The festival is now in it’s fifth year, what can one expect from Australia’s ‘Biggest Little Music Festival’?
It’s a family friendly festival with great music and comfortable venues. It’s a laid back weekend all about discovering new music, or re-discovering some of your favourite artists that possibly don’t come up this way too often.
What kind of army do you need behind you to orchestrate a festival like this?
Now into our fifth year our army is mainly volunteers who come back each year to work and also enjoy the festival. Being a festival built around many small venues, each venue has its own team and its own feel. We try and have the same volunteers come back to the same venues each year so there is now a real feeling of camaraderie.
What are some of your personal musical highlights to look out for in this years big event?
I’d say The Abyssinians from Jamaica and Take Something Beautiful, the music of Jesse Younan on the Friday. On Saturday Tinpan Orange and Mama Kin, and on Sunday Gossling and Joe Pug. Ultimately it’s the gigs you didn’t expect to see, the artist you had never head of, or the party you had at one of the venues. Sometimes it’s one of your favourite local groups that often ends up being your personal highlight.
For Tickets and More Information visit the festival website –Â mullummusicfestival.com.auÂ