kirsty brown says...

Sound Summit returns for the 11th time this year as part of This is Not Art festival, due to hit Newcastle this Thursday. A National Independent Labels Conference turned "multi-faceted festival" cum conference, Sound Summit supports and seeks to promote indie music from around the world. Throughout its years, the event has staged some of the world's notable acts including Anticon, Sage Francis and Lucky Dragons, to name a few. We catch up with Sound Sumit co-director, Kirsty Brown to discuss this year's event.

Covered: Sound Summit festival, the race against time and money, convincing her cat to pose for Cheezburger-style shots and Sydney Festival.

Kluster: Can you describe your role in TiNA? What sort of tasks does that entail?

Kirsty Brown: I co-direct the Sound Summit festival with my 2 other Co-Directors, Chris and Andrew (aka The Dream Team). We basically run the Sound Summit show – everything from curation of the festival, ideas for panels, booking bands, looking after the website and press and then the actual running of the event when it roles around is our job!

K: What attracted you to this role?

KB: I was very attracted to the freedom that Sound Summit as a festival offers – not only do we get to program a great line-up of music, but we can program panels to discuss topics important to us and initiate a wider discussion of issues affecting the way we enjoy, experience and participate in the music industry.

K: Do you need formal training (tertiary education) to do this role or do you just need specific experience?

KB: I believe that each individual is looked at from the perspective of ‘what does their experience and passion bring to the festival’ and so there isn’t a neat set of criteria that must be met to work with us. I know that myself and my two co-directors have very different skill sets, but we come together as a very complimentary team and that has been invaluable.

K: If no one was there to do your job, what would happen?

KB: I think the Zombie Apocaplypse would be neigh.

But realistically, if there was no one to do my job than the festival would be smaller and my co-directors would be much, much more frazzled.

K: What are the advantages and benefits that come with the job?

KB: The challenge is always, always money and time. Trying to get everything you want to happen in a short frame of time and with only a small amount of money to work with is frustrating, but at the same time it is valuable experience. The advantages are getting to work with an incredibly inspiring group of people, working to create something you really believe in and watching it come together.

K: What do you do in ‘real life’?

KB: I was the Managing Editor of The Brag for four years until this year and I dabble in music writing, reviewing as well as creating my own publication and doing freelance work for the likes of QANTAS SOYA Awards and the Big Day Out. Many fingers, many pies.

K: What are you looking forward to most about this year?

KB: I have always visited the festival as a speaker on panels and have never had much time to experience it fully, so although I know I am going to be worked to the bone- I am really looking forward to immersing myself in the atmosphere of TiNA fully. 

K: What would be your dream program headliner?

KB: Erm, Thom Yorke and Johhny Greenwood in a naked piece of performance art playing Kid A in it’s entirety? OK but seriously, I would love Caribou, MF Doom and Flying Lotus to play and for Geoff Barrow, Warren Ellis and Bryan Ferry to sit in on some panels and delight us with their craziness.

K: What advice do you have for people wanting to enter this kind of profession?

KB: Work hard and take every opportunity by the reigns. That might sound simple and obvious- but I’ve been in the music industry for a while now and nobody lasts for very long unless they are committed and willing to do the hard yards.

K: What inspires you most in your work?

KB: I am incredibly inspired by the creativity of others. I find so much pleasure in teasing out the how, what and why of someone else’s work, which I think comes from not having a musical bone in my body – but a strong emotional and logical response to it that makes me want to know everything about how it was created. So I draw on that to create my own work and to share the discovery with others.

K: Aside from work, what do you like to do in your own time? Any hidden talents or hobbies you’d care to share with us?

KB: I can tweet with the best of them (except maybe Kanye, that guy has things down), convince my cat to pose for Cheezburger-style shots and I can cook up a storm. But these things don’t make me exceptional really, it’s my vocal hatred of almost everything that sets me apart. See me if you need a good ranting! 

K: What other festivals do you like going to?

KB: It’s hard to pick a few favourites, but I continue to love Big Day Out for that one magical experience you’re always guaranteed to have – like watching a sea of people revolt to Rage Against The Machine or clutching my hands to my chest while Neil Young went from delicate warble to wailing like a man possessed. But, I think that Sydney Festival is probably my favourite for the outstanding combination of arts and music that is so much more accessible and affordable than at any other time of the year.

K: Where can we find out more?

KB: www.soundsummit.com.au

K: Is there anything you would like to add?

KB: Be there or be square.

this is not art, anticon, sage francis, lucky dragons, kirsty brown, sound summit