Ben and his friends run the Secret Island festival on Mersea Island in Essex. An independent music festival - previous headliners have been Mike Skinner from The Streets, Orbital, and Faithless. Ben’s Dad was an oysterman, his brother is an oysterman, he’s about as Mersea Island as you can get! Seagull chat. Ben looks about 95% the same as Nick, it’s like looking in a mirror - WEIRD! Big up Ray Keith and all the drum and bass legends. Ben grew up listening to tapes of raves, jungle and then drum and bass, before putting on his own raves. Breaking news: turns out Nick was at Ben’s very first rave in a barn near Tiptree. Then Ben’s crew moved their all-nighter parties to the Youth Camp in East Mersea - all thanks to supportive adult youth club leaders - big up the Powells! Ultrafunkula (their promotions) spread out to Colchester and London. Teaching the next generation how to run events and specific roles - from lighting, infrastructure, management, set-up, sound, logistics, planning. Secret Island started when Ben and his partners started putting on events again after a long break of nothing, and they started selling out and getting bigger from 250 to over 2000 people now. A local farmer had financial ambitions to run an event on their land, so they took on the location. The site is beautiful, overlooking The Strood and the water, the rolling fields, and amazing sunsets. The first event happened 2 weeks after COVID lockdown and the crowd were up for music and partying - the bar was drunk dry by 4pm! Big up Honkus Rompus - best name ever. AJ from Three Wise Monkeys is helping the festival expand and program their live music stage. Big up Frank Turner, big up The Meffs, big up Bridget., big up Monster Florence - so much amazing local talent. The importance of local promoters and their curational tastes. Would the bass from the Valve Soundsystem make oysters more muscular? Bass so big that you can’t roll a rolly. Cocaine shrimp! Running festivals is TOUGH, so many festivals drop off the radar. How do you manage it financially? Making it work on a budget and cutting elements you don’t need. DJ prices! Islands of Essex. How did it feel to warm up the crowd before Mike Skinner? How to get involved with the festival - give Ben a shout or send him a mixtape.

Ben Wass DJ

Secret Island Festival

Are You Creative? recorded by Adam at Lawker Media, Chelmsford, ESSEX
Edited by Nick Hearne
Artwork by Alpaca Antenna

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