Interview with Richie McNeill direct from Stereosonic HQ
Cyclone caught up with Richie McNeill, head honcho of Totem Onelove and recent winner of the “Lifetime Achievment Award” at the ITM awards
http://www.inthemix.com.au/awards/2011/results/lifetime/ to discuss all things Stereosonic and an in-depth take on the lineup.
“That’s really tough!” Stereosonic promoter Richie McNeill is attempting to nominate just three highlights from the now national dance festival since 2007. Trentemøller at the inaugural Stereosonic in Melbourne was one, the Dane slowly building up his live show from ambient to panoramic emotronica. “By the end of it, he had the whole main arena in the palm of his hand,” Richie enthuses. He’d later use photos of Trentemøller’s frenzied crowd (some 14, 000) to persuade agents to let him book other artists. Then there was the iconic minimal DJ Ricardo Villalobos, whom Richie finally convinced to tour in 2010. And last year Richie, “an old trancehead”, revelled in Tiësto’s surprisingly deep headline set, loving it when he dropped a haunting remix of Editors’ Papillon. Indeed, Richie may be a Director of the Totem Onelove Group, but the Melbourne DJ/promoter expresses a teenage nerd’s zeal – only with better anecdotes.
Now in its fifth year, Stereosonic recently blitzed the InTheMix Awards, winning ‘Favourite Festival’ for Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia (and runner-up in Queensland and New South Wales). The festival’s roots lie in club culture. Richie, who himself just received InTheMix’s Lifetime Achievement Award, developed Stereosonic with the players behind the Onelove nightclub (and label) brand. Richie was promoting parties as an adolescent. At 19 he presided over the dance division of Mushroom Records. He’d found Hardware Corporation, touring the seminal DJs Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin and Paul van Dyk. Hardware teamed with Future Entertainment to launch Two Tribes, among the country’s first homegrown mega-festivals. Nevertheless, in 2006 Richie realised that he wanted to move in a different direction – and so he pulled out of Two Tribes, which subsequently morphed into the Future Music Festival.
Richie pitched a fresh concept to Onelove’s Frank Cotela, Peter Raff and Dror Erez. He and his Totem partner Simon Coyle started to assemble the first Stereosonic line-up with names like the then hot Armand van Helden. The fledgling Totem Onelove Group boldly decided to mount Stereosonic at the onset of summer in Melbourne, around when students finish their exams. “It was really successful – and I guess that shook the country a little bit,” Richie recalls. The Totem Onelove Group were soon approached by promoters across the country hoping to franchise Stereosonic. The following year it travelled to Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, the latter still a key market. However, the crew elected to stage “satellite shows” only in Sydney, being unsure how Stereosonic would go at the colossal Showground. These boutique events proved a hit and so in 2009 Stereosonic descended on Sydney. “It’s just been growing massively since then – and now it’s the biggest dance music festival in Australia, which is really exciting,” Richie says. “And we’re not having to resort to doing urban or R&B or hip-hop or rock or anything at this point to get our numbers. We’re sticking to a dance/electronic kinda format – and it’s working really well.”
This year Stereosonic is back with its most diverse bill yet – it has everything from electro-pop and power-trance to cutting-edge dubstep. Headlining is the Dutch superstar Armin van Buuren, voted DJ Mag’s global No. 1 for the past four years and Australia’s favourite International DJ at the InTheMix Awards. The crossover phenomenon that is LMFAO will no doubt celebrate their enduring Aussie No. 1 Party Rock Anthem. That BBC Radio 1 über tastemaker DJ Annie Mac is coming. Plus there are old favourites – Carl Cox, Andy C and Crookers. Even hipsters will be content: Stereosonic 2011 has scored bloggable acts such as The Gaslamp Killer, The 2 Bears and Lucy Love. And, with dance music increasingly international, Stereosonic’s talent hails from everywhere. (Curious to hear some Russian trance? Check out Moscow’s Arty, as championed by Ferry Corsten.)
Richie isn’t just an expert curator – he’s also a walking, talking festival guide. This year he’s especially amped about Colorado’s Pretty Lights, who’s attracted a cult following by giving away his sample-based music digitally. “He’s the new Girl Talk. He’s quite massive in the States, but nobody here really knows him.” Pretty Lights’ party-themed live sets combine retro pop, hip-hop and electro. Richie rhapsodises about Hungary’s Myon & Shane 54. “They’re like the 2ManyDJs of trance!” Another Stereosonic tip? Rising Dutch progressive trancer Dash Berlin, No. 15 in 2010′s DJ Mag poll.
Richie is patriotic, too. He’s chuffed to have PNAU joining Stereosonic 2011, the Sydney outfit resurfacing with Soft Universe. “PNAU are probably my favourite Australian act. They’re not the biggest selling act like The Presets and stuff, but they’re always pushing the envelope – every album’s a different direction… I think they’re one of the most underrated acts in Australia.” Richie and Frank were determined to nab Empire Of The Sun – likewise involving PNAU’s Nick Littlemore – after catching them at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival. “It was seeing them in America, funnily enough, that made us go, ‘We’ve gotta get these guys for Oz!’ We’re just massive fans.”
Of course, Richie has his own old faves, like Germany’s Zombie Nation, with more to offer than the ’90s electroclash anthem Kernkaft 400. “I still think he’s one of the most underrated techno producers of all time,” he sighs. “I remember when he came and played for me once for New Year’s Day at Sunshine People. He’d bought this really old analog Oberheim synth on eBay that I went and picked up for him out in the middle of wop wops in [the outer Melbourne suburb of] Brunswick. He’s just such an analog machine head, one of the true techno guys left who’s not writing all this stuff on a computer – and his sounds are just so fat. He’s so talented.” Richie has long supported the eccentric New Yorker Drop The Lime, who’s bringing a band to Stereosonic to perform… rockabilly-inflected bass and house music.
Mind, it’s not all about what Richie digs. The Totem Onelove Group’s 15 staff members all have input into the Stereosonic bill, from Marketing Manager John Curtin to their receptionist. Collective research is important. It’s no “ego-based organisation.” But they are passionate about their music – and prepared to battle. “There’s a lot of arguing that goes on,” Richie says laconically. Frank, with his love of the outlandish, is apparently crazy about London garage kids The 2 Bears. “That’s one of the guys from Hot Chip [Joe Goddard]. They’ve got a really interesting sound. They dress up in bear costumes and they throw a really amazing show.” Richie’s assistant Damien Kease seized on Belgium’s Peter van Hoesen, an exponent of nu-techno.
Richie acknowledges that the Stereosonic 2011 roster is “a bit all over the shop,” but then so is contemporary electronic dance. He’s ever conscious of what punters want. Still, dance festival types should both present popular acts and “take some punts” on underground ones so as to “educate” crowds and expose them to tomorrow’s hot properties first. This is as much about stimulating the scene as ensuring a festival’s “longevity”. It’s easy to book crowd-pleasers. But, as Richie playfully puts it, don’t “sell your arse.” “We’re promoters – we’re an integral part of that whole worldwide channel to promote new artists. So you can’t just give everybody things that they wanna see – you’ve gotta bring fresh stuff out that people haven’t seen as well, or they might have only seen once or twice on a small [club] tour… If music is to evolve, and new artists are to come through, then you’ve got to promote that stuff.”
Cyclone