Interview: ZeRo – SalFest

This weekend a three day festival will take place at one of Nottingham’s oldest and most popular venues, featuring some of the best bands in the city and all to raise money for a fantastic cause.

SalFest is a new festival kicking off this Friday at The Sal which is aiming to raise money for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, a charity that was set up by the mother of Sophie Lancaster, who tragically died back in 2007 after she and her partner Rob were attacked by in a park simply for how they dressed. The charity focuses on raising awareness over hate crimes and also creating respect and understanding of subcultures within communities.

Sunday, the final day of the festival, will also be the seventh anniversary of Sophie’s death.

The festival has been put together by ZeRo, better known to most as the front man of Nottingham metal act Section Nineteen, and a promoter at The Sal, and we decided to have a chat with him to find out more about how the festival came to be and what he has lined up.

So the first thing we wanted to know is where the idea for SalFest came from?

“That’s a very good question” ZeRo responds, contemplating his answer, “Back in Easter I wanted to find out whether we could put an all dayer on at a small pub like The Sal and if people would come out to it. I put on an event called EggFest where we put on a host of bands, and they were all different types of bands, not just metal.”

The success of EggFest left ZeRo wanting to do more.

“I thought, we have this bank holiday coming up in August and I wanted to put another festival on. Somebody else then suggested why not do it for charity.”

So with the idea in place to do a charity festival why the Sophie Lancaster Foundation? Well it seems that ZeRo’s own experiences growing up mean that this is a charity he can fully relate to:

“As a victim of being bullied all my school life for being alternative, I’m short with a Mohawk, it’s a charity that I, and indeed many people from the alternative scene can relate to, and of course it raises awareness for the charity” 

Initially the plan was for a small all-day festival but over time the event grew.

“It was going to be a one day event, but I started looking at all the best bands I had seen in Nottingham and it grew from there. Eventually I decided I wanted to compile a three day festival featuring similar types of bands. Therefore if people are unable to attend one day they can still come along on one of the others”

The line up features some of the best bands in the city, with the likes of Spirytus and Dick Venom & The Terrortones among the line up, bands known for their great live performances, something that was an important part of the reasoning in the bands chosen to play.

“I wanted bands that actually put on a show rather than just play a gig” ZeRo tells us

“For example, one day one we have Skeleton Crew headlining and they always bring a great crowd, they’re a fantastic live act. We also have Cadence Noir who’ve just done Bloodstock and, again, they’re a band that needs to be seen”.

The process of putting on a festival can be pretty stressful, fortunately for ZeRo his history with the music scene in the city has made things easier.

“I’ve worked with all the bands before which helps, in fact we’ve even had emails from bands asking to play the event but we’ve had to turn them down due to space and time slots.”

Nottingham’s music scene is, it seems, on a real upward curve at the moment, does that make putting on something like this easier?

“I think it’s always been there, the problem, that I have found, is that there is maybe just to much choice. You have so many venues in Nottingham, which is great, but what you get is the same bands playing every week”.

Over playing is something that ZeRo believes it is quite important to keep a watch on and something he has mentioned to those playing SalFest.

“I say to the bands not to overplay to your home fans. If you overplay you’re stuffed. Go outside of the area, play other times, otherwise people will just get bored with it”.

And it’s not a case of “Do as I say” when it comes to overplaying.

“With Section Nineteen we only ever play about three gigs a year in Nottingham. That way it becomes a special event rather than people thinking that they can just catch us next time”.

There is no set entry for the event with it being totally on donation, though there is a suggested donation of £5, there are also other plans in motion to help raise extra money for the charity.

“We  have t-shirts with all the bands on, they’ll be on sale for a tenner with the money going directly to the charity, also one of the doormen, Simon Proctor, will be shaving off his beard so we’ll be sending round buckets to collect for that”

SalFest is looking like being a cracking event, with a fantastic line up over the three days, and here is hoping it raises a great amount for a fantastic charity.

Hopefully as many as possible will be able to make it down to at least one of the three days, you will not be disappointed. If you are going down let us know when and who you’re looking forward to seeing most.

SalFest is at The Sal from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 August, entry is by donation (suggested donation £5). For the full line up check out the official Facebook page.

For more on the Sophie Lancaster Foundation click here

Interview by Geri Patterson