Each year you’ve gone from strength to strength…
We said we wanted to do a small, intimate festival, but we’ve actually been thrown by the demand every year. Things have sold out three months in advance all three years, and that’s staggering. Next year we’ll take it up to six or seven thousand and we’ll have to leave it at that, because it has to remain a smaller, boutique festival to keep its soul about it.

Is the site able to accommodate that many people?
We’ll leave the site with the same capacity it has, but we’re looking at another stage just on the coast. We don’t want to flood what we’ve got with extra people, but use a bit more area and do it sensibly. We’re very proud of what’s happening there and getting some crazy accolades; three of the broadsheets have called us one of the top five festivals in the whole world. For a small outfit like ourselves, we’re getting a lot of love and it’s very well received!

Can you give us some insight into the planning of the festival?
As soon as we finish the festival we get together and have a meeting about rough ideas for next year. We have a little break because we’re normally exhausted, but it’s roughly a nine month project every year. In September and October the early bird tickets are going on sale, and we’re booking artists. We’ve been very fortunate that in this year we’ve been approached by a lot of the artists; they’re coming to us. It’s kind of nice to have the recognition from people you respect.

Last year we got to see a bit of the music, which we didn’t get to do the year before. We were literally running around problem solving for a week. On virtually no sleep. There were flights cancelled with two or three acts on; there were storms that blew down the back of the stage – which you don’t expect in Croatia! Fortunately it happened in the morning of the Saturday and we were able to sort things out by the time the sun came out.

Wasn’t Jamie xx on the bill for this year?
We were going to book Jamie xx, and then his career blew up in such a major way that he didn’t have time to come to us this year. He came out to the festival last year as a guest – it was his festival of choice and he loved it so much that he requested to play.

What plans do you have for the future?
We’re going to do a few more tours, and we have a new festival starting in England next year as well. I can’t really say too much about that! You guys are the first to really hear about it, announcements are coming over the next couple of weeks.

Can you tell us what the new festival is about?
I know your readers are going to like it, in terms of the style of music. It’s going to be something special. It’s something that I think people are missing out on here. Watch this space!

London based?
(Laughs) You’re trying aren’t you? It’s easy for people from London to get to. I can’t go further than that; that’s more information than anyone else has got.

What else is on the horizon?
There’s some very exciting stuff happening this autumn. We’ve got the full, live Flying Lotus show at the Roundhouse – that’s going to be fucking insane. The word out of LA is that it’ll be beyond ridiculous. Hip-hop-wise we’ve got DOOM vs. Ghostface at the Roundhouse. I can’t think of a better, bigger hip-hop show that will have ever taken place in London. We’re bringing in some special sound for that – it’s going to sound epic.

Words: Ian Hsieh

Photography: Vent Photo, Dan Medhurst, Relaxmax, Simon Lewis, Kohei Matsuda, Soundcrash photographers

Soundwave is taking place in Petrcane, Croatia from 22nd – 24th July. For more info visit www.soundwavecroatia.com. We’ll be out there covering the festival, check back for a full recap.

For all the latest news from Soundcrash, visit www.soundcrashmusic.com and follow them at www.twitter.com/soundcrashHQ.