I’ve been to many one day festivals, but few live up to the hype unlike Dot to Dot whenever I’ve been there has been a cacophony of great music and everyone seems to leave their ego’s at home and Today Quenched are joined by Anton from Dot to Dot Festival, thank you for you time today mate you have got some great acts for what will be a great event.

So how did the Dot to Dot Festival first come about and how many years have you run it?

It’s our 3^rd year in Manchester, though we started in Nottingham in 2005. We started it after going to things like SXSW and thinking we should have this kind of party here.

That’s great always been a massive fan of South by SouthWest as it continues to snowball in popularity I hope it doesn’t lose what made it great in the first place

so what is the ethos behind the festival in that are there particular genres the festival is suited to? Well we started out in indie, but we have room for The Internet and Willis Earl Beal as well as previously people like Hurts and Ed Sheeran. So quite a range – really we just look for people doing interesting things.

See that is what I think more festivals should be aiming for, stuff for everyone instead of appealing to the trend that pays, sorry rant over, when picking a band to put on for the festival what do you look for? We want interesting and exciting acts.

Fair enough no one wants to be bored to tears before the day actually kicks off and helps drum up interest, for first timers at Dot to Dot festival what should they expect from the festival?

You’ll have a full day and night of acts to watch, in good venues that are all close together. And turn up early, don’t miss the first few bands – you might see your new favourite!!

Again can’t argue with that can you, with so many other festivals out there, do you ever feel the pressure trying to make yours as different as possible? Wouldn’t try and be different just for the sake of it, just want to focus on making our event as good as possible.

Yeah I guess there is a danger in that adding some concoction of chime music for the sake of it doesn’t really cut the mustard what made you want to put on the Festival again? We got in the habit and just couldn’t stop!

Ha I like that and I hope you carry on this addiction as it has been a part of my summers even while in Nottingham with all the talent you have on show for the festival and the reasonable admission price do you think this could be the future for festivals as so many have quite excessive prices? There’s room for all kinds of events, but we think an affordable way to see new bands is certainly a concept that should succeed for years to come.

I agree with all the sponsorship festivals get well the ones around the world they charge more for the privilege of attending which prices out real music fans and attracts the sort who say ‘I was there and just got pissed!’ sick of them, Thanks again for your time this has been great to learn more about the festival and to finish can I ask what is next for Dot to Dot Festival? Sleep! And then thinking about next year.

Great stuff I look forward to seeing it all unfold

Interview by Danni Skerritt