Bestival organiser, Rob Da Bank

Thanks for taking the time out to talk to me, you must be pretty busy getting ready for Bestival 2009?

‘Yup more busy for Camp Bestival at the moment which is only 2 weeks away so making the final preps for that. Then 6 weeks til Bestival..aaarggghh!’

Is this the 4th year for Bestival on the Isle of Wight, and how did you come to choose our little Island as a venue?

‘Its actually gonna be the 6th Bestival! I know, time flies. I come from a little village called Warsash opposite the Isle of Wight so its an area close to my heart and I love the island so it made sense to do it there.’

And it just sems to keep growing, with over 20 headline acts in the line up this year at Bestival. How much involvement do you have in the selection process and which acts are you most looking forward to seeing?

‘There are over 300 acts playing at Bestival which I hand pick myself.. I’m very controlling with the line up for Bestival, its my favourite part of the festival picking bands from Kraftwerk and Massive Attack to little unknown Isle Of Wight atcs. Its a balancing act but really good fun too.’

How many Bestival goers do you expect to play host to in 2009?

‘We’ll be 40,000 strong on site this year!’

The Bestival has always been seen as an environmentally conscious festival what will you be taking into consideration during the weekend event?

‘Well so many things from making sure traders use recyclable materials for us to eat off to recycling all the rubbish we can after the festival, encouraging people to share cars or even better take public transport. It’s hard being on an Island though as obviously we have the ferries which although a fun experience they are arent very environmentally friendly.’

I know that health and safety is really important to you and the Bestival organisers what sort of problems did last years extraordinary weather conditions present for you, and was there a silver lining to the huge black cloud that hung over the site in 2008?

‘Well we kinda got away without any major incidents despite 10 inches of rain in 48 hours. we had less fractures and breakages (legs etc) than the year before and generally it all ran okay. The main problem was keeping the thoroughfares to the main stage open as they were so muddy but we all worked round the clock to keep it all going and really its hats off to our team for keeping it all rolling. we came out fitter and stronger and I just hope we dont get another very wet one!’

I would imagine that security could be a small headache for you not just in looking after artists but also managing drug and alcohol abuse not to mention the world wide problem of terrorism. What sort of security measures are taken at the Bestival?  

‘Luckily the Island police are extremely fastidious about not just security but drugs and crime too so that sort of helps us out in that they already fight half the battle. every festival has drug and alcohol abuse on different scales and we work with them and our public to keep things realisitic and under control.’

What is your favourite part of the weekend and what exciting new additions are you most looking
forward to?

‘I actually love the week long build up to the show when we start from scratch and gradually build this miniature city - Then the gates open and everyone sees what we’ve created. thats magical!’

One of the magical and integral parts of the Bestival is the fancy dress. What was the inspiration for this year?

‘We were just after something that people could bend to their own will.So space has a lot of connotations from physical space, mental space to outer space. we want people to come however they feel, and dressing ups just a part of the festival. Having said that I’m getting my ‘R2D2’ outfit ready!’

Now that I’d like to see! Well you can’t stay here chatting all day so is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers ?

‘Just massive respect to the Island massive for supporting us and having us on their lush Isle - and keep the faith!’

Thanks Rob, not only for your time, but also for bringing us this unique and inspiring event.