Surviving the Highs and Lows of Running a Festival with Steve Butcher

[00:00:00] Steve: Our very first festival at the time, Little Mix were riding a very, very big wave, and we were fortunate enough to have them headline on the Friday. Was that a happy accident, or? Through my production company, we were working with Carphone Warehouse. They were at the time sponsors of The X Factor, and we were involved in a number of projects with them.

And one particular event at a Carphone Warehouse store in Covent Garden, we were working with The X Factor final five. So I got to know the girls, I got to know some of the management, et cetera, et cetera. And weirdly, the artist that we were going for, and a lot of people will remember this, was a chap called James Arthur. That didn’t quite work out for us, but we got Little Mix, and I think actually it was the best decision we made.

[00:00:50] Ben: Steve Butcher, welcome to Berko & Beyond. 

[00:00:52] Steve: Hey, Ben. Good to see you again. 

[00:00:54] Ben: After all these years. 

[00:00:56] Steve: We’ve worked out, didn’t we? It’s around about 11, 10 to 11 years. 

[00:00:59] Ben: Yeah. We definitely worked on a job together, uh, 2014, I think. Phenomenal House for Nike. 

[00:01:06] Steve: Wow. 

[00:01:07] Ben: Uh, ’cause it was a World Cup year. Um, so yeah, a bit of background.

Uh, Steve and I used to work together through various, uh, different, um, agencies, uh, but one run by my brother-in-law, and we’re the video production side of things, and you’re the AV side of things. 

[00:01:23] Steve: Yes, we did all the technical production. 

[00:01:25] Ben: So talk to me about running your own business then. Uh, a- and well, tell us a little bit about Universal Event Production and the kind of stuff that you were doing.

[00:01:34] Steve: Yeah, so I set y- what I now call, well, I called UEP back up in 1998, and within a few years, um, we were very fortunate that we were working with some really big blue-chip clients, which included Nike, Microsoft, um, Levi, et cetera, et cetera. And really fortunate just to work on very, very, very cool events all over the UK and all over Europe.

[00:01:58] Ben: And your expertise, and I, I, I say that with, with so much passion ’cause I’ve seen you at work, your expertise in that, that AV area, um, you decided to take through and, and start your own festival, you crazy person, you. 

[00:02:15] Steve: It was really funny. It was, um, I’m guessing my son would’ve been 10 or 11 at the time, and I, I still remember, it was the beginning of December 2012, and, uh, we’d met up with a load of friends.

And, um, I remember I was stand- standing in the garden with a pint of beer in my hand, and I just turned around to my mates and said, “I’m gonna start a music festival next year.” And they all burst out laughing, and that’s how ChilFest was conceived. 

[00:02:40] Ben: Uh, and it’s been a roller coaster. I mean, we could say it’s been a journey.

It’s been a roller coaster. It’s, it, it’s, uh- 

[00:02:48] Steve: All of the above. 

[00:02:49] Ben: Yes. So, um, l- let’s start with why Chilfest, and there’s a, there’s a big link to ’80s music there. What’s, wh- where’s that from as well? 

[00:03:00] Steve: Well, the, the link to, to ’80s music would sort of be my age, you know, more than anything else. I sort of grew up in the ’80s, and what was, and still is to this day exciting, is all of the acts that you listen to on the radio and recorded on your, on your tape deck and so forth, all of a sudden I was sort of dealing with on the telephone, dealing with their management, et cetera, et cetera.

And- It’s easy for me to say, but if you look at the music over the last sort of 30, 40, 50 years, the ’80s was probably the most exciting. 

[00:03:32] Ben: Yeah. But I, I’m not gonna disagree with that- … ’cause, uh, yeah, it is. It’s, it’s my era as well. So, and, uh, so, so that’s fine. No one can disagree with that. 

[00:03:40] Steve: No. I don’t think so.

[00:03:41] Ben: There’s no one here to. Perfect. 

[00:03:43] Steve: No. And at the t- at the time my son, I think when Chilfest happened in 2013, Tommy was 12 years of age. So Friday was important for me that it was more of a family-centric sort of event, and we actually had Little Mix in year one, which was an amazing coup, in all honesty.

To, you know, our very first festival, and at the time Little Mix were sort of riding a very, very big wave, and we were sort of fortunate enough to have them headline on the Friday. 

[00:04:12] Ben: Was that a happy accident, or did, was it? 

[00:04:15] Steve: Um, through my production company we were working with… I think it was, I need to think back, but I think it was Carphone Warehouse.

They were at the time sponsors of The X Factor. 

[00:04:26] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:04:27] Steve: And we were involved in a number of projects with them. And one particular event, um, at a Carphone Warehouse store in Covent Garden, we were working with The X Factor final five. So I got to know the girls, I got to know some of the management, et cetera, et cetera.

And weirdly, the artist that we were going for, and a lot of people will remember this, was a chap called James Arthur. That didn’t quite work out for us. Um, but we got Little Mix and I think actually it w- it was the best decision we made. 

[00:04:56] Ben: Superb. 

[00:04:57] Steve: Yeah. 

[00:04:58] Ben: Let’s unpack the whole Chilfest. Uh, I mean, we might as w- we sh- we should go chronologically with it because it…

I’m n- I’m not kidding. It really is a journey and, um, there’s been heartache, quite literally, along the way, which we’ll get to. Um, so it starts off barbecue, pint in hand, “I wanna do this festival.” Um, you knew loads about AV. What did you know about running a festival at the time? 

[00:05:26] Steve: Not a great deal, but I’m a very fast learner.

Um, but on top of that, I’ve always been fortunate that I surround myself with industry professionals, and that’s really important, whether it’s from a health and safety point of view, from a staging point of view, from security, et cetera, et cetera. So I was confident going into year one that the event would be a success.

And when I say year one, Chilfest was only ever meant to be a one-off event. Funnily enough. It … I was gonna do it once and go, “Great, done it.” But on the Saturday, Friday went completely according to plan. Saturday, we had some major issues with the bar, which, you know, weren’t necessarily down to me, but as the event promoter, I take that on the chin, and I take full responsibility of it.

Our bar providers really did let us down. So I made the decision there and then that I would do it again, just to ensure that we got absolutely everything right, and then you get bitten by the bug. 

[00:06:19] Ben: So be- being the guy that’s, uh, you know, it’s your reputation on the line, how did you feel at the time when the- Yes, you, you, you say here now you take responsibility for what happened with the bar, but actually it wasn’t. There’s nothing you could have done about it from the sense of, so how does that feel at the time? 

[00:06:38] Steve: Well, it was heartbreaking because of all the hard work and s- the, the sweat, blood, and tears that went into it. Um, and the, the, the bar company just weren’t prepared.

Although we’d give them all the details in advance, the sort of amount of at- attendees, et cetera, et cetera, um, the bar fell over within a couple of hours of us trading, and I think the average, I shouldn’t laugh, but the average wait time by about eight o’clock in the evening was 45 minutes to get a pint.

That then gets worse because people can see how bad the queue is and opposed to ordering two pints of beer, they’ll order six. I then, I’ve got family members and all sorts then helping behind the bar, ’cause I’m actually doing everything I can to try and sort the bar out. But then what happens, because they’re trying to serve pints so quickly, um, the, uh, what do they call it?

[00:07:28] Ben: Yeah, the pumps. 

[00:07:28] Steve: The pumps start freezing. 

[00:07:29] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:07:30] Steve: So we were on a hiding to nothing. Um, and you know, for me, that was failure. And as I say, it wasn’t, it wasn’t sort of down to us, but I 100% took it on the chin and decided to sort of just go bigger and better in the following year. 

[00:07:44] Ben: I guess the other thing was that you’ve gotta then sit back and watch all the stuff rolling on social media of saying, “Oh, well, this was a shambles, and this didn’t work, and, and that didn’t work.”

So you’ve got, you’ve got personal and professional reputation, right, that you’re, you’re thinking about. 

[00:07:59] Steve: 100%. I mean, and it’s the same with… I mean, we’re all human beings, and I could read a thousand really positive reviews about Chilfest. 

[00:08:09] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:08:09] Steve: I could read two negative reviews. 

[00:08:11] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:08:12] Steve: Which are the ones I remember?

The two negative ones, because it’s human nature. 

[00:08:16] Ben: But through determination or through just, just, I think for you, I mean, knowing you, you just wanna get it right. 

[00:08:24] Steve: 100%. 

[00:08:25] Ben: Because your professional not… So your previous professional with the, the production company is, like, it is, it’s on point all the time.

So that, this is… I can understand why that’s not acceptable for you that, that happened, so we go again with year two. 

[00:08:40] Steve: Yeah. And I think we- you know, f- we surprised, uh, you know, on the positives, we surprised a lot of people because I don’t think people expected when they arrived at Chilfest that w- it would be as professional as it was.

It, uh, from day one, it was a big stage, big sound, big lighting. Um, and I think people thought we might start on a much, much smaller s- smaller scale. 

[00:09:02] Ben: So for those that, that haven’t been, let’s just set a picture of, of the s- of the site. So the site is entering, it’s next to the squash and the rugby club in Tring, Hertfordshire.

[00:09:10] Steve: Yeah, so now we’re, we’re on, uh, the, um, rugby club land. Uh, it’s land sort of that’s owned and run by the rugby club, the athletic club, and Tring Tornadoes. 

[00:09:21] Ben: Brilliant 

[00:09:21] Steve: So it’s a, it’s a big old chunk of land. 

[00:09:23] Ben: Um, so we’re onto year, year two to rectify the, the bar, the bar fracas the year before. Things change. How do you adapt to that? How, what, uh, from a, from a learning point of view from that year, other than do we change suppliers?

[00:09:38] Steve: It’s where, that’s where it becomes interesting to a degree. Obviously we changed, immediately we changed bar suppliers, and I felt I had something to prove, and I think that was a mistake from my side.

In year two we went to three days. We went Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

[00:09:52] Ben: And Sunday, yeah. 

[00:09:53] Steve: The issue we had, sadly, a number of people that attended in year one didn’t attend in t- in year two, ’cause they were under the illusion that the bar would be exactly the same, sadly. 

[00:10:08] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:10:08] Steve: Um, and in year two we lost a lot of money.

I mean, to the degree I had to sell my house to cover the debts from year two, literally. And it’s not the m- it’s not the nicest thing to come home and sort of sit down with your wife and go, “Gina, little bit of a problem. So that we can survive, um, or so the business can survive, we’re gonna have to sell the family home.”

So when I say I put blood, sweat and tears into Chilfest, I really have. 

[00:10:37] Ben: What does Gina say at that point? 

[00:10:38] Steve: Um.  

[00:10:40] Ben: Do you remember? 

[00:10:40] Steve: Is this a family show? Well, 

[00:10:42] Ben: you know, we can bleep things out. 

[00:10:42] Steve: No, it was tough. I mean, she completely, she completely and utterly understood, but yeah, it was tough. It was really tough.

Um, but luckily we had enough equity within our house and so forth, um, to sort of make it work. 

[00:10:55] Ben: How do you feel at the t- I mean, that is just a conversation that obviously before you go back and have it, you’re feeling not great about the situation, to say the least. 

[00:11:06] Steve: No. 

[00:11:07] Ben: Then having to tell your missus that, how does that feel?

[00:11:10] Steve: Doesn’t feel great. Um, I mean, from my side, I truly believed in the festival. 

[00:11:16] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:11:17] Steve: Truly believed in the festival, and I knew that within time I could make it work, you know. The difficulty for, and probably the reason why there aren’t that many festivals, um, in the UK, certainly independent festivals, is that you’ve got two days.

[00:11:34] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:11:35] Steve: There’s nine, 10 months worth of planning. Yeah. Everything has to go right in those two days. 

[00:11:39] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:11:39] Steve: Um, that’s ticket sales, that’s the weather. You know, it’s absolutely everything. Um, and it’s tough. It really is. And, um- 

[00:11:47] Ben: I think, uh, the, the, the c- the misconception from a punter’s point of view is they just see the price on a ticket, they see the price of a burger and the price of a pint, and think, “Well, surely they’re raking this in.”

[00:12:01] Steve: Oh, yeah, I think there’s, there’s probably lots of people out there think we’re loaded. 

[00:12:04] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:12:05] Steve: If I would love to know where the money is, ’cause I’ve yet to find it. Um, but you know, certainly now rolling sort of all the way forward, you know, the budget to put Chilfest on now, um, is around about half million quid, which is a lot of money.

[00:12:19] Ben: And we were talking beforehand just to touch, we’re talking about economics, price of living, uh, uh, the situation, uh, with America and Iran, what that’s doing to fuel and stuff. Uh, obviously you’ve got a bunch of generators right on there that y- you’re bringing in your own power supply and stuff like that.

That changes the- 

[00:12:38] Steve: Yeah, I mean with, with currently with how things are with the orange buffoon at this moment in time, um, our fuel bill will increase anywhere between from where it was an extra 2 to £3,000. 

[00:12:53] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:12:53] Steve: Just on, just on fuel. And obviously, um, suppliers are gonna have to charge me slightly more because to get to site they need lorries, trucks, you know, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:13:02] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:13:02] Steve: Um, and that’s, that’s tough and that’s not something that all of a sudden I can put a post out on social media and go, “Because of what’s going on Iran, blah, blah, blah, we’re gonna have to put our ticket prices up.” That’s just something that, well, you know, that as a, as a festival, as an event, we take on the chin.

[00:13:18] Ben: And that there are so many different challenges for festivals and that’s why so many, you know, don’t succeed. 

[00:13:23] Steve: It’s been tough. The world, the world has been very, very, very tough and I’m sure we’ll talk about that a little bit later. 

[00:13:29] Ben: Well, let’s talk about, let’s go, go there now. So we’ve done year one, we’ve done year two.

People didn’t turn up, they didn’t turn up ’cause they thought it was gonna be the same. We’ve sold the house. Where do we go from there? 

[00:13:41] Steve: Year three, um, I think from year three, um, which would be, what’s that? ’13, ’14, 2015. From sort of really 2015 to 2019, Chilfest just took off, and it grew, and it grew, and it grew, and it became, you know, really, really successful and something I was just so majorly proud of.

[00:14:03] Ben: And quite rightly so.

[00:14:04] Steve: Thank you. 

[00:14:05] Ben: Quite rightly so. Um, and but what… Just, just go back a minute. So we’d, we’d sold, we’d sold the house year two to pay for the losses of year two, and, uh, we’re saying to Gina, “Right, year three, w- w- it’s gonna be all right. We’re going for it again.” 

[00:14:21] Steve: Yeah, that sounds about right.

Um, and bless her, she believed me. Um, um, I’m really lucky. You know, I’ve been with my wife for just over 30 years, and she knows how sort of passionate I am- 

[00:14:35] Ben: Yeah … 

[00:14:35] Steve: about sort of my businesses and sort of so forth, and, um, she’s always been my greatest supporter. I think sometimes she wishes she didn’t support me on everything, but no, she’s been absolutely, and is absolutely amazing.

[00:14:50] Ben: Love that. 

[00:14:50] Steve: Yeah, you’ll be pleased to know we are still together. 

[00:14:53] Ben: Good. Very good. Let’s jump forward to the COVID years then, because, uh, just an absolute, you know, the nightmare that no one saw coming for so many businesses. Um, if you put Chilfest aside for a minute, your, your day-to-day job, your production company, uh, so providing AV to all these massive in-person events.

[00:15:18] Steve: That’s right. 

[00:15:19] Ben: And it just falls off the cliff. 

[00:15:21] Steve: So the same with f- f- everyone working in sort of live events, hospitality, et cetera, et cetera. It was probably the second week of March. I mean, uh, we’re still watching the TV, and I think a lot of us are still, I wouldn’t say laughing, but smirking about what’s going on across the rest of the world because we didn’t think we’d ever be in the position we entered in.

[00:15:22] Ben: We’re an island. It’s not gonna get to here. 

[00:15:25] Steve: 100%. Um, and then all of a sudden, that fateful Monday morning, the phone start ring, starts ringing, and jobs just fall off the chart, you know? And we went f- you know, at the beginning, it was probably the second week of January, with a very full diary, to the end of March with nothing on the board at all.

[00:15:58] Ben: With, uh, staff on the books- 

[00:16:00] Steve: Yeah … 

[00:16:01] Ben: a warehouse full of kit in Pitstone. 

[00:16:03] Steve: Yeah. 

[00:16:04] Ben: Um, w- what’s the, what’s the initial thought at that time? 

[00:16:09] Steve: Tough. I mean, at the time, with the size of my business, it would … You know, it was, it’s about 23 grand a month to stand still. 

[00:16:17] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:16:17] Steve: You know, to pay all my bills, this, that, and everything else.

And, um, absolutely devastating. Absolutely devastating. And again, like – probably like a lot of people, we thought, “Well, do you know what? This will all be over and done with in a couple of months.” And I think all of us felt like that. And this couple of months then went, and we went, “Ah, don’t worry. By September, uh, we’re certainly, you know, back to normal.”

And again, that, that didn’t happen. 

[00:16:39] Ben: Yeah, I remember in our house thinking at the time, ’cause obviously similar position for us, video production company. We can’t get, get out and film stuff. Lots of people are doing, you know, “Oh, we’ll take it all online, and we’ll do that.” But all of a sudden, everybody’s wanting to do that.

Then it’s, right, we’re, we’re locked down. Everyone’s at home. Uh, oh, at least I’m gonna get the house painted- … or at least I’m gonna get stuff done. And then you go, oh, no, there’s kids to home school. Or there’s ev- everyone had their own, own different issues. Um, uh, it strikes me that you’re sat there with two issues.

You’ve effectively got two businesses. Neither of them looking like they’re gonna be able to do anything at all. 

[00:17:20] Steve: That’s correct. That’s correct. Um, and funny enough, um, a company that I did a lot of business with on the, the health and safety side of the industry reached out to me and, um, sort of by the end of 2020, we were running COVID testing centres for Brent Council, Harrow Council, and so forth, and it meant that a lot of my full-time and freelance staff were actually back working again, and that, that was important because, you know, we’ve.

It’s very easy to sort of touch on mental health and so forth and, you know, a couple of my lads ended up working for the likes of Amazon and so forth, and they were in confined rooms working on their own all day, and they really, really struggled. But to get back together as a, a team of people, um, meant a lot, meant a hell of a lot.

Meant a hell of a lot. 

[00:18:08] Ben: I know that’s a big thing for you. Um, from, from working with you, speaking to you, from speaking with Paul, who, who we both work with, that it’s probably one of the biggest things for you. You’ve put this team together o- over a num- number of years and operate this great business, slick as you like, on point.

Uh, I think part of you, am I right, was almost Chilfest was this is the fun thing for us all to do together as well. 

[00:18:38] Steve: Yeah, very much so. Very much so. You know, the way I probably described it at the time, it was a giggle. It was a very expensive giggle but it was a giggle, but it was something… It was almost a, a showcase of what we, we do as well, I suppose, and I d- didn’t realize, certainly at the time, go back to 2013, that it would turn into the beast that it is today.

That was never really an intention. 

[00:19:00] Ben: So at that time when, when everything’s going wrong, both, both things, the- there’s a weight on your… There’s a financial weight… but I know for you there’s also, there’s the, the, the, the care of those around you and, and, and the team and, and your employees. It’s, it’s a lot to carry, isn’t it?

[00:19:17] Steve: Very much so, and, you know, the first thing that any sort of business owner had to do at the time was to sit down and sort of work out where they could physically save money. I wasn’t prepared, um, to put any of my staff out to pasture. There’s not too many positives from the government point of view that I could actually think of. However, there were one or two. The Furlough Scheme was a lifesaver. 

[00:19:43] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:19:43] Steve: Um, and the, the, the two, uh, loans were helpful.  

[00:19:47] Ben: Yeah, the Bounce Back Loans. 

[00:19:48] Steve: Yeah. Yeah, and again, they, they were, they were key. And my only issue with all of that, with the Bounce Back Loan and the Furlough, was that it was offered to absolutely everybody, which was at the time was a good idea, but I do to this day feel that after a few months, people needed to sit down and go, “Which industries really need this? Which industries really need the help?” 

[00:20:11] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:20:11] Steve: Um, because, you know, the government squandered I think what … It turned out to be billions, didn’t they, over, over a period of time. 

[00:20:18] Ben: Yeah, and I think it’s an interesting topic, which is probably for another time… on, on that, is, is that I guess any industry you’re in is always gonna go, “Oh, well, actually, we’ve got this,” or, “We’ve got that.”

But I know certainly from mine and your point of view is that the people we’ve worked with day in- 

[00:20:35] Steve: Yeah … 

[00:20:35] Ben: day out wanted that. Let, let’s go back to Chilfest. Um, so what happened there? ‘Cause obviously the biggest thing is it’s a festival, it’s in,

[00:20:44] Steve: So obviously in 2020 we got to a certain point in the year where we knew Chilfest wasn’t gonna happen.

So, um, we had to put posts out on social media, uh, to explain that 2020 would be canceled, but we would be back in 2021, and we encouraged people to pass their tickets through to the following year. 

[00:21:05] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:21:05] Steve: And, you know, a high percentage of people did. Some people didn’t, and that’s fair enough, because financially the whole country’s in the same boat, and I completely and utterly understand that.

And, uh, we were fortunate to pretty much move forward from 2020 to 2021 with the same, um, lineup. 

[00:21:24] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:21:25] Steve: Um, but then obviously got to 2021, we were very, very close, very close for 2021 happening. And then Boris changed the goalposts. I can’t quite remember exactly,

[00:21:42] Ben: Because you’d rather forget about it. 

[00:21:43] Steve: Yeah, I’d rather forget. I mean, if 

[00:21:44] Ben: you, I don’t, well, look I don’t know if you’re like me, and there’s a big part of, uh, there’s a big part of that, that time in all our lives where those kind of details, I know they’ve been dragged through, but you’d just rather forget it and move on.  

[00:21:56] Steve: I think, you know, I remember, you’d have to talk to my wife, but I remember sort of every time I walked into the lounge and the telly was on, I would argue with the TV.

[00:22:04] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:22:04] Steve: Um, because I could see the industry that I absolutely love and have worked in for most of my adult life was being destroyed. 

[00:22:14] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:22:15] Steve: Um, and yeah, and in the end I think my wife did turn the TV off because I was just getting so angry. And I think if I make mistakes in business, I can take that on the chin.

But when something’s completely and utterly out of your control- 

[00:22:28] Ben: Yeah … 

[00:22:29] Steve: that’s a very, very different beast to try and deal with. It really is. 

[00:22:34] Ben: So 2021 Chilfest then, that’s, that’s where it, uh, it, the real, real problems start, because it didn’t happen.

[00:22:41] Steve: We were really, yeah, we were really close, and Boris extended, I can’t remember what they called it, but extended everything by a month. ‘Cause we were meant to be opening.

[00:22:51] Ben: Yeah, it was actually.. 

[00:22:52] Steve: … June time, and he extended it by a month  and it actually hit our opening week, our sort of Chilfest weekend. And that was us completely knackered.

[00:23:00] Ben: ‘Cause I know at the time there was talk about, oh, well, if you’ve got a COVID vaccine and once you’ve got a, there’s a COVID passport then we can still do these big events. But it’s just practically for people and practically for event organizers trying to police that is, would, would, it’s just a nightmare and even more cost. 

[00:23:17] Steve: Yeah. And we were, we were in a position at the time because it was so far down the line, artists had been paid, suppliers had been paid, et cetera, et cetera.

And not to put Chilfest on in 2021 cost me personally, and my, myself and my family, nearly a quarter of a million pounds not to put Chilfest on. 

[00:23:36] Ben: So having already sold your house, how does that weigh then on- 

[00:23:39] Steve: Well, it hurts financially. Well, really. It really hurts. 

[00:23:44] Ben: You know you asked earlier where all the money went. I think 2021 might be, uh… 

[00:23:48] Steve: Yeah. Um, and, and again, it was the same for sort of my production company. We, we’d gone from working at 100%, probably down to 9%. Oh, one thing I, I wanna zip back actually to- I can’t remember whether it was 2020 or 2021 where w- the one … I think it was, it was 2021. No, it wasn’t.

It was 2020, sorry. The only positives I can take out of it, we put on, um, a number of outdoor cinema events. 

[00:24:17] Ben: Yes. 

[00:24:17] Steve: ‘Cause they changed the, um, the meter rule. They went from a meter, is it, to 1.5? And we were able to host a number of outdoor cinema events in Tring, which were successful. However, um, the weather over the summer was really poor.

So just as it was taking off, and people were loving it because we were getting so many amazing comments on social media that people were all of a sudden living their life again. And the weather just changed and, you know, we, we were ended up with dealing with high winds, rain, and so forth in August. I mean, you just couldn’t make it up. 

[00:24:51] Ben: You got massive, yeah, massive winds rather than a screen.

[00:24:55] Steve: Yeah, that’s right. 

[00:24:55] Ben: Um, so talk us through then. You’ve lost a quarter of a million quid in 2021. Uh, what happens then? 

[00:25:04] Steve: Well, everything just got really, really stressful, and I spoke to, you know, I had a unit, um, for my business in Pitstone, and I’d spoken to my landlord, um, to see if I could reduce the rent, um, on the premises. As I said, I’m looking at all the areas that I can sort of physically save money to keep the business going. And, um, I sort of said to my landlord, “Tell me what your mortgage is every month, and I’ll cover it.”

And he pretty much said, “Not interested, Steve. What I’m actually gonna do is I’m gonna sell the, sell my, um, unit- 

[00:25:36] Ben: Yeah … 

[00:25:37] Steve: with you as a, as a tenant.” So we then knew straight away that we would have to move and downsize. 

[00:25:42] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:25:43] Steve: Um, and it was a very, very, very, very stressful time to the degree that, um, I ended up having a major heart attack just through the sheer pressure of trying to make everything work, um, and which was a little bit of an eye-opener, you know?

[00:26:00] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:26:00] Steve: It really was. I remember it was literally, uh, at the time I b- I was working in a COVID testing centre with my son, and we were on a, a, a late shift. And I think we got home about 10 o’clock in the evening. It was a Friday night, I remember. We had something to eat, went to bed, um, and I woke up about two o’clock in the morning.

And never had a heart attack before, but I literally woke my wife and went, “Gina, I’m having a heart attack,” ’cause it just felt someone was ripping my chest in half. And, uh, there are certain things that to this day still make me laugh ’cause she, she woke up and goes, “Oh, do I dial 911?” I went, “No, I think it’s better to ring 999.”

Although I have been told if you dial 911- it does go through. So that, that was good to know. Um, and I, you know, f- I was awake for all of that. I remember the journey in the ambulance. I was very, very fortunate. Ambulance was there very quickly. Went straight to Harefield, um, Heart Hospital.

[00:26:56] Ben: Wow. 

[00:26:57] Steve: Um, it was, again, there’s funny things I do remember. I remember the back doors of the ambulance opening, and there was, the consultant was there and goes, “We’re not ready.” And I thought, “Well, you may not be but I bloody am.” And in the end, went straight into surgery. And again, I was awake for the whole procedure.

And it was incredible, ’cause I had a stent fitted, and they literally went in my wrist And I remember big TV screen, ’cause being in the AV game, you’re looking around the room at everything. 

[00:27:23] Ben: Yeah, yeah. 

[00:27:23] Steve: Big AV, yeah, big plasma screen there. 

[00:27:26] Ben: Who supplied that for you? 

[00:27:27] Steve: Yeah, no idea. By that time I wasn’t that, wasn’t that worried.

Um, and I remember the consultant talking to someone going, “The stent’s in place.” And I remember turning around saying, “But I’m still in so much pain.” She went, “Just wait a couple of seconds.” And I started to feel my arm go very, very warm, and then the pain just disappeared. Absolutely disappeared. I mean, to the degree that if my body, um, wasn’t so knackered at the time, I felt I could have actually got off the operating theatre and gone, “So where do you get a taxi to get out of here?”

But my body was, you know, it had gone through such a thing. But it was incredible. A tiny, tiny, tiny piece of plastic saved my life. I mean, that’s incredible. 

[00:28:09] Ben: So now you’ve had your life saved by a tiny piece of plastic. 

[00:28:11] Steve: Yeah. 

[00:28:12] Ben: Uh, is it now t- time to stop faffing around with these music festivals and stuff that could be causing you so much stress? 

[00:28:18] Steve: No. Much, much to the disgust of my son, Tommy, my wife, my family, I went back to work after two weeks. ‘Cause again, at the time, um, I was one of the only breadwinners in the household. So it had to be done. That was stupid because within three months I checked myself back in hospital.

Only for a day, but I’d really pushed, you know, I’d really pushed it. I hadn’t… I think at the time I was just a typical bloke. Just, it was, I was having a heart attack, didn’t take it very seriously. But I think s- some, couple of months later, I did take it a lot more seriously and decided to change my lifestyle completely.

[00:28:52] Ben: And you have said, or it is on record that you’ve said, uh, in, in previous interview a- around you’ve, it’s, you’re changed from that typical bloke. You’re, you’re not, clearly not the same person you were then. 

[00:29:00] Steve: No, 100%, 

[00:29:01] Steve: No. 

[00:29:04] Ben: Talk to me about that because- 

[00:29:06] Steve: I think back in the day when I had my own business with staff, et cetera, et cetera, if one of my guys had sort of literally knocked on my door and sat down and said, “Steve, I really need to talk to you about my mental health,” being a little bit old school at the time, I would’ve said, you know, “Pull yourself together, you’ll be all right,” blah, blah, and that would’ve been the end of it.

But with everything that I personally went through, um, between 2020 and 2022, um, I was in a lot of very, very, very dark places that I can’t even begin to describe. 

[00:29:40] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:29:40] Steve: And I, I’m a better person for it now. Um, but yeah, it’s diff- it’s very difficult to describe, but I’ve got a much, much, much better idea and understanding, um, about sort of people’s mental health.

[00:29:55] Ben: Do you mind me asking how you pull yourself out of that place, or how you pull yourself out of that hole or, or what help you get to get yourself out of that hole? 

[00:30:03] Steve: I think, I mean, to impact the story, in 2022 Chilfest was, was able to happen, um, summer 2022. A month before Chilfest 2022, I lost my father, who had been ill for, uh, uh, sadly ill for a period of time.

Um, and he was the most sort of amazing human being in my life. And yeah, I think just at that point, you know, you think, “I’ve always been a fighter.”.  All of my life I’ve been a fighter. But I think it gets to a certain point where you go, “Do you know what? I give up. I can’t sort of fight anymore.” And for a, a period of time I ended up working for a charity.

Um, ’cause I think when you… How can I describe it? I think when you sit down with family and friends and you discuss things, sometimes you’re almost told probably what they think you wanna hear, if that makes any sense at all. Um, and I, I ended up working for this, um, amazing charity in Aylesbury, Florence Nightingale.

[00:31:07] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:31:08] Steve: And, uh, I ended up seeing a, I forgot what they call them. Not a therapist, a- 

[00:31:13] Ben: A psychologist? 

[00:31:14] Steve: No, where you actually just talk about your feelings. A… 

[00:31:17] Ben: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:31:18] Steve: And- 

[00:31:19] Ben: A counselor. 

[00:31:20] Steve: A counselor, that’s the word. Um, and I think for the first three sessions, I think I cried for the first three sessions. Um, but by about session five or six I could actually hold a whole conversation for an hour.

And she just listened. She didn’t judge me. Um, and it was just the most amazing experience actually. And I came out of that a completely different person. Completely different person. Yeah. There you go. 

[00:31:52] Ben: And now completely different person, uh, to a thriving festival. 

[00:31:58] Steve: Yes, very much so. Um, so Chilfest 2022 happened.

It was tough, um, because obviously at the time there were still a percentage of people that didn’t feel comfortable mixing in- 

[00:32:12] Ben: Yeah … 

[00:32:13] Steve: big crowds and so forth. Um, which again, completely and utterly understood and understand. Um, so it was quite tough. Um, sadly, um, after Chilfest 2022, I, I had no option but to put my production company into voluntary liquidation, which was obviously very, very tough.

[00:32:34] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:32:34] Steve: Um, I was then, from a financial standpoint, I wasn’t in a position to continue, um, Chilfest. Um, however, um, five investors stepped forward and they invested in Chilfest, um, for the next sort of three years. So 2022… No, it would be 2023, ’24, and last year’s Chilfest 2025. 2025. Um, at the time, great idea.

[00:33:07] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:33:07] Steve: Um, but very, very, very difficult for me. Chilfest was- 

[00:33:14] Ben: It’s your baby. 

[00:33:15] Steve: It’s my baby. And Chilfest went from my baby to a stepchild, and I apologies for saying the word now, but from that to that to the bastard child. It was horrible. It was … And I just didn’t enjoy the experience. My… how can I put it?

I’m probably not a naturally gifted businessman, but I’m very, very passionate about what I do, and all of a sudden I’m dealing with Excel spreadsheets. This, that. That’s, that’s sort of not me really. A- and it was very, very tough and, you know, when I make decisions on artists to perform at Chilfest, it’s done on a lot of research and so forth.

I don’t bring my personal feelings into it at all. I’ve only ever done that once. My wife, Gina, who is, um, was a massive fan of UB40, and on one Friday, um, we had UB40, and that w- that was for my wife. That was a bit of a thank you and an apology. Um, but in the main, all the decisions I make on artists are thought through.

I look at their social media presence, uh, their, you know, their profile, um, how good they are now, 30, 40 years later, and that’s really important. 

[00:34:26] Ben: You curate, you know, you curate the lineup. 

[00:34:28] Steve: Yes. that’s for me, it’s, that’s possibly the most exciting part of it because obviously you look at your bit of paper with your, your lineup on there and you think you’ve absolutely nailed it.

However, your public decide. And they decide, you know, as to whether they buy sort of tickets or not, and we’re very fortunate that in the main w- we get it right. You know, I can only probably think of two artists that haven’t performed at Chilfest as they should have done. 

[00:34:55] Ben: Um, oh, God, there’s loads of questions now. There’s loads of, loads of… 

[00:34:57] Steve: Sorry, ’cause I’ve, I’ve digressed. 

[00:34:58] Ben: But that’s fine. That’s what, that’s what happens. So what, uh, very quickly- 

[00:35:03] Steve: Yeah … 

[00:35:04] Ben: when they don’t perform like that, is there any recourse or comeback with their agent or anything like that? 

[00:35:10] Steve: No, that’s the problem because you paid the fee and that’s the end of it, and any artist that gets on any festival stage in the UK, and I’m guessing across the world, they’ve been paid before they even get on stage.

[00:35:23] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:35:24] Steve: Um, I don’t mind, you know. I, I’m more than happy to say this, but, um- Adam Ant was meant to perform at Chilfest in 2020. And I was really, really excited. Really excited because for me, there were probably three huge names that came out the ’80s. For me, um, I’d probably look at George Michael, um, Boy George- 

[00:35:55] Ben: Yeah

[00:35:56] Steve: and Adam Ant. There’s three major icons from the ’80s. Um, Boy George we couldn’t afford. Um, sadly George is no longer with us, and we probably wouldn’t be able to afford anyway. Um, but we were able to secure Adam Ant, and I was very excited. There was a real buzz- 

[00:36:09] Ben: Yeah … 

[00:36:10] Steve: as well with our audience. Um, and obviously COVID happened, so he wasn’t able to perform in 2020 or 2021.

Um, but we decided to, decided to have him in 2025… so last year, and the most disappointing artist that we’ve ever had perform at Chilfest. 

[00:36:32] Ben: Which then people are gonna go, “Oh, Chilfest, Adam Ant…”

[00:36:37] Steve: Yeah, I think lu-luckily, I mean, obviously Adam Ant’s got tens and tens of thousands of fans.

[00:36:44] Ben: Yeah. 

[00:36:44] Steve: And regardless of whether he plays well or performs well or doesn’t, his fans will protect him. Um, they, and they sort of policed our Facebook page for a while, I suppose. Um, I have to sort of also take into consideration that he’s in his 70s. He was never gonna perform like he did back in sort of the mid ’80s.

I understood that. But there should be a certain level that they should perform at. Which he did three or four, you know, four or five years ago when I actually did sort of see him perform live. And so, you know, that was really, really disappointing. So I now have to work even harder to ensure that the artists that do perform at Chilfest are of premium quality.

That’s really important.  

[00:37:30] Ben: Um,that brings us on very nicely to this year’s premium quality. Which is written on a piece of paper down there by me. And the reason, uh, they’re on that piece of paper is because in your head you’re already putting next year’s lineup together as well.  

[00:37:42] Steve: Yeah, so I’m nearly, my lineup for 2026 is nearly, is nearly complete.

We’re in the middle of signing contracts and so forth, and it just shows people how far in advance we have to work. 

[00:37:52] Ben: So ’27, that is, isn’t it? 

[00:37:52] Steve: Yeah. ’27, sorry. Yeah. 

[00:37:54] Ben: What’s, who have we got on 20, 2026 then? 

[00:37:56] Steve: Some massive favorites of mine, and I’ve been trying to get them for probably nearly 10 years, Level 42.

[00:38:02] Ben: Brilliant. 

[00:38:02] Steve: Which will just be absolutely amazing. Um, also, um, Radio 2 Party in the Park last September, I think it was, um, saw Kid Creole and the Coconuts. And was blown away. Um, and so yeah, he was a must-have for us. 

[00:38:21] Ben: Well, speaking of someone of age who’s still got absolute, you know-  

[00:38:25] Steve: Oh, he’s got-

[00:38:26] Ben: he’s got barrels of enthusiasm.

[00:38:27] Steve: How can I put it? Not all artists have got the best voices, but it’s all about, it’s about performance, um, and so forth, and that’s what y- yeah, it’s about charisma, charm, personality, and he’s got all of the above and more. Um, we’ve got Tony Hadley back. He’s opening Chilfest around about half past one on the Saturday.

Tony, one, is probably the nicest guy you could ever meet, and two, a massive, massive fan of Chilfest. I think this’ll be his third or fourth time that he’s performed. To the degree I read something on social media a couple years ago, really did make me laugh, ’cause someone actually, one of our customers said we should rename it Had Fest which I thought was brilliant.

Absolutely- Absolutely class. 

[00:39:10] Ben: He might like that. He could have Had Day. 

[00:39:11] Steve: Yeah, which would be brilliant. We got Eternal, who will be amazing. They’ve never performed at Chilfest before, so really excited by them. Fun Loving Criminals. 

[00:39:19] Ben: Amazing. 

[00:39:20] Steve: Yeah. Christians, and I’m missing a couple, so I might have to grab my piece of paper.

Um, Toploader, who are superb. Really, really tight band. Yeah, they’re, they’re absolutely superb. So very, very excited by this year. Very excited. 

[00:39:35] Ben: And tickets still available. 

[00:39:35] Steve: They are, and we’re in a very fortunate position that, um, ticket sales have been very, very strong. Um, very, very strong.

This will be our sort of certainly our best year since COVID. 

[00:39:51] Ben: I, I, I wanna say thank you, first of all. We’re wrapping up, uh, on the podcast now. Before I go into that, um, two very quick things. One, investors involved, but you are in the process, um, of, of getting it back and getting full, in full control. Is that right?

[00:40:09] Steve: Yeah, I d- I think the, the investor thing didn’t really work for me. I f- I will always be grateful to the guys for investing in my festival. Um, maybe I’m a bit of a control freak. Yeah, I think maybe I am. And I just… I, I really, really struggled, um, to sort of work with them and, um, through a very good friend of mine, a lady called Frankie James, who runs a very successful, um, corporate festival called Ideas Fest.

Um, we’d had many conversations, and she sort of said to me one day, “Why, why don’t you buy the festival back?” And I, I hadn’t really thought of it ’cause I’d never thought I’d be in a position from a f- from a financial standpoint to do that. Uh, I often joked that if I ever won the lottery, the first thing I would do would be to buy my festival back before I even told my wife and son that I’d actually won any money.

Um, but I was able to put a proposal on the table, which was accepted last summer. So Chilfest 2026, this year, is the first time, you know, myself on my own since 2019, and I’m very, very, very excited by it. 

[00:41:19] Ben: As are we. 

[00:41:20] Steve: Yeah. And loving life again, so it’s all good. 

[00:41:22] Ben: Good man. 

[00:41:23] Steve: Yeah. 

[00:41:23] Ben: Good man. Um, this is gonna sound, uh, interesting ’cause there’s probably quite a few things or maybe nothing at all.

If you could change one thing, uh, that you’d done, may- may- perhaps down to one decision, is there anything that you’d do differently regards Chilfest or, or regards the business that you- 

[00:41:43] Steve: I think it goes back to something I probably said 10, 15 minutes ago. I’m… I haven’t always made the best business decisions, and I know that, and m- my b- my largest fault is that I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I sometimes need to be a little bit mindful of that and sort of think- For a longer period of time as to whether something is the right decision or not.

[00:42:09] Ben: Well, I, I would say don’t take that heart off your sleeve for too long. Just maybe for the couple of them-

[00:42:14] Steve: Life’s too short … 

[00:42:15] Ben: maybe for a couple of those decisions… just take it off for a minute and put, but pop it straight back on… because that’s what people love about you. And, um, I just wanna say thanks for coming on.

[00:42:25] Steve: No, it’s a pleasure. Thank you. 

[00:42:25] Ben: And thanks for being so honest and open and vulnerable and, and chatting about it. 

[00:42:32] Steve: No, it’s my pleasure. 

[00:42:32] Ben: Um, ’cause I think it’s gonna… You know, people are gonna understand the festival a little bit more now, and understand where your journey’s been on it. 

[00:42:39] Steve: Mm. 

[00:42:39] Ben: Um, where can we go to get tickets?

[00:42:42] Steve: Chilfest.co.uk. 

[00:42:44] Ben: Excellent. We’ll put all those details on for you too. 

[00:42:45] Steve: Brilliant. Appreciate it. 

[00:42:46] Ben: And, uh, we look forward to seeing Chilfest in Tring for many years to come, Steve. 

[00:42:52] Steve: I- indeed, indeed. 

[00:42:53] Ben: Thanks for joining us. 

[00:42:54] Steve: That’s a pleasure. Thank you for your time. 

[00:42:56] Ben: Cheers. 

[00:42:56] Steve: Cheers. 

[00:42:58] Ben: Thanks for watching this week’s episode of Berko and Beyond.

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, then drop us an email, podcast@berkoandbeyond.com. And don’t forget to like and subscribe wherever you watch or listen to your podcasts. 

We’ll see you next week.