Interview with SOPHIE Festival Organizer Scot Reedy
19th November 2016How did you become involved in doing charity work/ putting on charity events for the S.O.P.H.I.E Lancaster Foundation?
I’ve always tried to help others where I can and in 2011 whilst having a good think about what kind of events I wanted to put on, I started to read more into the murder of Sophie Lancaster.
Being a metal head and a part of the alternative culture myself, the story really hit a nerve and I decided I wanted to help the charity anyway I could. I was already running smaller shows at the time and had a lot of contacts in bands and entertainment so decided I’d run an all day event in Sophie’s name to raise both money and awareness
Why did you choose the S.O.P.H.I.E Foundation as the charity you wanted to hold the event in aid of?
Being alternative myself, the murder of Sophie Lancaster hit far too close to home. I’ve experienced bullying and abuse in the past for how I looked of the music I liked and I knew what it felt like to be treated as an outcast, but I’d never been too seriously hurt because of it so the thought of a group of narrow-minded thugs hurting somebody, solely for how they dressed really got to me. I’d already read up on the charity and on the amazing work they were doing and decided this is the charity I related to the most and the one I felt deserved a great event to help raise some funds and awareness
The S.O.P.H.I.E Festival you have organized is going to be held at Rebellion Bar in Manchester over the course of 2 days, how did you approach Rebellion bar about the event?
I sent an email over to them after previous venues became too costly and were just too far from the city centre. I explained the cause and the event and their owners were more than happy to host the event. The venue and the staff are brilliant and I couldn’t have asked for a better place to run the festival
I will always be grateful to the Rebellion team for allowing me to host the show there.
Can you tell us a little about the S.O.P.H.I.E Foundation and how it has impacted upon yourself?
The Sophie Lancaster Foundation is tirelessly campaigning to educate people on the effects of bullying and to show that violence is not the way. Thanks to the foundation, attacks on alternative people have dropped and have also been reclassified in many places as hate crimes.
They use the name S.O.P.H.I.E. in memory of Sophie Lancaster, but it also stands for Stamp Out Prejudice Hate and Intolerance Everywhere. This is a goal we all want to see achieved. Nobody should be victimized for the way they look or the things they like and the foundation are doing everything they can to reach this goal.
As a metal head and a part of the alternative culture, this charity is very close to my heart.
How are you finding Rebellion as a venue, after using a different venue for the previous S.O.P.H.I.E event you held?
Rebellion is easily the best venue we’ve ever used. The size is perfect for what we have now, the staff are amazing and the sound quality and stage are superb. We did like the Longfield in Prestwich but it was too far from Manchester for us and far too big for the level we were at when we ran the event there. Before that we used the Guzzlin’ Goose pub in Ashton-under-Lyme. Sadly the little pub is no more, but I’ll always have a soft spot for it as it was one of the first places I ran regular shows in. It definitely wouldn’t be able to hold the amount of people and bands we have today.
Would you ever consider turning the S.O.P.H.I.E Festival into an outdoor event?
We have spoken about it as a possibility in the future if we reach levels that would warrant it. But as it stands we’re not at that level just yet so it isn’t something we could do at this moment
But it’s certainly something worth talking about again in the future.
What do you think draws in the crowds to the S.O.P.H.I.E Festival?
The bands, the atmosphere and the caliber of entertainment as well as the strong bond people who are a part of the alternative culture share. We’re like one big family.
In 10 years time where do you see the S.O.P.H.I.E Festival?
Hopefully outdoors, few thousand people and some big names sharing the stage with smaller underground bands.
What do you have to take into consideration when organising a festival?
Cost is the biggest factor when running any kind of show, then numbers, safety, catering, ticketing, security. There’s a lot of hard work in putting on the Sophie Festival. It takes us almost a year to organize everything.
Do you think it’s important to have the right crew when working behind the scenes of a Festival?
Definitely, I couldn’t do this show without my team. I’m the general manager, I book bands, I monitor and send out tickets, deal with the flyer and poster designs, event pages and distribution as well as food and accounts on the day. I also design and send off for merch and printing so I don’t get a lot of time so it’s vital I have my team. Ric is second in command, he helps with the Facebook page and events pages, also bookings and stage management. He also helps with costs and finding accommodation etc for acts. Then we have Mike who will be in charge of PR and Press on the day and Robb who will be doing on the day promotions and helping with general duties. We also have volunteers on the day who help us with anything we need.
Thank you for your time and we will catch you at the event!
