The role of festival organizer with Alexis from the Halloween Tribute Fest

The music sector is full of professions that are as exciting as they are sometimes little-known. That is why we decided to launch a series of interviews to shine a light on those who work every day in the music industry.

For this new interview dedicated to music industry professions, we meet Alexis, member of the band Meteora (tribute to Linkin Park) and organizer of the Halloween Tribute Fest (alongside Wolf Records Productions). He takes us behind the scenes of the festival's organization, the specificities of this role, the challenges to be faced, and the moments that make this adventure particularly rewarding!

Hi Alexis, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! To start, can you tell us about the birth of the Halloween Tribute Fest? What is the concept?

Hi, thanks for this exchange!

The Halloween Tribute Fest was born in 2017, when Meteora, of which I am a member, was looking with Slither (Metallica tribute) and The Scarsystem (SOAD/RATM tribute) for a joint concert project. I had the idea of putting on a special themed concert for Halloween, with bands and an audience in costume! The first edition and the ones that followed took place at the Red Studio in Douai and were an immediate hit.

When you are a festival organizer, what are the main responsibilities throughout the year?

For the past few years, this festival has been produced together with Philippe from Wolf Records Productions. The tasks are numerous: setting up the budget, building the lineup, finding volunteers, designing the poster, managing ticketing, promoting the event, booking hotels, finding technical service providers for the bar, security, food trucks, and also handling merchandise.

The audience sees the final result, but rarely what goes on behind the scenes. What are the biggest challenges you have faced in organizing the festival, and how did you manage to overcome them?

What makes things complicated is, for example, when you want to put on a Rammstein tribute, obtaining the permits for pyrotechnics. Or sometimes, if a band cancels a few days before the festival, you need to be able to react quickly and find a replacement band that won't disappoint the spectators who have already booked.

Each edition is a great success, with a loyal audience that plays along with the costume theme. In your opinion, what explains this enthusiasm year after year?

Our prices are very reasonable compared to the quality of the bands on offer (who come from all over Europe) — that's one important point. Also, it's an unusual event for all rock/metal fans looking for something to do on Halloween. And there's a really great atmosphere, thanks in particular to our volunteers, who are warm and efficient.

Is there a moment or an anecdote that perfectly sums up the spirit of the Halloween Tribute Fest? (a memory that still makes you smile today, for example!)

The band Dear Sally, coming from Grenoble, had a vehicle problem on the afternoon before their soundcheck. Together with the guys from Meteora, we were on site preparing the event alongside the other volunteers. So we jumped in our cars, as they were stranded near Arras, and went to pick them up with their equipment. They were thus able, in the nick of time, to get set up and do their soundcheck… especially since they were opening the festival.

Everything went really well for them, with a great concert… But it would have been far more problematic if they had been stranded further away from the festival, as it would have been mission impossible to replace them 2 or 3 hours before the doors opened.

Organizing a festival also means working with many partners, volunteers… How much importance do you place on the team that gravitates around the event?

Together with Wolf Records, we remain loyal to our service providers, volunteers, food trucks… AT Light, for example, our lighting and sound provider, is exemplary and very committed to our festival.

We must give a special mention to Cédric and Mathilde Quiévreux, who have been emblematic HTF volunteers from the very beginning and still come despite having moved to Chambéry!

The festival sector has evolved a great deal in recent years. How do you see the future of independent events like the Halloween Tribute Fest?

We remain a human-scale festival, so it would be hard to compare ourselves to the issues faced by larger festivals. But it is true that, even at our scale, we can see that the costs of bands, service providers, etc. have risen significantly in recent years, and at the same time, that spectators are booking more and more at the last minute.

This situation puts many festivals in difficulty, as they cannot take major financial risks. On our end, fortunately, the most loyal attendees book early enough that the festival is not at risk, and it is from September onwards that ticket sales really take off.

Finally, what advice would you give to someone who dreams of creating their own festival today but doesn't know where to start? What are the essential skills needed to create and run a festival?

After nearly 10 years of Meteora and the HTF, the advice I would give is: if you have an idea you truly believe in, go for it and work to make it happen.

Obviously, you first need to find out about the legal framework, responsibilities, and so on. After that, I would advise starting by producing a concert in venues that offer co-productions (meaning they rent out their venue, their team, and their equipment) and that allow the organizer to choose the bands, design the poster and promotion, and set up ticketing.

We recommend Billetweb.fr, which is very easy to use and has low fees!

We warmly thank Alexis for his time and hope you will have learned some great things about the role of festival organizer! To discover the Halloween Tribute Fest, click here!