Headway Festival
A look at Holland's new Prog festival
By Mark Bridgeman
On April 4-5, Amstelveen (near Amsterdam) in Holland will be host to a two-day showing of great progressive rock and metal bands from throughout Europe and the US. Being an official sponsor of the festival, UltimateMetal.com decided to take a look behind the scenes of how Headway came to be. To do this, we took the easy route - by talking to Headway co-founder and public voice, Dennis Leeflang.
WHY DONT YOU START OFF JUST TELLING ME HOW HEADWAY CAME TOGETHER?
I played in a venue called P60 in the fall of last year, with my band Sun Caged. I really liked the venue, and I really could see a festival in that venue. We have the ProgPower festival in Holland, and I go there every year - and I played there last year with Sun Caged, too. But I don't really like that venue as much as I like P60. I could just see a similar event happening in P60. Also, I just wanted to check out if... there're a lot of bands I figured would not be difficult to book, but just had not played in Holland before. Just a lot of bands Id like to see playing here. So I contacted a couple of bands and checked out if they would be available, and what their conditions would be. Before I knew it, I had a really cool lineup. The most difficult thing was to book a headliner, because the thing was that we wanted to book as many original bands as possible. Bands that had never played Holland before. But if you want to book a headliner that's going to draw people, it's probably going to be a band that's played here before because the really big bands, they play everywhere. So we booked Pain Of Salvation, as the grand headliner on the second day. They've played in Holland a lot of times, so they have enough fans to fill the venue, so we're not worried that people are disappointed. Im very happy to have Pain Of Salvation on the bill, because Im a big fan of theirs!
Prototype
One of the first bands I contacted was Prototype, from California. Ive been listening to their music for ages. I remember years ago they did a few covers for a couple of tribute CDs. They put them online and I really, really liked them cos they made their of versions of the songs. They didn't just copy the songs, but they made really... modern versions of old Iron Maiden songs and stuff like that. Ive been following the band for a couple of years, and now that they have an album out, I wanted to try and get them over because I know there are more people in Holland that would like to see them live. It was not a problem at all. They wanted to do it right away.
Another band was Freak Kitchen, from Sweden, which is also really popular and I have all their albums. I listen to them all the time and I would just really like to see them play live. I found out that theyve never played here before, so I emailed the guitarist and he said just 'go for it' right away. And all these bands are very affordable, so Im surprised they've never played in Holland before. Ive contacted around 25 bands, and most of them were available. The bands I really wanted to book and ended up not playing, was basically because they're in the studio or something. But basically every band I contacted wanted to play. And it turned out to be really easy to set up something like this, which is why Im surprised there are not a whole lot more people who do this!
Prototype
WHO ELSE IS INVOLVED WITH RUNNING THE FESTIVAL?
Well, when I played in the venue last year with my band, Onno, the booker that worked at the venue (who booked us), I contacted him at first and he was totally up for it. So we started brainstorming together. Right now he doesnt officially work there anymore, but he just works there as a freelance booker, just for this festival. Freek is also an ex-employee from the venue. Basically the same story. When I played at the venue with Sun Caged, Freek and Onno worked there as a booker and a promoter, by now they don't work there but they'll keep working there freelance for the festival. The three of us just sat down and thought over all the stuff thats involved. The venue has a lot of employees so we get help if we need it. But basically it's the three of us.
Sun Caged
SO, WHEN YOU WERE APPROACHING THE BANDS, YOU SAID BEFORE IT WAS REALLY EASY. DID YOU HAVE ANY HICCUPS ALONG THE WAY THAT MADE YOU WONDER WHY YOU WERE EVEN BOTHERING?
Yeah! Right when we started setting everything up, I contacted this one band - I won't name them - to be the headliner. They're a band that's only played Holland once before, I think 2 years ago or something. I really wanted to book them, and their manager was totally up for it. But for some reason he just would not confirm. Everything I asked, he would say "we need $1000 more and then well confirm", and at one point I would say "Ok, if you promise to play, I can give you a thousand more, but no more than that." Every time he would try another 200 and blah blah blah, and at one point it was ridiculous, I told him, 'I'm not going to offer any more, I want a heavy yes or a no", and I gave him a couple of deadlines. He would always reply 5 days after the deadline saying he needed another 5 days, you know. At one point I'd been negotiating with him for 4 or 5 months, and he would still not confirm. So we had to let them go, although we were really convinced they were going to play. That was basically the only hiccup we had. We contacted Pain Of Salvation after that, and they confirmed right away. So, you know - every now and then you walk into a band that just... I don't know, they achieved something, they have a popular CD, they tour with a big band, and then they just think that...
-- THEY'RE ROCK STARS
-- Yeah, they think they're rock stars. Theres nothing in it for them to be so difficult, you know. And I believe it was actually only their manager being so difficult, in this case, while the band actually really wanted to play. But the thing is, if we would email the band themselves, they would go, 'Of course we wanna play, we'll work it out', but then the manager would go, 'Well, we need another blah blah blah to be able to make it'. It became a little ridiculous.
We also booked Balance Of Power, a band from the United States, and they were confirmed and everything. But a couple of months ago their singer left the band, so we had to find a replacement, because the band couldn't make it in time with a new singer. Zero Hour, who are good friends of mine (and also a UM band!) replaced them. That's about it - it was pretty simple.
WHEN YOU WERE APPROACHING THE BANDS FOR THE FESTIVAL, WAS IT A CASE OF YOU PUTTING TOGETHER A LIST OF THE BANDS YOU REALLY LIKED...
Yeah. Basically all the bands that we booked or contacted was because they were all on my list. Every now and then the other guys would have a suggestion, and either Id already contacted that band and they were not available, or the band was not affordable, or the band was not known enough... The headliner was the most difficult to book because there were lots of bands who were totally available and affordable, but they were just not popular enough to be a headliner. There's loads of bands that are pretty wellknown but not REALLY big. They're the bands easiest to book, because there's millions of them. But a really big band that is easy to approach, and affordable, and cool guys - those are the most difficult to find!
YOU MENTIONED PROGPOWER EARLIER, WHY DO YOU THINK WE NEED ANOTHER PROG FESTIVAL IN EUROPE?
Well, I didnt actually think of it that way, when I came up with this idea, because it's not that I want to compete with ProgPower. We're actually working together. He's helping us out a little, and when the festivals over, we'll just promote ProgPower on our website and stuff. It was basically that there were just a lot of bands I wanted to see live! I just wanted to check out how difficult it would be to get a couple of those bands over. It appeared to be so simple, we could actually make it two days. Cos initially it was going to be just one day. It is basically - Im just throwing a really big party with lots of cool bands and it got a little out of hand! But it's not like I want to make a festival that's already there. I don't want to copy ProgPower, cos it wouldn't make sense. Why would I put all this work into something that's already been done? I wouldnt be proud of it. I just want to see a couple of really cool bands, and I wanted to see if I could get them over. And I was very lucky with P60. Its awesome that they liked the idea too!
Pain Of Salvation
WHY A TWO DAY FESTIVAL TO START OFF YOUR FIRST SHOW, I THINK MOST FESTIVALS START OFF WITH ONE DAY AND THEN GROW FROM THERE...
The other part of the concept is that there are a lot of bands in Holland, and also elsewhere in Europe, that I really like. Unsigned bands. Bands Ive played with with Sun Caged, that we had packages with where we played at a festival, and I really liked the bands and just wanted to give these bands a chance too. Because I think they have potential. But they're just not businessmen, so someone has to give them a change to display themselves to a big audience. Because when you don't have a record deal and a big management, it's really hard to get cool shows where important people in the business can see a band play. So there are a couple of bands who're friends of mine, and I just wanted to put them on a big stage with a couple of really cool big names. So that's the other half of the concept. When we were collecting bands, we ended up with lots of bands we could book, and at one point we had too many good ones! And were really wanted to book all of them. At one point we just had to decide to make it two days. But it's really a day and a half. The Friday is only at night (4 bands), and the Saturday is all day - 8 bands.
WHAT ABOUT THE CLINICS?
That idea came up because the genre of music that we're dealing with will draw a lot of musicians. So it's really cool to offer those people a peek into the kitchen, or whatever you want to call it. To learn how instrumentalists approach their instrument, how they practice, and what's behind the music. so I asked a couple of musicians if they would be interested in doing clinics, and luckily they loved the idea. So we have Mattias Eklundh from Freak Kitchen, he's going to do a clinic, and Rob van der Loo, the bass player from my band Sun Caged. They're just going to demonstrate how they practice, how they come up with parts for songs, they're just going to explain they're playing. So it's going to be good for musicians - but at the same time there will be bands playing, so the people who don't care can just go and watch a band.
HEADWAY PROGRESSIVE ROCK AND METAL FESTIVAL IS ON APRIL 4-5, AT P60 IN AMSTELVEEN (NEAR AMSTERDAM). BANDS APPEARING INCLUDE PAIN OF SALVATION, FREAK KITCHEN, ZERO HOUR, BUMBLEFOOT, PROTOTYPE, AND MANY MORE.
ULTIMATEMETAL.COM IS A PROUD SPONSOR OF THE FIRST HEADWAY FESTIVAL.
Useful links:
Headway Festival Website
P60 Club Website
A look at Holland's new Prog festival
By Mark Bridgeman
On April 4-5, Amstelveen (near Amsterdam) in Holland will be host to a two-day showing of great progressive rock and metal bands from throughout Europe and the US. Being an official sponsor of the festival, UltimateMetal.com decided to take a look behind the scenes of how Headway came to be. To do this, we took the easy route - by talking to Headway co-founder and public voice, Dennis Leeflang.
WHY DONT YOU START OFF JUST TELLING ME HOW HEADWAY CAME TOGETHER?
I played in a venue called P60 in the fall of last year, with my band Sun Caged. I really liked the venue, and I really could see a festival in that venue. We have the ProgPower festival in Holland, and I go there every year - and I played there last year with Sun Caged, too. But I don't really like that venue as much as I like P60. I could just see a similar event happening in P60. Also, I just wanted to check out if... there're a lot of bands I figured would not be difficult to book, but just had not played in Holland before. Just a lot of bands Id like to see playing here. So I contacted a couple of bands and checked out if they would be available, and what their conditions would be. Before I knew it, I had a really cool lineup. The most difficult thing was to book a headliner, because the thing was that we wanted to book as many original bands as possible. Bands that had never played Holland before. But if you want to book a headliner that's going to draw people, it's probably going to be a band that's played here before because the really big bands, they play everywhere. So we booked Pain Of Salvation, as the grand headliner on the second day. They've played in Holland a lot of times, so they have enough fans to fill the venue, so we're not worried that people are disappointed. Im very happy to have Pain Of Salvation on the bill, because Im a big fan of theirs!
One of the first bands I contacted was Prototype, from California. Ive been listening to their music for ages. I remember years ago they did a few covers for a couple of tribute CDs. They put them online and I really, really liked them cos they made their of versions of the songs. They didn't just copy the songs, but they made really... modern versions of old Iron Maiden songs and stuff like that. Ive been following the band for a couple of years, and now that they have an album out, I wanted to try and get them over because I know there are more people in Holland that would like to see them live. It was not a problem at all. They wanted to do it right away.
Another band was Freak Kitchen, from Sweden, which is also really popular and I have all their albums. I listen to them all the time and I would just really like to see them play live. I found out that theyve never played here before, so I emailed the guitarist and he said just 'go for it' right away. And all these bands are very affordable, so Im surprised they've never played in Holland before. Ive contacted around 25 bands, and most of them were available. The bands I really wanted to book and ended up not playing, was basically because they're in the studio or something. But basically every band I contacted wanted to play. And it turned out to be really easy to set up something like this, which is why Im surprised there are not a whole lot more people who do this!
WHO ELSE IS INVOLVED WITH RUNNING THE FESTIVAL?
Well, when I played in the venue last year with my band, Onno, the booker that worked at the venue (who booked us), I contacted him at first and he was totally up for it. So we started brainstorming together. Right now he doesnt officially work there anymore, but he just works there as a freelance booker, just for this festival. Freek is also an ex-employee from the venue. Basically the same story. When I played at the venue with Sun Caged, Freek and Onno worked there as a booker and a promoter, by now they don't work there but they'll keep working there freelance for the festival. The three of us just sat down and thought over all the stuff thats involved. The venue has a lot of employees so we get help if we need it. But basically it's the three of us.
SO, WHEN YOU WERE APPROACHING THE BANDS, YOU SAID BEFORE IT WAS REALLY EASY. DID YOU HAVE ANY HICCUPS ALONG THE WAY THAT MADE YOU WONDER WHY YOU WERE EVEN BOTHERING?
Yeah! Right when we started setting everything up, I contacted this one band - I won't name them - to be the headliner. They're a band that's only played Holland once before, I think 2 years ago or something. I really wanted to book them, and their manager was totally up for it. But for some reason he just would not confirm. Everything I asked, he would say "we need $1000 more and then well confirm", and at one point I would say "Ok, if you promise to play, I can give you a thousand more, but no more than that." Every time he would try another 200 and blah blah blah, and at one point it was ridiculous, I told him, 'I'm not going to offer any more, I want a heavy yes or a no", and I gave him a couple of deadlines. He would always reply 5 days after the deadline saying he needed another 5 days, you know. At one point I'd been negotiating with him for 4 or 5 months, and he would still not confirm. So we had to let them go, although we were really convinced they were going to play. That was basically the only hiccup we had. We contacted Pain Of Salvation after that, and they confirmed right away. So, you know - every now and then you walk into a band that just... I don't know, they achieved something, they have a popular CD, they tour with a big band, and then they just think that...
-- THEY'RE ROCK STARS
-- Yeah, they think they're rock stars. Theres nothing in it for them to be so difficult, you know. And I believe it was actually only their manager being so difficult, in this case, while the band actually really wanted to play. But the thing is, if we would email the band themselves, they would go, 'Of course we wanna play, we'll work it out', but then the manager would go, 'Well, we need another blah blah blah to be able to make it'. It became a little ridiculous.
We also booked Balance Of Power, a band from the United States, and they were confirmed and everything. But a couple of months ago their singer left the band, so we had to find a replacement, because the band couldn't make it in time with a new singer. Zero Hour, who are good friends of mine (and also a UM band!) replaced them. That's about it - it was pretty simple.
WHEN YOU WERE APPROACHING THE BANDS FOR THE FESTIVAL, WAS IT A CASE OF YOU PUTTING TOGETHER A LIST OF THE BANDS YOU REALLY LIKED...
Yeah. Basically all the bands that we booked or contacted was because they were all on my list. Every now and then the other guys would have a suggestion, and either Id already contacted that band and they were not available, or the band was not affordable, or the band was not known enough... The headliner was the most difficult to book because there were lots of bands who were totally available and affordable, but they were just not popular enough to be a headliner. There's loads of bands that are pretty wellknown but not REALLY big. They're the bands easiest to book, because there's millions of them. But a really big band that is easy to approach, and affordable, and cool guys - those are the most difficult to find!
YOU MENTIONED PROGPOWER EARLIER, WHY DO YOU THINK WE NEED ANOTHER PROG FESTIVAL IN EUROPE?
Well, I didnt actually think of it that way, when I came up with this idea, because it's not that I want to compete with ProgPower. We're actually working together. He's helping us out a little, and when the festivals over, we'll just promote ProgPower on our website and stuff. It was basically that there were just a lot of bands I wanted to see live! I just wanted to check out how difficult it would be to get a couple of those bands over. It appeared to be so simple, we could actually make it two days. Cos initially it was going to be just one day. It is basically - Im just throwing a really big party with lots of cool bands and it got a little out of hand! But it's not like I want to make a festival that's already there. I don't want to copy ProgPower, cos it wouldn't make sense. Why would I put all this work into something that's already been done? I wouldnt be proud of it. I just want to see a couple of really cool bands, and I wanted to see if I could get them over. And I was very lucky with P60. Its awesome that they liked the idea too!
WHY A TWO DAY FESTIVAL TO START OFF YOUR FIRST SHOW, I THINK MOST FESTIVALS START OFF WITH ONE DAY AND THEN GROW FROM THERE...
The other part of the concept is that there are a lot of bands in Holland, and also elsewhere in Europe, that I really like. Unsigned bands. Bands Ive played with with Sun Caged, that we had packages with where we played at a festival, and I really liked the bands and just wanted to give these bands a chance too. Because I think they have potential. But they're just not businessmen, so someone has to give them a change to display themselves to a big audience. Because when you don't have a record deal and a big management, it's really hard to get cool shows where important people in the business can see a band play. So there are a couple of bands who're friends of mine, and I just wanted to put them on a big stage with a couple of really cool big names. So that's the other half of the concept. When we were collecting bands, we ended up with lots of bands we could book, and at one point we had too many good ones! And were really wanted to book all of them. At one point we just had to decide to make it two days. But it's really a day and a half. The Friday is only at night (4 bands), and the Saturday is all day - 8 bands.
WHAT ABOUT THE CLINICS?
That idea came up because the genre of music that we're dealing with will draw a lot of musicians. So it's really cool to offer those people a peek into the kitchen, or whatever you want to call it. To learn how instrumentalists approach their instrument, how they practice, and what's behind the music. so I asked a couple of musicians if they would be interested in doing clinics, and luckily they loved the idea. So we have Mattias Eklundh from Freak Kitchen, he's going to do a clinic, and Rob van der Loo, the bass player from my band Sun Caged. They're just going to demonstrate how they practice, how they come up with parts for songs, they're just going to explain they're playing. So it's going to be good for musicians - but at the same time there will be bands playing, so the people who don't care can just go and watch a band.
HEADWAY PROGRESSIVE ROCK AND METAL FESTIVAL IS ON APRIL 4-5, AT P60 IN AMSTELVEEN (NEAR AMSTERDAM). BANDS APPEARING INCLUDE PAIN OF SALVATION, FREAK KITCHEN, ZERO HOUR, BUMBLEFOOT, PROTOTYPE, AND MANY MORE.
ULTIMATEMETAL.COM IS A PROUD SPONSOR OF THE FIRST HEADWAY FESTIVAL.
Useful links:
Headway Festival Website
P60 Club Website
