A chat with Harry, the guy behind Nest Fest

Words by Hannah Powell. Images by Fran Scrimgeour and Connor Lambert.

Yo Vocal talked to Harry Pettit, founder of indie festival Nest Fest. With 2021 to be their biggest year yet, we talked music, the message, and what started it all. 

Since he was small, Harry had dreamed of being a world-champion skier. Raised in the mountains amongst the alpine of Queenstown, Harry says, “I grew up there…and got very stuck into competitive freestyle skiing”. Leaving school in Year 11 to pursue his dream, Harry figured out pretty quickly that education wasn’t for him. Going fast and flipping on skis, he said, left him far more interested. Between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, he was travelling and competing. After a few too many injuries, Harry decided to give skiing a rest. “To go see what else is out there,” he said.  

Life led him to, what Harry describes as, the “mighty” Dunedin. Hanging out with his mates who were making tunes, he soon found himself wanting to help his friends and their music. Managing and promoting the bands, tours, and their music, Harry says “After skiing and chasing my own ambitions for so long, I wanted to do something new and to share and create with my friends but also relate it to the music if it was to help. This led to some amazing people and memories on the road with some of New Zealand's most popular indie bands today.

On the first tour with Gromz’ and The Shambles’ first tour, they were asked to play at Black Barn Vineyard’s bistro. A successful gig, the owner’s hoped one day they would be big enough to play in the amphitheatre instead. “A few years later, when the bands were selling out of their tours and starting to look like they could push onto other things,” Harry said, “I kind of thought, ‘may as well take the risk and see if we can bring everyone together”. 

So, at the beginning of 2019, Nest Fest was born. Hopefully described as “bringing a bit of light and inspiration to the creative scene here in New Zealand”, Harry firmly believes that music can change people’s experiences and mindsets, for whatever reason it may be. It’s about creating a good environment and community around it, but we also want to try to make an impact outside of our own community too, he says. The festival works with charities too. For 2021, they’re working with Keep New Zealand Beautiful, and Pillars, a charity supporting young New Zealanders with parents in prison, giving them a hand with everyday needs. “[We’re] trying to have a wider impact than just what happens on the day,” Harry says. 

When it comes to the environment, the team coordinates the festival with minimal impact in mind. It’s a long-term goal they work on every year. Harry admits the importance of festivals of minimal impact and consumption, saying, “we see a brighter future in sustainability and events and we can’t wait to explore this every year to deliver a better standard”.  Harry mentions how they like to shine a light on companies such as Birdshirts, who will be selling at Nest Fest this year. 50 per cent of their profits go to support native New Zealand birds. 

It’s funny how Harry never thought he’d be doing this. Explaining how he blew out both his knees and took a few too many injuries, Harry admits he isn’t the most amazing musician himself. But it was in the transition of letting go of one aspiration and looking for what's next. “I used to fall over so many times skiing which could have been very dangerous - So I like the idea of taking on risks which might have less impact on the body now.”

“It’s widened the perspective,” he says. “And the mind, in terms of what you think you can and can’t do.”

2021 will mark the third year of Nest Fest, now sold out. With double the capacity for this year and the addition of a new stage, festival attendees are in for a treat. Get excited about local names such as Silicon, Melodownz, Mermaidens, Arjuna Oakes, Daffodils, There’s a Tuesday and 121 Soundsystem are to grace the day – and that’s only a taste of the mega line up. 

Harry says you can expect a lot more diversity in the line up next year, and a lot more diversity in the genres. “Keep your eyes open and there might be some fun quirky things [to be seen],” he says. 

Held in the beautiful Hawkes Bay at Black Barn Vineyards on the 9 Jan 2021, let Nest Fest manifest this: a warm breeze, golden light, and a boogie and a sashay through the song-drunk sun. 

2019 was the first year for Nest Fest, propelling them into the New Zealand music scene. Check out the summary video.