Words by Java Katzur and Liam Stretch.

Yo Vocal had a yarn with Ben and Sophie two of the organisers behind Welcome to Nowhere, a festival out in the middle of the bush in the beautiful Whanganui Region. Running for its fifth year, we talk about how it started, the Eyegum music collective, and what we can expect from the festy in 2021.

Summer is soon to be upon us, and we see dancing in the future. A festival that is definitely going to make you boogie is Welcome to Nowhere, in the greater Whanganui region. Gaining inspiration from small indie festivals, the team behind the Eyegum music collective decided to start something of a similar ilk – and added their own twist.

After finding a beautiful piece of land near the river city half a decade ago, they have grown the festival to what it is today.

“We’ve always loved visiting Whanganui - it’s a great little city with a real creative undercurrent, so it makes sense to have it in the region. We’re lucky to have made some great friendships within the Whanganui community, and we couldn’t put on the festival without them,” Sophie says.

Joining the pair to make the event a success is an army of volunteers. “A lot goes into organising and running even a small festival like this, from sound and lighting to food and drink, to security and harm reduction. We also have a smaller curation crew that looks after some of the finer details like line-up, promotion, volunteer coordination, and community engagement,” Ben says.

Some of the support people have been part of the journey for the long-haul, and others have recently joined the collective. “It’s great to see what fresh eyes and ears bring to our core curation team. It ensures we stay up to date and continue to improve and expand the festival while nurturing the lessons we’ve learned,” Sophie says.

Eyegum began putting on house parties in 2013 as a solution to the dying venue scene in Wellington. They've been putting on Wednesday shows at San Fran since 2016 and are now a staple night out for the Wellington university scene. The festival will be a collection of awesome bands just like these nights but has been developed to attract a broader audience than what you might see at one of the mid-week gigs – not to mention it is on a far larger scale.

“The festival is family-friendly, and there’s a definite sense of community when you walk through the gates. Not to mention the landscape, swimming hole, native bush… You can’t really compare the two!” Sophie says.

When putting together the line-up for next year, Sophie and Ben made sure that it was both a mix of well-known acts thrown in with some lesser-known artists. “Discovering a favourite new band is one of the reasons I love going to music festivals, and there are a bunch I’ve been dying to see live,” Sophie says.

There will be plenty of opportunities to get down to some high-quality music, but other creative mediums will also have a big presence at the festival.

“We added poetry and art in 2019, and comedy in 2020, as ways to expand what we can offer people as well as creating a point of difference compared to other festivals on the Kiwi summer circuit. We have awesome people who curate these parts of the line-up, and it’s always cool to see what they come up with. I’m particularly excited to have some local Whanganui artists involved next year,” Ben says.

Being held in February in the hot Aotearoa sun, the stand-out aspect for many attendees as well as Ben and Sophie was the swimming hole. As well as the opportunity to have a dip and cool down, there were several other memorable moments at last years iteration for the duo.

“My favourite music moment was the Dunedin double of Mary Berry and Space Bats Attack! on the first night. Topping it off with everyone on stage for a disco rave was also a pretty special way to end the weekend,” says Ben. For Sophie, it was Whanganui locals Castlecliff Lights at dusk.

After the year we’ve had, we’re all eagerly awaiting the chance to see in 2021 - and I was keen to know what is awaiting us at Welcome to Nowhere this summer. “People should expect a relaxed and low key festival in a beautiful spot they’d probably never think to visit, where they should definitely be able to find something on offer that excites and entertains them,” Ben says, and “there might even be the odd surprise or secret set throughout the weekend.”

For those lucky enough to have scored a ticket to this now sold-out Waitangi weekend festival in the Whanganui region, it’s sure to be a unique and perfect way to start off a new year.

Learn more here

Finding yourself at Nowhere