Off the Record

Kevelle Wilson 0:31
Hello everyone, this is WKNC 88.1 HD one rally. We are a student run nonprofit radio station based in North Carolina State University. I am Kevelle here with off the record. Today, I'm here with Max and I will be taking the time out to interview. Mine introducing us.

Max 0:50
Yep, yep. So my name is Max, and the owner of the maker society, and when and why did you start the maker society? Yeah. So I actually started help start another business called triangle pop up and split off from that after about a year of running it. And the maker society was built to help local vendors connect with the community. And so that's how it started a few years ago. And since then, kind of added some more different types of events in some festivals, and now kind of starting some music festivals.

Kevelle Wilson 1:29
Very cool. Very cool. So what in the first place made you want to kind of had your own music festival? Yeah. Yeah.

Max 1:41
You know, there's a lot that goes into it. And I think one of the big things about wanting to bring these festivals and music festivals to the area's just trying to bring some unique events here.

Kevelle Wilson 2:22
So what are some of the responsibilities of running a music festival that some people like? wouldn't think of?

Max 1:54
We researched a lot of events out west in either Texas or California of Las Vegas, a lot of really cool festivals being run out there. And Raleigh is in Durham and the surrounding areas, a really fast growing area. And so we're really wanting to bring some of those festivals that aren't here yet, to the area.

Kevelle Wilson 2:18
Okay, thank you for that insight.

Max 2:31
Yeah. You know, we're, you're running everything for the music festival. So there's a lot that goes into it from the planning to the execution of the event. And lots of moving parts when it goes into, you know, small events. And this is a, you know, with the larger events, it's just a lot more moving parts. So looking the band's finding the right bands for the specific music festival, having a headliner that, you know, is going to attract people. And then filling in the rest of the bands as well. And you know, bringing in the food trucks, the vendors, the art installations, putting together Security Police permits for the event permits for alcohol. Lots of Yeah, a ton of background stuff when it goes into planning events and planning music festivals and a lot of small task.

Kevelle Wilson 3:39
Okay, I kind of want to dive deep into what you said, talking about local vendors, how do you is your process kind of choosing who you're going to have at your events?

Max 3:48
Yeah, that's a good question. So each event is different. And so we have some events that are just focused on markets and, and the local vendors are the main focus of that. And then we have larger festivals that also focus on markets, like our makers holiday fest, which is on Fayetteville Street. This will be our third year running that event. And we have last year we had 140 vendors and about 10,000 people 11,000 people that came through. So we look at a lot of different factors when we're choosing the vendors that are coming in, we're looking at their social media, the quality of their photos, the quality of their products. When we try not to you know over saturate a certain type of vendor, so we have a lot of jewelry Bath and Body candle vendors that apply. So you know, a lot of a lot of them won't get in every market because, you know, we don't want 20 Jewelry vendors if it's a 40 vendor marketer, so also trying to curate it so that the vendors do well. And so they're not oversaturated in the market. Yeah, so this A lot of factors that go into play when when choosing vendors.

Kevelle Wilson 5:03
Speaking about curation, the most important event, most important part of an event is the bands that you have add to your kind of curation process come when you're choosing them.

Max 5:15
Yeah, especially for a music festival. Obviously, the bands are the focus and the most important part and, and being so new to the music industry. And this is our first year running music festivals. So, right now honestly, we're just learning a lot on how to how to choose the bands. And we have reached, we reached out to some of the bands that we already know that have been in our events and reach out to them and their contacts in who they think would also be a good fit for that specific type of event. So for the event coming up flower fest as indie music festival, so choosing a lot of bands that are indie rock, indie rock, that kind of genre. We've also met a few people in the area who actually book bands. And so we're getting connected with them. And eventually, they'll help us actually book the bands for our future music festivals, since they're in the industry and Saba huge knowledge base about bands and area as well as regional and national bands.

Kevelle Wilson 6:21
Okay, very cool. So based off the bands that you've had performed so far, what's kind of been your favorite performance personally.

Max 6:33
We had one out of Miami. That's been our, our biggest one. So far. They were called Afro beta. And they were a duo. And they were actually from Cuba, or their family's from Cuba. And so they are kind of like this psychedelic electronic duo. They both had great voices. And they're really big in the in the Miami area. They've done a lot of large festivals as well. And so they've, yeah, they knew how to put on a show. They had the right outfits, the right performance. They were really fun to watch.

Kevelle Wilson 7:16
So you said earlier that flower fest kind of focuses on indie rock and kind of genres associated with that. So what kind of goes into choosing like a genre? or kind of a quote unquote, vibe for a festival? Yeah.

Max 7:33
Yeah, that's a good question. I think right now, we're just testing some of the stuff out and really seeing kind of what genres do best in the area and what genres people are interested in. So the first one we had was called Conscious Cosmos, and it was more like psychedelic and type music. And, and then the second one flower fest, indie, indie rock. And, yeah, we're, we also look into kind of the demographics of what people are listening to these days. And so the indie rock space is one of the big genres rap is a big genre, which we haven't gotten into. Pop is a big genre for music festivals in EDM is actually one of the biggest genres right now for a music festival. So that's another one that we hope, hope to do in the near future. So yeah, kind of playing off those big genres that are that are out there that people are listening to. And then also, choosing the right genre for the right venue is also another big thing. Sasha Quarry Hills, runs two events a year and they have a lot of like folk and indie and rock type musicians out there already. And so the people who go to those festivals and know Shikari hills, are they interested in that type of music?

Kevelle Wilson 9:05
Nice, actually did a little bit of research Shakori hills, and they seem like an awesome venue. What made you choose them?

Max 9:12
Yeah, they're really one of the like, the most unique venues in the area. They're a nonprofit, and they run multiple events on the East Coast. They run one in New York to here and then I think one in Florida. Yeah, choosing their venue. Where, you know, we're looking to choose venues that already are doing producing a lot of music. And since they are one that already hosts music festivals, that's one of the big reasons we chose them. Another big reason is just going out there to their music festivals. It's just such a fun vibe going out there very different, like different unique type of people and people that are really just in to music and enjoying their time out there and yeah, so they're grassroots festivals. Awesome. And so being able to go out there and kind of see that and see the festival you know, see the festival live, I think was a big factor in in choosing that venue, such as

Kevelle Wilson 10:20
Shakori Hills is an awesome venue and a great local nonprofit. What other So basically, what, in what way does flower fest kind of help with kind of maker societies? Commitment to small businesses like what are some local businesses you'd like to highlight that are going to show up?

Max 10:43
Yeah, yeah. So we'll have you know, we'll have food truck local food trucks, local vendors, a lot of our bands are local too. So most of the bands are local that our headliner is from out of town. They're from Nashville, but everyone else is a local band. So you have relay relay who's based based out of Raleigh, swans gate as well, based in the area, tracksuit bass at Chapel Hill, street, local based in the area. So all of our bands, besides one of them are our local bands. And so really trying to you know, at least keep a lot of the music at our events, local and, you know, obviously still wanting to bring in some bigger headliners that are going to, you know, excite people, but filling in the rest with those local bands so that, so that, so that they can get more exposure in the area, so that they can really start growing. And then as well as bringing our vendors as well, we'll have 48 local vendors in the area as well as five to six food trucks and so all those vendors are local and so bringing, you know, a large population to these events so that the vendors and the community can connect with one another and learn more about one another. We'll have a lot of unique vendors at this event since it's different than other stuff we run you know, music festival you have like, a lot of tie dye and we'll have a henna vendor a tarot card reader. So a lot of like really cool, unique Well, obviously it's called Flower Festival also have vendors selling flowers, flower crowns. Our art installations that we'll have were run by West Queen studio. And she's done a lot with art and Blum at the Museum of Art won multiple awards with through that and so yeah, a lot of unique really cool stuff at this event.

Kevelle Wilson 12:58
Yeah, shout out west Queen studio, because obviously the whole reason it's called Flower fest is because of them. Why did you choose to kind of base the whole theme of this festival around the studio?

Max 13:13
Yeah, I mean, so well. So we actually it was started out as my team just kind of going over ideas and just, you know, throwing up a bunch of stuff on a theme board and kind of like a no bad idea. situation and and so one of the one of our staff members had mentioned, you know, flower fast and, and so really just originated with those two words and, and then bringing everything else around. And so, you know, knowing that we wanted to get into music festivals, we kind of took flower Fest and and music festival and combined it and thought more about okay, what kind of what kind of music embodies a flower fest? What kind of installations would body and embody a flower fest? What kind of partners do you want to have? And so that's a big reason why we brought in West Queen studio and because she's super knowledgeable in the area when it comes to flower installations and as a florist. So yes, it's gonna be in some really cool stuff. You know, flower flower arch flower bridge. She's doing a fairy flower tree, which is going to be cool. So yeah.

Kevelle Wilson 14:43
So let's get back to the band jocks. You have a flower fests late notice is one of your headliners. I've actually seen them a few times live and I love the energy they have. Why did you choose them as a headliner?

Max 15:00
Yeah, yeah. So we, like I was saying earlier, we connected with a few people who really know the bands in the area. And so after talking to one of these guys who, who books, a lot of bands, one of the bands that he books is late notice, as well as wild love our other headliner from Nashville. So, you know, knowing him booking those two bands, and knowing those two bands was a big reason that we ended up choosing both of them to be our headliners. And yeah, both both solid bands, late notices growing in popularity in the area pretty quickly. A lot of lot of pretty young bands actually growing in popularity in the area. And so that was one of the big reasons we chose late notice. You know, cuz meeting this connection, who knows them and books them and, and also just the energy they bring, and they're growing popularity in the area where some big factors in choosing them?

Kevelle Wilson 16:11
Yeah, a great option, in my opinion, opinion, at least. So kind of how involved you get in kind of talking to different music groups you're going to have at your festivals.

Max 16:26
Yeah, right now, I'm pretty involved. As I said, a couple of these guys that really know the music industry really well. I want to get them more involved since they are more well connected than I am. And they already have relationships with a ton of bands. And one of them is Grant who actually books all the music for sure Shakori hills. And so him and two other guys that live in New York and Florida. Book the bands for for all the music festivals that the grassroots festival, Asha Cory hills and the grassroots festivals in New York and Florida run. And so yeah, right now, I am very in the weeds and in the mix, and to booking those bands. And I definitely still want to be in the future. You know, obviously have the final say of, you know, whether I think the band will be a good fit for the event or not. But I definitely want to rely on the expertise of grant and some of these other guys who really know the industry industry well and personally know the bands well. To help book the bands.

Kevelle Wilson 17:44
Okay, I've heard you mentioned relationships a lot kind of building a music festival. And I feel like this all kind of depends on relationship, your relationship to the vendors, the bands and the people in the music industry. How do you kind of build those relationships and make the best music festival?

Max 18:01
Yeah, good question. Definitely takes time for sure. You know, and we're just starting out in the music festival, industry. And so a big thing for us is just learning and learning from our mistakes. And you know, our first music festival that we ran, it was a month ago, it didn't go as planned. And, but that's okay, because we learned a lot from it. And we're taking those mistakes that we learned from that event and putting those into the flower Fest and really making sure that flower Fest was going to be a successful event. And yeah, so the relationships are everything when it comes to building a business. And especially when you have a business in the event industry. Building those relationships is huge. And a lot of we have a lot of new partners for this event like West Queen studio. We are partnering with Raleigh City Farm and they're a nonprofit in the area who helps provide food to low income areas. And so we're getting a percentage of our proceeds from alcohol to them, to help support them and their huge name in the area. And just talking to grant from Shikari hills and some other people they've connected me to, you know, two or three more people each that are in the industry. And so yeah, I mean, the relationships are huge, and relationships are what you know, coming together and putting on an event together is much better than putting on an event by yourself. You know, you're bringing in the audiences from each person, you're bringing in expertise from each person and each company and ultimately the events going to end up Doing better because you're, you're not doing it alone. And you're learning from the people that are with you. And and so yeah, a lot of really smart people that I'm meeting and and the events will obviously be a lot better because of the partnerships that we have and not doing it alone.

Kevelle Wilson 20:18
So for the day of an event, where are you? Are you on the kind of the grounds kind of watching all the festivals going? Are you in the background? Making sure everything's going okay, where are you usually at?

Max 20:32
Yeah, that's pretty much everywhere right now. So we do have staff at the event. And so the day of the event can be pretty chaotic, especially at the beginning. Just setting everything up and getting everything prepared before the people start coming in. For this event, specifically, we'll have a parking parking crew have a ticketing crew, we'll have some security. We'll have crew signing alcohol. And then the rest of the people are you know, food trucks and vendors who kind of are self managed and do their own thing. So yeah, right now, kind of the day of I'm all over the place between each each crew and helping them out making sure everything's set up making sure the, you know, the parking and is running smoothly, so that people can get in quickly making sure the ticketing booth is all set up, and the Wi Fi works and everything so that we can get people through the event. So they're not waiting in long lines. Yeah, so right now kind of everywhere and bouncing around a little chaotic. But you know, as we continue to learn, we're developing systems for the event so that we can pass those systems off to our staff to make it runs smoother. And, and so that I can kind of be more in the background and just helping as needed.

Kevelle Wilson 22:13
Nice. So the audience kind of feels the event without them there wouldn't really be a music festival. I think y'all do a great job kind of advertising to get a good audience base actually saw an ad for you all before I even started or even started researching you. So what avenues do you do the kind of market your different events and make sure you have the audience you want.

Max 22:40
Yeah. That's something that's also changing as of recent, and especially for this event. You know, like I said, we learned a lot from the last event that we did that didn't go as planned. And one of the things that we learned is that we need to start marketing in different avenues and our instagram and facebook marketing has always done pretty well for us, getting people to the events. And but we're learning especially for these music festivals that we need to broaden our marketing tactics. And you know, obviously coming on here and in working with a couple other radio stations reaching out to some news stations doing more giveaways with our partners like rally city farm. We just did a giveaway with a partner called real local who promote bands and concerts in the area. And so really, really getting more into the community for these events. Still running those Instagram ads Facebook ads and doing a lot of social media traffic but but yeah, really choosing like the marketing avenues that makes sense for for the specific event. So for a music festival, obviously partnering with radio stations that play music all day to reach audiences that listen to music and are interested in music. Yeah, so that's that's kind of where we are now is trying to expand our marketing tactics so that we reach a wider audience.

Kevelle Wilson 24:22
Nice. Is there anything else you wanted to mention specifically about flower fest? For I move on to personal questions?

Max 24:30
Yeah, sure. So flower fest. I don't think actually went over this June 17. That from 11am to 7:30pm. At the Quarry Hills is when flower Fest will be held will have six bands, art installations, who checks, vendors, activities, drinks. So definitely come out and join us where Right now we're running a promotion. So everyone who shares it on their Instagram or Facebook page will get buy one, get one free ticket. So make sure to follow us, the makers, society and makers is without an E. So the makers Ma k RS society, on Facebook or Instagram or you can follow us@makers.com Ma k rs.com. And join our newsletter, we have weekly or bi weekly newsletters to promote the events that we have going on. So definitely make sure to share this on your social feeds and, and send us an email at info@makers.com so that we can get you a free ticket with the purchase of one.

Kevelle Wilson 25:46
Thank you for that. So less about your kind of position in maker society and more about you as a person as living in a triangle. So what is one of your favorite local restaurants here

Max 26:02
are some good ones in the area. I mean, we're brewery Rivanna is a good one. We really liked the agent, some of the agent spots, five star, five stars a really good one. lime and lemon is a good Indian spot came from Durham now in Raleigh. I would say those are my top three in the area.

Kevelle Wilson 26:29
So obviously you being the owner of makers, society you're trying to put on a great festival and performance for your audience members. You personally what are the best show experience you've ever had?

Max 26:46
It's kind of funny because I wasn't a big show goer in the past and now that I am getting more into the music industry. I think I've been to like three music festivals in the past six months where I've never gone to one before. And so I mean, so Cory Hills was was super fun. Let's see favorites. I've seen Lake Street dive multiple times. We saw them. My sister mom and I saw them at the orange peel. Man, I don't even know how long ago it was probably like 10 years ago now. And they were only playing to maybe like 1000 people or 700 people in the crowd. So they were pretty small at the time. And then we saw them again recently at Coca booth amphitheater, and, you know, probably had four to 5000 people there and so they're always a really fun one to watch. very upbeat. The head and the heart. They were fun to see at Red Hat amphitheater. It was probably top two that I can think of right now.

Kevelle Wilson 27:59
Now the triangle area is full of awesome music venues. Shout out Shikari hills. what are maybe some music venues you'd like to work with in the future?

Max 28:11
Yeah. One we're talking to right now. They're pretty new on the scene. I think they only opened up a few years ago but bowstring they've been running a lot of music festivals and concerts. And so that's actually one we just talked to this past week and so hopefully, we will get a music festival going with them. We had one scheduled at cocoa booth amphitheatre folk and funk fest we unfortunately had to cancel that just due to kind of where we are right now and in the costs of it. But they they're great. They're a great team super, super friendly, super easy to work with. So as we grow our business and our music festivals Coco booth is definitely a spot we want to partner with in the future. We've been talking to Pat from Lincoln theater, they have a pretty big crowd that loves EDM music. We've been talking with them about doing like an indoor outdoor show they're getting a stage in their parking lot. Yeah, those are the three big ones right now that we're that we're chatting with and, and growing relationships with.

Kevelle Wilson 29:31
And now you kind of spoken about EDM and maybe even having hip hop, a part of future venues. What's your opinion on mosh pits? Because it was very popular with those girls.

Max 29:44
Oh, man. I mean, me personally, I'm not going to be in it. But you know. I don't know. Just be safe. I guess. I have too much of a viewpoint on that. So I think you probably see less of them at like EDM concerts and more of those that like really heavy, heavy rock heavy metal. Which at least we don't kind of intend to have in the our events in the near future. That could always change. Yeah, we're kind of at least right now. Staying away from some of like the harder harder music and harsher music.

Kevelle Wilson 30:31
Very fair a lot of places already do that. So last kind of general question. What was your favorite band and growing up as a kid?

Max 30:43
Linkin Park. Yeah, loved loved them. I actually was supposed to see them for the first time in Charlotte. And it was like a month out from the event and it was when Chester ended up committing suicide and so that was a very sad moment and was super excited to see them but unfortunately didn't get wasn't able to. But yeah, definitely through like my teen year early teen years and middle school years Linkin Park was definitely a fun band to listen to and still love listening to them.

Kevelle Wilson 31:23
Nice. Is there anything else that I felt a question you on that you'd like to talk about?

Max 31:31
Oh, don't think so. Yes, a lot of good questions. I guess it can follow us on the maker society on Facebook or Instagram makers with is without an e makers.com ma KR s.com. And now I just I appreciate you guys being willing to chat and talk about our event coming up and ask a lot of really good questions. So I thought was a really fun interview.

Kevelle Wilson 31:58
So just one more time if you don't mind just in case the listeners missed it. What is flower fest one more time?

Max 32:04
Yep, flower fest are in the music and art festival will be held. Shikari Hills June 17. From 11am to 7:30pm. We'll have six bands, five of them local one of them from out of state flower installations by West Queen studio vendors, flower vendors, food trucks, and drinks and more. So

Kevelle Wilson 32:35
this has been off the record with KeyVault thank you for tuning in. You can check out our other interviews at wknc.org/podcasts and click on off the record. I would say what Max today WKNC 88.1 FM HD one rally. Thank you for listening and take care