The American market seems to have really taken off, and they're created a really packed commercial festival calendar over there in the space of a couple of years.
Yes, definitely,
I'm a regular visitor to Coachella, and I've been watching the other shows that are going on out there with interest, and I think a festival would do really well out there. But much like bands, there have been lots of bands who have gone over there thinking 'right lets conquer America' and the ones you think would do really well have done appallingly, and the ones that you never saw coming would do really well. It's very uncharted territory, going over and doing something there may not necessarily prove to be a success. I think there will be even more festival events, I'm sure they will come, but it may be a bit rash of us to do one at the moment.
Any of the acts likely to be exclusive at Bestival?
Yes, the Sunday headliner will be the first time that this artist has played a festival in the UK, and as a UK exclusive too. The Friday and Saturday headliners that I'm hoping for will both be exclusives as well. As much as possible I try and go for exclusives, and that's part of the luck of where we are in the season, and it all falls into place. But out of everyone that falls into place, there are two or three that fall by the wayside. Every year I have these amazing high hopes for acts that and I really want to play Bestival, and then sadly it breaks down and they can't do that day, and they end up at Latitude, or Glastonbury, or both of them, or anywhere, and so you try and get on with the next one.
Aren't you worried about getting drunk and saying who you're after for 2020 or something?
Yes, frequently, I try to turn Twitter off after I've had a couple of drinks just in case.
There's all kinds of crazy rumours flying about at the moment about Daft Punk at Coachella, and The Rolling Stones playing Glastonbury. We got told months ago that Daft Punk were definitely not touring next year, but it keeps the rumour mill going. We'll try and make sure eFestivals gets an exclusive next month, a chance to announce something exciting.