At the end of August, we posted the lineup for Mud City Meltdown, this week we got the chance to ask festival co-founder, Xavier Leger questions about the upcoming event.
We asked Xavier how it feels to hit year five, how the festival got started, how they put together the lineups and more.
Moncton, are you ready for this?
Mud City Meltdown Q&A with Xavier Leger
Q: Can you introduce yourself, and tell us a little bit about you?
XL: I'm Xavier Leger, the president and co-founder of Musik Central Inc., which is the non-profit organization that owns and manages Mud City Fest.
Q: How did you get involved with Mud City Meltdown?
XL: [I] co-founded the festival with a group of fine local individuals through Musik Central Inc.
Q: Can you talk about how Mud City Meltdown came into being?
XL: Some friends and I got together a few years back with the idea of starting a music festival. We formed Musik Central Inc. as a non-profit in order to support the idea, and after a couple years of putting on events and shows, Mud City was born.
Q: This is year five, what's it like to hit the five-year mark?
XL: Crazy! So much hard work goes into making every edition happen, and it's impossible to guarantee success from year to year, but looking back we have had so many memorable moments that really keep us motivated year after year. Looking forward to seeing what the next 5 years will bring!
Q: How has Mud City Meltdown changed over the five years?
XL: We have done our best to grow the event a little each year. Adding new venues and partners have helped us develop new opportunities for shows, and fans have responded positively by showing up in higher numbers year over year. I think most of our changes have happened internally as our team has grown and we have developed a great synergy which helps us program more efficiently.
Q: What's the biggest challenge putting on an event like this?
XL: There's always a million challenges while organizing events, but the biggest challenge for us is trying to not do too much. There are so many shows we would like to see and so many artists we would like to work with each year, but we have to make tough choices in order to make sure we don't go broke overnight!
Q: What's the process for choosing bands for the lineup?
XL: We usually start with our headliner wish list and also seeing who is planning to tour. It can be hard to strike a balance when promoting a wide variety of styles, so every time we confirm a show we think "how will this affect the rest of our program" and go from there. We also make a point to ensure that we program local and emerging artists from the region as much as possible.
Q: It's very cool that you booked Hollerado, did you know when they were booked that they were calling it a day after this tour?
XL: The booking was actually a collaboration with the Tide and Boar (one of our partner venues), so we were told this would be their last tour.
Q: What do you think it is about Mud City Meltdown that makes it successful where other festivals have struggled and folded?
XL: I wouldn't say that we haven't faced our share of struggles. It's often a fine line between success and failure when putting on a festival and either can be measured in different ways. At the end of the day, I would say the fact that we aim high, yet keep a conservative approach to booking shows helps us navigate most storms. We have learned to trust our instincts, but at the end of the day, there are no guarantees when producing shows. Of course, none of this is possible without the amazing support of our partners, sponsors and volunteers.
Q: Is there anything else you want to share with our readers?
XL: We encourage all to go out and support live shows! At the end of the day, we aim to produce the best possible live experiences, and we try to encourage people to go out and discover new artists by keeping admission as affordable as possible. We have actually introduced a new " Discover Pass " this year, which allows you to check out most of our shows at a super affordable rate. Hope to see you all at the party!