I had the chance to sit down with JK McKnight this weekend to discuss Forecastle 2008. JK is doing wonderful things for this city to help put it on the map. Last year he brought De La soul, Girl Talk and De Novo Dahl. This year, we can only guess.

How was Forecastle started?

Well it started right down there (points down the street to Tyler Park). It started in 2002 and I’d just got back from South Carolina. I spent a year down there. I pretty much knew at 13 what I wanted to do. I always been really interested in large outdoor festivals. I’d been to lollapalooza when I was just a kid. I went to the Tibetan Freedom Festival in DC. I was really just fascinated by them, so many great concerts. I just wanted do something like that, something small. So I got 6 bands together in Tyler Park. I just loved the vibe, how the whole thing came together so I did it again the next year and added the art and activism aspect.

Who all is involved?

There are a lot of people involved. I’m the only one who does this full time, all day every day. We have about 12 committees. Pretty much all volunteers. We have a committee for pretty much every single portion of the event. Hopefully that will change soon. But we’re all working at capacity. Sometimes that doesn’t get seen, but I was looking at the different companies I’ve worked with over the last 5 years and it was over 800 different companies. So it takes a lot of work.

What sort of music are you listening to these days?

Actually while I was in Chicago recently I was talking with Sam from Windish agency, the manager for people like Dan Deacon and Girl Talk. He gave me a bunch of cds like Santogold. Also Sufjan Stevens, Peter Bjorn & John. Those are some of the only ones I can think of that I’ve been listening to a lot off the top of my head. I haven’t really gotten into a lot of new stuff. I listened to Dan Deacon’s record and there is one I really like off of that one. I listen to a lot of old music really.

How did you get into music personally?

I was 13 and I was really into Guns N’ Roses and while this explanation sounds simple, but it’s the way a 13 year old mind works I guess. I would listen to solos by Slash and all I knew was that if I could do that, I’d be good. And so I picked up a guitar and I started playing. I put out records, I started touring, marketing, promotion. I started just doing everything I could to try to learn it all. I started at UofL, meeting people, and then all I’ve learned since starting Forecastle and doing all the festival stuff. I don’t get the chance to play anymore. It’s just the nature of the beast. I’m not going to fight it. Also, my studio got flooded last year next to Headliners, so that’s a big part of it. If I still had that I’d probably try to get in their each night, but as it is I don’t.

What’s the formula for choosing bands for Forecastle?

It gets more and more stringent every year. It really does, as we learn more and more about what it takse to draw thousands and thousands of people to the riverfront. It’s started to get extremely scientific. We’ll probably have about 500 submission by the time Forecastle comes around. Bands starting getting my cell phone number from people and calling me, but it’s laid out there for everyone of them. This is the way the circle works. 10 bands equals sponsorship equals this and it has to work. If you’re not out there working your ass off, touring all over the country, the likelihood of you playing is extremely tiny. There’s just no value there.

We’re going to have East stage, but it’s going to be a smaller portion whereas last year it was amuch bigger priority than it s this year, whereas this year its all west stage. Also we have sort of what I call an extended talent committee. If I hear a band that I like I might shoot it up to Jeff from Jambase and see what he thinks about them. Tyler from Southern Comfort as well. Bobby knows tons of music. My sister can see what sort of bands her friends and girls her age like to get a different perspective. We can find something that we can all agree on, we know its good. We end up making this giant music list of a couple hundred bands and most of our bands come off off that.

Is there a theme to the bands that we see at Forecastle?

There is and there isn’t. Bobby is going to curate Friday night and is going to focus on a much more electro-hop kind of crowd. Artists like Chromeo and that. We’re going to diversify a lot more this year than we have in the past. Production Simple is going to help out with Saturday and Sunday. We want to do it more by age group than genre. I can’t really explain it. I know when I hear something or see something whether it fits or not. I can really put it in a one liner, but there is a light format like I said about Bobby’s friday night. For Saturday and Sunday we’re probably going to all-out rock, pop, stuff like that. Sunday will probably be more family oriented…bluegrass, stuff like that. But not really by genre.

What have you gotten out of Forecastle personally?

For me, it’s largely the relationships I’ve developed. All the people I’ve met all over the region. I can jump in my car right now and drive anywhere in those 10 cities and know anyone in the crowd of people I’d want to know. That’s really cool. Myself and Evan Clark and Mike Foster will go on our spring tour in April or May going all around the area and just meeting and seeing all the people we can. Going to Culture Shock in Bloomington and things like that.

What’s the craziest thing that has happened?

The craziest thing ever? We have a catastrophe every year. It’s the nature of these things. 2003 was the last year we had a clean festival where nothing crazy happened. 2004 we had a giant storm hit about a week before the festival. Everyone who was there I’m sure remembers it. It knocked out power to most all of the city and they had to bring in utilities companies from outside to repair everything. It was like 60 mph winds that just knocked out everything. I remember that real vividly. There was nothing I could do, but luckily it came on the day of the festival. In 2005 in Tyler Park we lost our main stage twice in 24 hours due to crazy weeks. The first one was just run straight into the overpass. It was the mayor’s brand new stage, probably $6,000. Then we got one from Nashville, but the driver ran off the road. So the day of the show, at 6am I wake up and I didn’t have a stage. I didn’t panic really. It was in Cherokee park so I just took a little walk into a meadow and found my happy place. So I just got on my phone and started calling everyone. I was calling numbers I didn’t even know. I called one of our vendors who knew the number of this guy and got him out of bed and said we’ll pay whatever it takes to get a stage, but we need it in 2 hours. But he did it, he saved the day and the festival. In 2006 we lost 2,000 wristbands. That was pretty bad. Last year we had an inch of rain. So hopefully we’ll get our 5 year break this year. No major catastrophes. Everything will be smooth.

How has Louisville received the festival?

It’s been going good. We need to diversify things a bit more. We did it last year bringing in some hip hop acts like De La Soul, but we need to do it more. Days need to be drawn differntly to target different people. Otherwise you can’t cannibalize your audience, we don’t want to just have the AAA/WFPK crowd out every day. That’s why I’m excited to have Bobby on boar, because he can curate a night unlike anything we’ve ever had before. But that’s the key, diversifying and being able to bring different groups of people. The Louisville market alone can’t sustain it, which is why we focus on trying to get to the other cities. It’s already established here. Whether you’re a 60 year old lawyer or a 20 year old sorority girl, you know what it is. So we’re trying to get to the other cities and build off of that awareness we’ve created. If we can get to the point where 15-20% of our audience is coming from out of state, that will really help to sustain the growth. The awareness is there in other cities largely as the result our partnerships we’ve been forming like WOXY in cincinnati. We’re going to represent all the cities this year, which is something we’ve never done before. All 10 of our sister cities will have an area set aside for themselves. It’s going to be more media based. In Lexington it’s going to be things like the WFPL guys. Cincinnati will have a section, and WOXY and groups like that. Having all the regional bloggers is huge for us too. We’ll have the media outlets, the record store, art organizations like Art Hospital in Bloomington.

But to get more directly back to it, Louisville has been a great city for the event. Last year the weather got our numbers down a little bit, but every year we shoot for around 10,000 people. We will do everything in our power to get to that point.

Where do you see Forecastle going over the next few years?

I definitely see it staying at the Belvedere. Not to simplify it, but I just want to see it growing in these 10 cities we’re really appealing to. I don’t really have a 10 year plan or anything, I just really want to see it continue to grow. We have the place, we have the dates every year. I just want to see it keep getting bigger and bigger. Hopefully bring in some support staff.

What can we expect to see different this year?

We’re going to build up the educational side of the festival this year. We want to do big music panels this year, even if we only do one a day. I want to have an art tent this year, where we do like a art therapy thing. But mostly just more panels, more dissucssions. Adding a Sunday is a pretty big deal. We’re moving Friday back 5pm this year. Downtown, people coming in from work, we had to shut down the parking garage, pissing off everyone needing to get to work in the morning. So this year we’re going to do 5 or less main acts on Friday. Also, we’re going to do more sports stuff this year up on the Belvedere. Last year we had a rock wall, but this year we want to add to that. Then again like I said earlier, we’re going to have the Electro-hop night which is something we’ve never done before. Also representing all of the big 10 cities. Really this year is going to have quite a few differences than previous years. I’m excited about this year.

So speaking of music panels, what are your thoughts on the music industry these days?

It’s interesting, because its the first time that really everybody is hurting. A few years ago it was really only the recording companies. But now its the artists, the promoters, the labels, managers, venues, everyone. As for thet bands, they’re having to work harder than ever before. To get their money, they’re requiring larger guarantees than ever before, which puts pressure on promoters to bring in the bands who will get the most people to the show, but have less of a guarantee paid down. As for the bands, its more competitive than its ever been. A few years ago everyone was saying “it’s the year of the independent artist” because of the Internet and self-promotion. But the thing is, because it’s so easy, everyone does it. So now these bands need to realize that there is sort of a roadmap to success. Needless to say it starts with making a great album. But that isn’t enough anymore. These bands need someone to show them the way, a mentor of sorts, who is at the top tier. What it takes though is a lot of work. You have tour consistently, even if it regional. You can’t oversaturate yourself in any market. And you have to keep coming out with great music too. That’s the hardest thing on independent bands. I have a band that made one of the best independent albums I’ve ever bought, and they ave so much incredible potential, but their second was not to par at all with the first one. And the saturation of bands in the market right now is just huge, and you just don’t get a second chance. If that second album isn’t consistent, you’re gone. That’s not even to say the labels and publicists and people at that level. The consumers won’t give a second chance. Even if it takes 3 years to put out, don’t put something out that doesn’t reflect everything you’ve got. With a market as saturated as it is, you just can’t. People will throw it away and go to the next thing.

As for retail, people aren’t buying records anymore. They’re downloading them from amazon or iTunes. I don’t think people are downloading them illegally the way they used to. Instead, retail is having to go down new avenues like Ear X-tacy has. They’re the perfect model. You can’t just sell records anymore, you have to sell wearables, and shotglasses and thinks like that just to stay alive. They need to become a one-stop cultural outlet.

When do tickets go on sale?

Typically April 20-22nd. We’ll try to have the bands announced by then, but we’re going to have you guys at Backseat Sandbar help announce our bands as we confirm them. But we’ve only just started booking bands officially as of yesterday so it’s hard to say when the lineup will be completely announced. Also there are more spots to fill because of the extra day, but around April we should be able to start getting some announced.

Do you need Volunteers?

Absolutely. Go to the webpage at http://www.forecastlefest.com and email me at JK @ ForecastleFest dot com. It took over 150 people last year to make it happen. We always need people and volunteers.