Tom Baker knows a thing or two about throwing a party. Having started the events company Eat Your Own Ears in 2002, he has become one of the hottest promoters in London. 2009 will see the third year of the one-day boutique festival, Field Day, that grew from an idea Baker had to bring a bit of the countryside to London. The line-up this year will see performances from Mogwai, The Horrors and The Big Pink. Let’s just hope that – unlike last year – it doesn’t rain.
by Tourdates Staff Writer, first published in LondonTourdates #051 ,17th July 2009
Fingers in pies and all that: what exactly is it that you do?
I guess I just work with artists and labels really. Nowadays, I guess I have more of a normal promotional role. I work with an agent and I’ll choose a venue, or they’ll choose a venue, and I’ll make an offer and set a ticket price and then put it on sale and book adverts and do flyers, and that’s that I guess. It’s pretty standard but it’s still branded as EYOE and I guess some people will go to it because it is EYOE.
How did Field Day come about?
Years and years ago me and my girlfriend and my brother did an event called Return Of The Rural. It was the first event I ever did and it was a celebration of the countryside – because we are from Somerset – and we had various folk bands as well as well as indie bands and DJs. It was on the 291 Gallery on Hackney Road. It was the first ever gig I did. It did okay; it lost money, but it had a really good feel and a lot of industry came down. I think it basically gave me an idea for putting on events.
And Underage?
When we started Field Day we knew we had to do another event as well, because financially it didn’t make sense to just do one day. So we had loads of ideas and somebody said “Why don’t you do an underage thing?” A couple of guys we knew were already doing an underage night at The Coronet that was doing really well, so we approached the council and thought they’d put up some stumbling blocks but they were really into it and really supportive.
How many people come?
We had 10,000 the first year; we had 20,000 last year; and we’ll have 20,000 this year. We want to keep it tight. You could get 50,000 on the site but that would change the atmosphere so much. I’d love to book Radiohead to headline it and have like Neil Young on the second stage but that’s a totally different festival.
Mogwai was a bit of a coup…
Yeah, I think they’re a real longevity act and a quality act and a real muso fan act. There’s a real cool element to Field Day but there’s also a real muso element. There’s people that go there and get their programme and properly work out exactly what they want to see. They want to go and see a load of bands, and maybe bands they haven’t seen before. With Mogwai I just really wanted one really strong, big headline act and I knew people that were into Mogwai would appreciate a lot of the other bands that are on too.
Who else was a real special band to book for you?
Personally, Toumani Diabate. He’s amazing. He’s a kora player - which is like a big African sitar - and people call him the Jimi Hendrix of the kora. It’s really beautiful melodic, up beat African music. He’s has real kudos in world music.
