The universe behind the curtain
There will be hundreds of incredibly funny tales from the audience, their camps or meeting their favourite musicians in the crowd unexpectedly, and so on. All your tales go by untold just like the tales of the DRF lot. Supposedly, we are all curious to sneak a look behind the scenes, so I am sharing my findings. However, this is neither about biz figures nor mysterious schemes. It is about what really matters and makes all the difference: the people!
You will see later why the ‘who’ matters not the ‘what’. There are folks ripping their ass off so we all can have this incredibly great festival. Have you never wondered what in hell makes them do this? “Money’s not like what aiming at me here.” Sami said in our interview.Honestly, metal festivals hardly ever are! Well, we all know that metal is hardly ever adding up to wealth. For him, it is about having everybody, yes everybody this festival. There is more to it and we will dive right into it.
One photo tells more than 1000 words can
This said, I warmly recommend checking out our vast visual Dark River Festival coverage. There are various sites to consult.
| Social media obscuro.eu *** Noitatohtori Photography*** Hantta Photography *** |
Krogography(IG) *** Krogography*** Ms Cesar Little |
Galleries: Muumi Katja *** Noitatohtori Photography *** Hantta Photography |
The DRF 2023 was big fun. Promise! The best thing perhaps is, it was big fun with whomever I spoke – musicians, crowd and crew.
Finally, there is a mystery to be solved. Why is it the cosiest of all metal festivals perhaps? Let’s find out.
Meet the ‘who’
The Dark River Festival 2023 crew will total approximately 150 individuals. Some of them work on the festival weekend – Thursday afternoon to Saturday night – as many hours as they would in a regular week in a full-time job.
Heart and soul
The strategic masterminds are Sami and Henri, the ventricle of the heart, if you will. With both of them, I did long interviews [link Sami, link Henri] worth reading. Sami might have slipped your notice during the ongoing event, but he is omnipresent behind the curtain and acknowledged centre of the network. Henri is climbing the stage to open the DRF ‘23, as he has done so often before. His tasks put him in public as much as backstage. Well hidden behind high piles of merch, papers, radios, screens, and whatnot, Tanja rules over her realm, the production office. She would rather not speak in an interview, too humble. But she is crucial, as she is the good soul of the crew and a sharp-minded trouble-shooter. The three of them have been round almost from day one on.
The doers
There is a whole bunch of helping hands, with sharp ears and keen eyes, who have been on the DRF for approximately 15 years. Some are running back and forth on the DRF grounds, mending, bringing, sorting out whatever is needed right now. Ville is one of them, and yet he always have a moment for a chat. Just like Aku, whom you will meet at the bar these days though he began as stagehand. Security supervisor Kimmo has been overseeing the festival area (mainly around the main stage) in a quiet and friendly manner. The DRF grounds are peaceful and cosy. Apart from some minor alcohol-fuelled scuffles, relaxed cosiness rules. Missing the DRF cannot happen to either of them.
The caretakers
Pauliina is new to the crew. Everything is so very exciting. She has had some incredibly cool encounters working in the backstage area of the Inferno, the smaller stage. Her colleague Iida is an artist host at the Kaaos, the main stage. She has been doing this for a couple of years and has become part of the family. She is no metalhead, but she loves what she is doing here on the Dark River Festival.
The bunch of friends, who set up the festival in the first place, originates from Kotka. But nowadays Henri lives in Helsinki as does Iida. Sami, Kimmo, Pauliina and Aku live if not directly in Kotka at least in the area of Kotka. Ville lives in Porvoo and Tanja in Oulu. So temporarily, the not Kotka-based crewmembers share a house.
How to run a metal festival in the middle of the woods
The East Coast Events (ECE) agency runs the Dark River Festival these days. ECE co-owner Sami, his friend Henri, and ECE employee Santeri do most of the work in the 51 weeks around the actual event.
Infrastructure challenges
The Honkala ski stadium is the o n e place where the entire Dark River Festival community gathers. It is located some kilometres north of Kotka in the woods and fields, which is a significant feature of the event. The venue provides most of the space, but apart from that only few basic infrastructure – at least not in scales as required for a three-day metal festival with several thousand visitors. Iida explains: “Well, we’re in the middle of a forest, it makes it a bit hard sometimes, like when you have to bring stuff here. And as you can see the backstage floor is like,… yeah, it’s not like easy environment but it’s not something that can be really changed. So yeah, I really wouldn’t change anything.“
Despite such difficulties or rather because of the unique charm, that comes from it, the location is essential for the atmosphere, as we learn from Aku who points out that the DRF “atmosphere is really different from other festivals and I hope that the people from other countries see that. Maybe they come to Finland to bigger festivals, which are in the centre of the town or something. And that they can see we can have very nice festivals in this atmosphere here, with all the infrastructure in the middle of the woods.”
‘Yeah, you’re coming, right?’ – ‘Yeah, of course I’m coming! (Iida)
This founding group ran the DRF for more than 15 years. However, the event has outgrown the size at which this is possible. ECE manages and several other local companies supply material, facilities and services. Day jobs and DRF tasks are often closely related. Aku, for example, is working for the contractor supplying the bar facilities; or Kimmo and several others are in security not only during the festival. There are still numerous volunteers, and former volunteers have become fix crewmembers over the years. Iida tells me , smiling, “Like every year, I just assume and they assume that I’m coming. Even if we don’t talk about it like this year. Like maybe a month ago or it was maybe over a month; I was like, I just messaged them like I’m coming to Dark River, right? They were like: ‘Yeah, you’re coming, right?’ – ‘Yeah, of course I’m coming!”
It’s all about cosiness
The metal festival in the woods near Kotka has the inviting reputation of a unique and cosy atmosphere. Almost everybody I speak with be it in the interviews or else mentions cosy such as Iida: “Here it is really cosy because it’s like such a small and like it’s like everyone here is family. So it’s always nice to come here and see everyone.” She is one of our protagonists. The question is where does this atmosphere come from? Kimmo, another protagonist , supposes, “Of course, the location is one. And there is staff working here.”
Here it is really cosy because it’s like such a small and like it’s like everyone here is family. (Iida)
The history of the DRF goes back nearly 20 years, during which the event has undergone some fundamental alterations. Yet, I have often heard, the very core of the atmosphere has remained the same. During my interview with the festival’s manager Sami, I explored this question too. “Because probably one of the biggest reasons that we have a long, like long-standing crew running the festival”, he says, emphasizing that changes never meant a complete change-over but gradual adjustments. “It’s not just a corporate Rock Festival”, Sami sums up.
The DRF tribe gathers to celebrate its high holiday
In nomadic or semi-nomadic societies, high holidays provide an important occasion to gather, and if it was only for this purpose, it demonstrated sufficiently the outstanding weight for the group. Sami peoples in the north of Finland and the neighbouring countries have always had villages only for this temporary use to gather on and around high holidays. Does this ring a bell? Can you see the tribe gathering in the woods and fields in Honkala setting up the festival facilities?
When Henri, Tanja, and Ville return for the DRF to Kotka, they literally return to their home region. However, this homecoming sensation is not limited to them. “I love it here. Like I said, it’s like coming to home”, says Aku, who actually lives here all year. Even Iida, who has never lived here, speaks of coming home. I would even go as far as to propose that Pauliina will also have this homecoming sensation when she will return working on the DRF next time.
The tribe is, what Ville loves most about the Dark River Festival: “I think it’s the crew, you know, the people. We gather around once a year here and do the same thing.”
The rite of passage – Getting into the DRF tribe
There are some common ways to get into the DRF crew or tribe if you will. Some began as volunteers, as Sami did at the sound desk back in the day. Some were asked to help, such as Ville. As musician, he knew what to do as stagehand anyway. Some came to volunteer in one area but moved into other occupations over the years, such as Henri. Others approached the crew actively, such as Pauliina. “I immediately asked her,’ Okay, do you need somebody over there? I can do anything. It would just be nice.’ I take this as an experience. I am not here because of the bands. I am not here because of money or anything. I just want to have the experience.”
Unlike the others, you meet here, Iida has worked on many festivals and made it even her profession by recently graduating in cultural management. Interestingly, once you started this, you will not stop it easily it seems. They all have returned or, even worse, made it their job. No doubt, Pauliina will show up agai. Entering the crew really seems more a rite of passage into the tribe.