NSGs Billy Vitch spoke to Sea Powers frontman Yan Wilkinson ahead of the band’s Krankenhaus Festival to see what we can expect from the weekend and why they changed that name…

Krankenhaus Festival

26-29 August 2022

Muncaster Castle, near Ravenglass, Cumbria

NSG: Hello and how are you today? I can imagine you are extremely busy organising this festival?

YW: Feeling good thanks. Yeah, Festival wise there is low level adrenaline pumping from dawn until dusk every day. I’ve just been in a meeting with lots of people involved with talk of toilets, signage, staffing, waterpoints, accessibility. It’s alien territory. The good news is the postman has delivered the dog show rosettes and the bingo cards, so the fun things are mounting up.

NSG: So you have what I can only describe as an extremely exciting and monumental festival coming up at the beautiful and historic Muncaster Castle in Cumbria. It’s not a common thing for a band to put a festival on, one that’s not really about them! Can I ask what made you decide to do this and how hard has it been logistically?

YW: We have been putting on one day events in far flung places over the last 20 years. One of these was at the Tan Hill Inn, The UKS highest Pub, in the Yorkshire Dales. We had the idea to do a weekend there. It made sense to do one festival rather than loads of away days. Tan Hill was only 150 capacity. We had Metronomy play there. The Producer James Ford had his Stag-Do there and his party included The Arctic Monkeys and The Klaxons. It was a great weekend. The kind of good times you live for, that you’ll never forget. So we decided to find another venue for a Festival years later, and go for a slightly bigger capacity. Hamilton found the venue on one of his many ‘Walk abouts’ that he does. We love the close family vibe that it creates. It’s essentially something great for us and our fans. Our AGM. Now it’s bigger we can bring in more bands that we love and create a magical weekend for everyone. Logistically, from the band’s side of things, it’s mostly been our manager sorting out the logistics with a brilliant lady called Anne. Sam from Aerial Festival has been helping. I’ve curated most of it, and Woody has done all the artwork and posters for all the bands. The rest have been supping their Pina Coladas.

NSG: The festival, which you’ve named ‘Krankenhaus’, I’m guessing is named after your 2007 EP “Krankenhaus?”. Was there a reason for this and if so what was it?

YW: Yes it’s named after that EP. Though we ran a club night in Brighton called Krankenhaus about 10 years ago, with a very similar ethos and it made sense to carry that name over into the Festival. I like the way it sounds. Like that it’s confusing. Like that it’s German for Hospital, the place you go to get healed.

NSG: The festival has quite a mixed and interesting lineup of iconic artists and bands such as ‘The Super Furry Animals, Gruff Rhys, This Is The Kit, Richard Dawson, Fat White Family’s Lias Saoudi, and The Bug Club and other Cumbrian artists like Hayden Thorpe (Wild Beasts) Nat Sharp ‘MARRA’, Jack O’Neil and the ‘Cleator Moor Brass band‘ to name but a few. Not your usually kinda festival line up is it? Like some festivals may focus on just one genre of music but looking at this line up it’s a real mixed bag. What, if anything influenced these choices?

YW: We like to create something that we think are maybe going to surprise people and is enjoyable. Hopefully, it’s an experience where people say ‘I’d never heard them & didn’t think I’d like that, but it was brilliant. Some eye openers and some favourite weirdos too. The idea is Art, not commerce. We’ll be lucky to break even financially. Please come. You will have such a good weekend.

NSG: Out of all the artists you have playing that really stood out to me upon reading your lineup was Daniel Wakeford, star of the Channel 4 reality-TV show The Undateables, who will be appearing live at Krankenhaus with his band ‘The Daniel Wakeford Experience‘. He really stood out to me because, like many, I watched him on tv and fell in love with his personality and his obvious musical talent! How did Daniel come on to your radar and how did you hear about him and his band?

YW: Jan bumped into our friend Lizzy and she plays in Daniel’s band. She used to play with Abi in the band ‘Bat For Lashes‘. She recommended we should have Daniel play and when we checked the band and music out we knew he would be a perfect addition to what we were trying to achieve. I was lucky to do sound engineering for them at the ‘Brighton Festival‘ this year and absolutely loved the gig, so I know he will be a real highlight of the Festival. Big Love.

NSG: Your band ‘Sea Power’ as many will know was formally called ‘British Sea Power’.  From what we know, you changed the name in 2021 because you didn’t want the band to be associated or confused with the rise of nationalism and the connotations it may hold with patriotism. A very bold and possibly scary thing to do! Can you tell us a little bit more about this decision please and was it a scary thing to do? Did you worry at all that you may have lost fans in doing so or come under attack?

YW: It’s very complicated and personal to us. We loved the original name but grew to dislike saying it. We hate the Tory Party, we hated Boris, we hated Brexit, we hated the way Europe and the rest of the world look upon the UK. When the Tories finally leave No.10, maybe we’ll go back to BSP. We love so much about this country, and there are also lots to dislike. We didn’t want to be connected to any country, to be honest. Just a band name without a nation attached. Keep it simple. We were worried, for many reasons, but thought we had to do it anyway. We lost a few people who thought we weren’t ‘proud to be British’ anymore, which is just fucking stupid. I think we gained as many fans as we lost, so it worked out OK.

NSG: Arranging a festival is no mean feat in normal times is it, but to arrange one after a global pandemic and Brexit must have created some challenges? 

YW: Mostly Diesel and pretty much the cost of everything going up. We made a budget based on the last festival, and it’s all gone up since then. That’s been hard.

NSG: What are you most looking forward to about the festival and who are you most excited to see play?

YW: I’ve been organising a ‘Velvet Underground‘ covers band for the Sunday night with lots of guests. That’s going to be fun. I’m also looking forward to leading a guided walk. We have to catch a steam train out a few stops, and then walk back over Muncaster Fell about 7km. RSPB guide Jon Carter is joining us too. Also, the daily Heron feeding should be good. I missed that last time. And a psychedelic bingo session. I’m looking forwards to seeing all the bands to be honest. I’m excited about new addition BEAK>. The scheduling means everyone can watch all bands, and everyone is in the same space, so it’s a great vibe, friends will be made.

NSG: We are a Liverpool-based music magazine and I was wondering if you guys had any plans to play here in the near future?

YW: EAH! 27th October at the Arts Club Theatre: https://seapowerband.com/live

NSG: Is the festival a one-off or will there be others in the future?

YW: Apparently, it takes 3 years to set up a festival properly, get it on people’s radar, and not lose money. We did it in 2019 and made a loss. If we break even this time we will do it again, otherwise, it’s going to be hard to convince everyone to do it again. So ‘use it, or lose it’ We know how to do it so much more now though, so I really hope we get a 3rd shot at Muncaster Castle in 2023.

NSG: To date, what has been the most rewarding thing for you whilst arranging this festival?

YW: Creating and curating a magical weekend for our brilliant fans. There’s so much to do outside of the music side of things. I’m looking forwards to people having a great time. I know they will.

NSG: How is the rest of 2022 looking for you?

Sleep, regroup, tour, look ahead, and count our blessings.

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