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-- Dunk! gets shredded! --
28/05/2019
Stijn Daneels
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On January
24th 2019 I was invited to an official press event at the headquarters of
Dunk!Records in Velzeke, Zottegem. A record label dedicated to doom, sludge and
post-metal and whose activities also include the yearly 3-day event
Dunk!Festival as well as the vinyl production plant Dunk!Pressings. My good
friend Sean Vali (head of booking agency Arawn Agency) offered me to interview
several of Dunk!’s associated bands which were Astodan http://belgianmetalshredder.be/interviews/114), Celestial Wolves (http://belgianmetalshredder.be/interviews/110), Huracán (http://belgianmetalshredder.be/interviews/111), Lethvm (http://belgianmetalshredder.be/interviews/113) and Haester (http://belgianmetalshredder.be/interviews/112).
After
shredding those five bands, Sean invited me into the snow-covered Dunk!Pressing
plant to have a chat with three key members of the Dunk! crew which were
founding member Wout, Dunk!Studio manager/engineer Jannes and main band liaison
Joris. We talked about the origins of the Dunk! brand, their 2017 US edition of
Dunk!Festival, the international and multicultural brotherhood among the Dunk!
audience and the fact that both of Dunk!Festival’s stages are located deep in
the woods of Velzeke.
All
pictures by Elien Swinnen (https://www.elienswinnen.com).
BMS: I’ve got to say that I’m very impressed by what you guys have built up here over the past fourteen years. Dunk!Records, Dunk!Studio, Dunk!Pressing, Dunk!Magazine and of course, Dunk!Festival. But I’ve heard that the entire Dunk! brand started as a basketball club.
Wout: Yes,
back in 2005 we organized the inaugural edition of Dunk!Festival as a means of
doing something else other than the usual food and drinks events every other
sports club does each year and so hoping to bring in some more money. Our first
few years were financially difficult, but after the second edition we decided
to turn Dunk! into a non-profit organization and as the festival grew, we began
expanding the brand, eventually adding in the recording studio and the rehearsal
room you visited earlier tonight, the record label and of course the vinyl
pressing plant where we’re in right now.
Jannes:
Although we’ve always loved the post-rock and post-metal genres, we originally
tried to avoid getting that label, because we wanted to promote ourselves as a
rock festival for everyone. In addition to post-rock we also include such
subgenres as neoclassical, stoner and doom metal bands on our festival rosters.
Eventually we did start promoting ourselves as a post-rock event since the
majority of our lineups consists of bands related to that experimental
subgenre.
Wout: And
we still got many members from the basketball club voluntarily helping us out
as bartenders and doing other chores. So yeah, we’re still one wholesome
family!
BMS: Great! So, this year is your fifteenth edition of Dunk!Festival. Are you planning to do anything radically different compared to the previous years?
Jannes: From
the visitor’s perspective, not much will be different, but we may consider
moving some of the merch stands to here, inside the factory. Usually we also change
the stage light setup every year but we’re not doing that this time since last
year’s setup was excellent! Instead, we’ve focused on improving things behind
the scenes.
BMS: I also noticed you’ve got two stages. One paid access main stage and a free access stage in the forests of Velzeke. That’s pretty cool!
Wout: Yeah,
in the past we had the main stage in a tent, like so many other festivals do.
But more and more bands requested to play on the forest stage. So we decided to
have both stages in the forest since it makes the experience that more unique
for both bands and visitors. And as always, one of them will remain free entry.

BMS: I see. And over the years, you’ve built up quite an international audience.
Joris: In
fact, most of our audience comes from outside of Belgium. For instance, one of
our main visitors is a guy from India who travels six days to get here and then
another six days to get back. We also had a Romanian dude who shot a
documentary here and it took him two weeks to hitchhike from his Romanian home
to here and back. We also had a few folks who come here and spontaneously help
us out with the practical stuff.
Wout: One
of the most beautiful aspects about Dunk!Festival is the huge international and
multicultural camaraderie that flourishes among the attendants. Everyone who
visits the festival comes for the sole purpose of having a good time with
familiar and new faces and to enjoy the variety of music acts that we present
each year.
BMS: Yeah, I’m pretty curious to check out this year’s Dunk!Festival.
Sean: You
do that, man!
BMS: I think I will. Right, in 2017 you organized an American edition of Dunk!Festival.
Joris: Indeed,
a few years ago we got contacted by David Zeidler, who works for the record
label A Thousand Arms as well as writer for the blog Arctic Drones. He offered
us to co-organize a US version of Dunk!Festival. In 2016 we travelled to the US
to meet up with David and eventually we organized an edition of Dunk!Festival
in Burlington, Vermont in October 2017.
Wout:
Although the draw wasn’t large enough to cover all the costs, our local
partners there took inspiration and now they’ve organized their own event
called Post. Festival as a sort of spiritual successor to the inaugural US
Dunk!Festival. Their festival’s 2019 edition will take place at October 4th
and 5th in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Joris: And
so we now do plenty of cross-promotion between each other’s audiences. All for
the better!
BMS: Indeed. It saves you a lot of work, money and trouble, plus I believe that in the long run, you may end up dunking your way back to the US. But let’s talk about the actual plans Dunk! has for the foreseeable future!
Jannes: We’ve
got plenty of things going on at the moment, those include expanding the
recording and rehearsal space we can offer to our customers.
Joris:
Currently we have one recording studio, which was the barn we visited earlier,
but we want to build a more advanced recording room. We also want to get the
rehearsal room fully operational.
BMS: I see, plenty of ambition! I like it! Now time for a classic BMS question, what do you guys do in life aside from the Dunk! operations?
Wout: I
play drums in my hometown post-metal band Stories From The Lost and I play
basket during my weekends. Other than that, not much else. I’m one of the
founding members of the Dunk! brand and since our ambitions are high, our
individual work rates are high as well.
Joris: Aside
from being Dunk!’s main liaison between the Dunk! crew and the bands playing at
the festival, I also play guitar in my own hometown instrumental post-rock act
called Celestial Wolves. I’m very proud to be part of the Dunk! family.
Jannes: If
I’m not supervising the Dunk!Studio then I’m helping Wout and the guys out
right here in the Dunk!Pressing plant. And those two things together take up
most of my time.
BMS: Once again, I must say that I’m very impressed with your entire operation here, hidden between the forests and fields of Velzeke! I’m glad that I was here! So, is there anything that you wish to add before I let the lovely Ellen here take a picture of us all?
Wout:
Thanks for your time. It was a long night for all of us but we’re glad you came
over to shred us and several of our associated bands! Be sure to check us out
at https://www.dunk-music.com/ ! That’s our main hub website where
you can read everything about the festival, record label, vinyl pressing and
more! And below the picture you'll find me and my band Stories From The Lost playing two of our songs right here on the Dunk! premises!
