"Change or not has been the eternal question. We might be in the minority, everyone else is backed by the technology and the media, but we're keepin' it live. Even so, we know change is inevitable," Moe said.
The only problem is everyone has a different idea of how Spring Scream should meet the challenge of the next 10 years. Moe and Davis want to please everyone, but realize they have to blow off some of their audience to keep reaching new audiences. Or blow off new audiences, to keep the loyal Spring Screamers.
"The more people that come, the more bi-polar they are. There are the traditionalists who want it to be how it was five or 10 years ago and complain, `Oh, it's not so intimate.' And then there are the others saying, `We want it like Saturday night, every night.' You can't win," Moe said.
"We started as an arts-music festival and I think we've stayed true to that. We've kept prices down and avoided sponsorship, we've been into non-branding. Maybe we need to change."
As far as the blueprint for Spring Scream is concerned -- live music, field, no DJs, finish at 12 -- it may have to change as thousands troop to hear one DJ and hundreds turn up for 100 bands. One idea is international headliners, another is getting in bed with a sponsor.
"People have a good time, so we don't want to change it, but if we do it will need sponsors, international bands. Maybe that is a direction we have ignored and it is our own fault. We get so caught up in making ends meet, maybe we've not been so open to things as we should have been," Davis said.
TAKEN TO BED
Talking about how Glastonbury in the UK evolved into a festival that included all genres of music, Moe said things could be different next year, with a new format. "Maybe there will be a `Kentingbury' next year. Nah. This year we've got 10 days of music with three stages, next year it could be three days and 10 stages. We wanna push the envelope. No matter what you do, you have to second-guess yourself. When we realized we had committed ourselves to 10 days and couldn't turn back we thought, whatever, we can turn it round next year."
Looking forward to another 10 years of Spring Scream, Davis said, "We started with the idea of bands and making original music, here, in Asia. That's what we decided to concentrate on and support, and from that perspective it has worked. At this point, it all works, dance music doesn't need our support. The idea is that you have to pick your tree out of the forest. And that's what we've done. We could take it toward Fuji Rock [Japan]."
This year, however, it's going to be a back-to-to-their-roots Spring Scream, with 10 days of fun in the sun. "What we do say is if it's not fun then we won't be doing it. ... But I do get a kick from it, especially when someone has a story to tell. And they always do," Moe said.
"There was this full-on rock star last week and I told him what I did and he said, `Kenting? No way. I was there, like, seven years ago, we had sarongs and climbed on this hill and, like, flashed everyone.' Everyone who's been has a story, even if some of them nowadays are about the traffic and the noise. It's usually about the first time they saw a band, or met their wife. A lot of stories about Christmas babies, too."
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