We’re all fascinated with the lives of people on stages, but behind the scenes there are unsung heroes that keep the whole circus rolling along. For ArcTanGent, this figure is Goc O’Callaghan. She’s an insanely passionate figure whose progression into running a 5000+ person festival stemmed from hosting parties in her back garden and a chance meeting in a pub. We sat down with her to talk about virtuoso violinists, bad ska bands, and creating memories for people without them even knowing who you are.
What is your role on the ArcTangent team?
I’m one of the three founder and directors, along with James Scarlett and Simon Maltas. We split all the jobs up between us, but my main areas of responsibilities are the artwork, I manage all the merch, I build and maintain the website. I’m also in charge of things like scaffolding, and stewards, and press. We all do different bits, and some of its really unglamorous, like ordering tools, or tent pegs, or stuff like that. There’s so many little tiny jobs that everyone does.
How did you get into organising festivals?
I grew up in a little wooden house in the middle of a forest, in Kent. As a result of having some land to play in, I started running small parties at the age of 11 or 12, just inviting friends out with acoustic guitars and stuff like that. It grew from when I finished uni, when I asked some friends in bands if they’d be interested in coming and playing. Before I knew it, I had 3 days’ worth of music, and about 300 or 400 people came for a tiny little thing called Gocstock. From there I met the 2000 Trees guys, and started working in event production.
How did you end up meeting the other guys who run ArcTanGent?
I went to 2000 Trees in the second year as a punter, and they had a warm up party in The Slaughtered Lamb in Farringdon, which is where I met James and Simon. So, I went from being a punter in the second year that 2000 Trees ran, to helping build site décor stuff, to helping build a stage curating comedy. This year is my tenth 2000 Tress, so I’ve been there for ten out of the eleven years it’s been going. Although I wasn’t working this year, so I drank as much cider as I possibly could do!
Who are you most excited to have booked this year?
Thursday is our returning hero’s day, so all of the bands on that day are bands that have played ArcTanGent before. Superfan’s day, we call it. There were a lot of bands on that day that we’ve really enjoyed putting on before. Nordic Giants are amazing, and Russian Circles were epic. Heck chose to play their last gig here too, which was only announced the week of the festival, so that was really cool for us. My 15 or 16 year-old self is squee-ing at the fact we got Explosions in the Sky to play too!
What kind of music did you grow up listening to?
My parents were big fans of Pink Floyd and King Crimson, so that kind of music got ingrained 
in me from an early age. From my teenage year I was listening 65daysofstatic, and also Oceansize’s sort of stuff.
How did you get into that kind of music? Being that it is relatively obscure.
I think it comes from the fact that I started going from gigs at a really young age. I just went to anything and everything I could have done at 11 or 12 years old, just because I really wanted to see live music. I think from doing that, you very quickly form an opinion of what you enjoy, and what you don’t enjoy.
Is there anything that you listen to that people wouldn’t expect you to listen to?
About a month ago, I went to see Andre Rieu, who a virtuoso violin player. He plays with a full-blown orchestra and choir. That’s not an obvious thing to listen to, but I think that music is amazing. I also went to a proper ska-core stage a while ago. I was in a really bad ska-punk band and one point in time.
Theres such a variety of bands that are booked for ArcTanGent. How do you choose which bands end up on the line-up?
Well, James Scarlett books the bands. It takes around a year of planning. So in September, I’ll send a list of bands that I’d like to see at ArcTanGent, kind of like a dream line-up. Then the process starts of approaching the agents, filtering out who’s interested and who’s not interested, and approaching the agents with fees. People often say that one year we went really heavy, or one year we went really post-rock, but if you were to split all of the bands up, and take hiriake out of it, it’s a fairly even split. But obviously, the headliner dictates whether we’re seen as more heavy or more post-rock orientated.
How did the idea of starting a festival based around such niche genres come about?
Well, The UK is heavily saturated with independent festivals. So, to put together another festival that’s very similar to another festival, means that you’re not very likely to do well. Theirs too much competition in finding the right headliners, and attracting the right demographic to come. So from the offset, we were very clear that we wanted to pick a niche corner of the market. Theirs not another festival like this. The closest thing was All Tomorrow’s Parties, and obviously that one went bust. What we didn’t anticipate was how much of an international draw the festival would be. If you look at our Facebook, you can see a map that shows people from all over the world coming to this festival.
What would you say is your crowning achievement during the time in which you have worked on ArcTanGent?
The thing that I’m most proud of is the sense of community that has been built. I’ve met so many great people through this, and everyone has amazing stories to tell. Every year I come back, and its this weird little festival family, with little familiar faces. Year on year, you get introduced to more and more people, and that to me is the most important thing. Since I was a kid, I’ve had a dream to create memories familiar to people, without necessarily being known as the person that’s doing it. So when I see people’s stories on facebook or Instagram, talking about their experience, that to me is so overwhelmingly brilliant.
Tickets for ArcTanGent 2018 are already on sale. Become part of the family before they sell out!
