"Quite often when you’re dancing, you’re dancing out stuff that’s in your head and your heart and it’s good to have someone hold your hand when you have a quiet moment."

"It’s more than just eight months out of the year, it’s always in the back of your mind. Every single day the name Freerotation is mentioned in our house in one way or the other. You can’t escape it! So when I’m in the studio, I have to switch it all off, I’m in my own world."

“I would rather not be in the spotlight but it also feels right for us to play beside each other because of the energy in that. I have to put myself to one side and allow myself to be part of the party. It’s the love of being part of that group of people dancing together and being a part of it… That’s more important.”

“It’s taken on a life of its own now and it’s hard to differentiate between the people who play at Freerotation and the people who dance. That wasn’t planned but once it started to develop, we encouraged it.”

I remember the helicopters and my records being at the police station..haha.  goodtimes!

This month is a special one, and our first ever tandem interview — joining me for a Freerotation special are the festival’s founders @Steevio and @Suzybee. 

Influenced by the free festival movement around the UK in the 1990s, Steevio and Suzy created Freerotation, an annual gathering of music and arts which now takes place in Baskerville Hall, Wales, and has, since its inception in the mid 2000s, become one of the scene’s best loved festivals. Kept relatively small and amongst friends and friends of friends, Freerotation is known for its thoughtful curation of both DJs, live acts, and VJs, and its intimate, familial setting. 

In this conversation, Steevio, Suzy and I get into the festival’s early days and its direction and curation today, plus their own personal histories in art and music, and their distinctive creative philosophies.

++

MUSIC:

Steevio - "Candescent" (2022)
Steevio - "Y Llifogydd" (2022)
Steevio - "Passive Resistance" (2022)

Purchase part one of Steevio's Dod yn ôl at fy nghoed here: https://steevio.bandcamp.com/album/dod-yn-l-at-fy-nghoed-part-1

AIR 046 / Steevio & Suzybee

AIR is an interview podcast series with a different theme each episode. 

Created in 2017, AIR aims to be something different in the wide world of music journalism. Tired of the usual promotional fluff, host Emma Robertson invites artists, DJs, and musicians to get deep on one topic that inspires them — everything from nature, to film, to spirituality — in the hope that it inspires you, too.

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