Dave Pichilingi interview: inside Liverpool Sound City

Since it’s inception in 2008, Liverpool Sound City has grown into one of the most important and well-respected music festivals in the UK.

Last year saw Sound City manage the tricky transition from its city centre base to a new home at Liverpool Docks on the banks of the River Mersey. As Sound City's head honcho, Dave Pichilingi admits the move was not without it's problems and after listening to the views of music fans the festival returns in 2016 with a number of changes which Pichilingi is confident will see it confirm its status as one one of the highlights of the festival calendar.

Liverpool Sound City is back in May - how is the 2016 edition shaping up? What’s new for this year and what are you most looking forward to?

It was a big change for us last year so this year is all about consolidation and building on what we did in 2015. We've been listening to people about they wanted to improve and what they wanted changing and hopefully we're well on the road to getting those things right. It was very nerve wracking moving it but there seemed to be a near unanimous response to say that it was a great thing we did in moving to the dock.

You were very honest about the fact that not everything worked last year - how important was it to listen to the punters and get things right in 2016?

We don't want to be too led by the customer because then you become just like everyone else but by the same token it's important to listen. Sometimes when you're working inside a bubble it's hard to understand what's happening from the customer's point of view. It's important you invite objective feedback. One of the key things from the punter's experience was the problems with sound spillage. If you were on the main site there were undoubtedly sound clashes between the three stages. God knows why we didn't realise that was going to happen but we trusted the people we were working with. We knew on paper it didn't look right but we were assured it would be alright and it turned out it wasn't. It's been a priority and we're confident we've got it right now. The other thing was the funfair which looked great on the photos but no one really wanted it. We've got rid of it and it's freed up so much space and allowed us to put distance between the stages.

You're also introducing much more electronic and dance music this year with the likes of 2ManyDJs and Hot Chip DJing - what prompted this?

People were asking for more electronic music and with that in mind we've  talked to Freeze and brought them in to bring that element to the festival. They're far better at it then we are and it's going to be a great partnership. The response to this new element has been magnificent so far.

Watch 2ManyDJs in action...

Catfish and the Bottlemen and The Coral will headline the main stage - what was the thinking behind these bands? 

We all had wish lists and the Saturday headliner being Catfish and the Bottlemen makes sense. We've had a relationship with them since 2011 - they continually hassled us for a gig and eventually we gave them a slot and their rise since then has been meteoric. We're very proud of our record championing emerging talent and to have them go from playing a small stage to 50 people to being our headliners is special. We've been trying to get The Coral for a long time. It'll be their first homecoming show for five years and will be a great chance  to clink a glass to Alan who I'm sure will be looking down on us. I'm so pleased we can make it happen.

Viola Beach, who were recently killed in a car crash in Sweden were one of the bands booked to play this year - how are you planning to pay tribute to them?  

We're not sure what the tribute will be yet but we're engaging with lots of people. We decided to keep them on the poster because we thought it would be wrong to take them off. We're looking for a fitting tribute and we're talking to the families about what to do. 

The Sound City music conference is also undergoing a number of changes?

We've gone from two days to one day with the conference and the reason was feedback from people who were unsure about coming to Liverpool for four or five days at a huge cost. We decided to move some of the elements into the festival such as our In Conversation events because we knew more people wanted to attend these. The conference itself will be a far more focused and hard hitting industry event - it'll be aimed at those people who want to work in the music business through to those who've worked in it for up to 30 years. With that in mind they'll be a lot of workshops and industry panels.

Like this?  Read Ben Smith's review of last year's Liverpool Sound City here 

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