I have adapted the original vision of Infest for Infest2027.

I was in Australia mid-2024 looking for a site to hold a potential Infest 2025 at. 

I'd found a site an hour out of Melbourne and put together a plan of how a week-long event would work for NZ and Australian bands. As I started doing the numbers and working out how many bands/artists could actually leave with a decent outcome, I figured it would top out at around 30 acts. Now, on the one hand, this is definitely nothing to be scoffed at, 30 different acts coming out of the event with real tangible outcomes and deepened relationships with their community would be awesome - however, at those numbers, I knew it would end up largely being bands who were at the 2024 Infest and bands I knew. This kinda bummed me a bit. The purpose of many of my projects (Local Knowledge, The Problem with Music, DIY Touring the World, How I Started and Ran Puppies) is that they're meant for anyone, not just bands I like. 

I basically scrapped the whole concept and tried to re-imagine how an "Infest" would work that could create results for any band. I decided that the focus needed to be on building the community infrastructure that surrounds independent music (of all its varieties). 

Infest will instead bring together people making shit happen for their musical communities around NZ, Australia and the World. This might be from DIY venues to zine makers, to screen-printers, content-makers, promoters, festival organisers - any people who create and build mechanisms that bands can easily access and assist with growth. As well as curating artists to perform at Camp 2027, I'll be assembling a team of the most visionary people around to put this together. 

The goal of Infest will be, over 4 days (in-between the weekends of Camp 2027) that these incredible people assemble a document, a document that breaks down in regional territories of NZ and Australia and provides tools for any artist on how they can flourish in the various regions. This document will be included in the (late) 2027 publication of DIY Touring the World (Community Edition) which will be made available for free (other than shipping) to any active musician who wants it.

What about the bands? As in 2027, bands who play at Camp will get to hang around for the week, but rather than me focusing on a recording and mixing project, bands will be encouraged to, like they did in 2024, work out what they want to do themselves and create their own schedule. I'll be providing engineers and backline and will be opening up more performances spaces, so there will be spaces for writing, jamming and also just straight performing. The four days will be about hanging out together, meeting new collaborators and making lifetime friends, aw :)

What about Campers? If you have a ticket to both weekends, you're welcome to leave your tent up, and hang out. You are welcome to hang out as bands write and jam, there will be parties every night to party at or get involved in and you'll also be welcome to take part in various activities the bands decide they want to run at the event, there will also be opportunities for renegade sets and in 2024. Check out what happened at 2024 if you're curious

If you're an active proponent of DIY in your home town and keen to be involved, I'll have a form here to fill in if Camp 2027 goes ahead (check back after April 28th)