The Rewriters: How Sugar Mountain Founder Brett Louis Shook Up the Festival Game

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What would you do if you were a little less freaked out by consequences? Would you talk to more new people, fear a bit less, dance a little more like FKA Twigs, quit your desk job and put on that festival you've always wanted to give a red hot go?

Some sparkling young Australians are already flinging their inhibitions into a ziplock bag and seizing this little ol' life with both hands. Concrete Playground has teamed up with the Jameson crew to give you a sneak peek into the lives of ten bold characters who took a big chance on themselves. They've gone out on a limb and rewritten their path, encapsulating 'Sine Metu', the Jameson family motto which translates to 'without fear' — getting outside your comfort zone and trying something new. After all, we only get one shot at this. Take notes.

As Katharine Butler Hathaway once said, "If you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, your life will be safe, expedient and thin," and never have her words rang truer. In our safe modern world, full of concrete, cushy comfort, our deeper instincts are all too often quashed. The only antidote to a safe, expedient and thin world is to seek out risk. For Brett Louis, co-founder and curator of Melbourne's ambitious festival Sugar Mountain, a 'Sine Metu' way of life is the only way. Thanks to Brett's meticulous curation and the team's unique penchant for collaboration over the years, Sugar Mountain has broken new ground with its blend of music, art and food — redefining what a festival can be (without fearing it won't work).

RETHINK WHAT A FESTIVAL 'SHOULD' BE

A change has been a-brewin' in Australia's festival scene for years. The exorbitant prices, cookie-cutter lineups and disappointing food so characteristic of the bigger festivals has worn thin and a counter-culture of boutique festivals has emerged. Enter Sugar Mountain, the brainchild of Brett and his equally groundbreaking team Tig Huggins, Pete Keen and Nicci Reid. It debuted in 2011, a small festival with a niche lineup of hungry musicians and artists. In the years since, SM has grown into an annual mainstay for foodies, visual art and music lovers across the country.

Growing a festival from the ground up is no easy feat and harder still is maintaining momentum. The culmination of 18 months of planning comes together in one make-or-break day, and punters walk into the Victorian College of the Arts site brimming with expectation. Brett says the aim of the festival is to feed off this, to anticipate assumptions and shatter them on purpose. Instead of pandering to the common denominator, the Sugar Mountain music and art lineup pushes audiences out of their comfort zone and promises something different — something Brett and his hardworking collaborators value first and foremost.

"We never want to be pigeonholed," says Brett. "Each year, we look for ways to expand creatively, it's about creating a cultural event. People go because they want to have a great day, be challenged a little bit and enjoy something that only happens once a year and really can't be recreated." At Sugar Mountain, it's best to leave all your preconceived notions of what a festival should be at the gate.

OBLITERATE YOUR COMFORT ZONE (AND YOUR PUNTERS')

Sugar Mountain is a place for creativity to be absorbed and celebrated; this is the antithesis to a safe, expedient and thin life. The ethos behind curating a festival that pushes boundaries is for people to have complete faith in Brett and his hardworking team, and understand that although the festival might differ from year to year, the quality will never falter.

"We only book it if we love it and believe in it. Booking buzzy bands creates an expectation that every year you have to put on a buzz lineup," he says. Sugar Mountain has never been about validating people's taste, but about discovering new things and new favourites.

Getting comfortable is a trap for musicians and artists too and Brett believes that the lineup should work as for itself as well as the audience. Blending a lineup of interconnected acts works because they respect and push each other; when the musicians know each other, like each other, work well together and vibe off each other's sets it changes from being a lineup of separate acts and becomes about the bigger picture.

"When we put the lineup together, it's always a gamble because pretty much everything's put on the table," says Brett. "There's a team of us who are continually putting together booking options and our tastes and formative influences are incredibly broad."

However for Brett, the food and drink offerings are the highest priority because, as a coeliac, he's had more than his fair share of terrible festival food, but also because sharing good food and drink is such an important social ritual that can elevate a festival from good to God-tier. In 2016, Sugar Mountain premiered Sensory, an immersive dining experience collaboratively crafted by experimental foodies Bomba, themed by visual artists Tin and Ed and soundtracked by Cut Copy. A risky venture (who's ever chanced a four-course sit-down tapas meal at a festival before?) but it paid off and brokered the completely novel idea that, if it's your bag, you can go to a music festival for the food alone.

DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO WHAT'S ALREADY OUT THERE

When punters walk through the gates into Sugar Mountain, they see a slick, well-oiled machine. It's success incarnate; a well-planned, thoughtful and smooth event that flows seamlessly with no hiccups or clashes. What they don't see is the struggle.

"People walking in aren't aware of what you faced only days earlier, problems that come about through so many different things, the weather, logistical problems, artist related issues… but when you do get put in the shit, the most rewarding feeling is when you get the outcome that you intended," says Brett.

The idea that success is the absence of hardship is, as Brett points out, ridiculous but common. Often the assumption is that if something is meant to be, it's meant to be easy and people conflate a smooth ride with success.

"The five or six days leading up to show day… that's my favourite time of the year," Brett explains "Everyone's constantly knee-deep all week and you're forced to make decisions and problem solve as you go." Planning, rather than hoping for a cosmic alignment, is the key to overcoming the hurdles. Brett believes level-headed decision making and quick reaction times are all you need to turn a crisis into an opportunity (a crisitunity).

"Just do it. Dive into it. There's no harm in starting small, just make sure you do everything in your own way because you want to make sure you're doing something different to what's out there. If you believe in it and you really want it the only thing that can stop you is your self-doubt."

Want to experience a little bit of 'Sine Metu' yourself? Thanks to Jameson and The Rewriters, one extremely fortunate Concrete Playground reader (and their even more fortunate mate) will get the chance to 'fear less' and go on a big ol' adventure to Ireland.

In addition to two return flights departing from your choice of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, this epic giveaway comes with five night's accommodation and $500 spending money you can use to paint the Emerald Isle red.

ENTER HERE.

For more about how 'Sine Metu' influenced John Jameson's journey visit Jameson's website.