By The Lake Festival 2016 - poster in Berlin

By the Lake Festival will take place on the weekend of 06 and 07.08.2016 in Berlin. Organized by the people behind The Lake Radio (including members of Danish pop art band Efterklang) the event is not like any other city festival you know.

In an interview with Casper Clausen, singer and multi-instrumentalist of Efterklang and Liima, Good because Danish got some insight into the initiative and idea behind By the Lake Festival, the motivation for choosing Danish acts for the line-up and a crisp description of the event. Read the interview below and see you in Berlin!

If your interest is sparked, you can still get tickets to the non-profit festival HERE.

Good because Danish: By the Lake Festival is an event that’s set up differently than most summer festivals or festivals in general. With surprises in the line-up, an interesting location (Berlin’s district Weißensee) and remarkable people behind the event. What would you say is the biggest difference between By the Lake Festival and other events? What is your most unique quality?

Casper Clausen: We are music lovers, and we love a lot of different music. The artists in the line up are from many different fields of music and places in the world. Each of them of the highest quality and legends in their own rights. While programing we’ve been aiming to create unexpected journeys, across genres of music and cultural backgrounds. Generally speaking we’ve picked some acts that are inclusive in one way or the other. They are alternative but universal. The true identity of By The Lake is the curiosity, where all ears are welcome. We want to be a bridge between curious minds and music. Even if you haven’t heard of any of the acts before, I can guarantee that you’ll find at least a couple of new favorite bands at By The Lake. It’s a program full of twists and turns set in a beautiful location right by the Weissensee lake under the open sky. It’s a love vibe and kids are invited too! Remember to bring your swimming suit.

Why did you choose Berlin as the place to set up the festival?

Berlin is an exciting city for music and arts. There’s a big audience and a lot of healthy competition here. Also we (Efterklang) had our studio in Berlin Weissensee for the past 5 years. It’s a part of town that not many Berliners knows of. Mainly it is known for the lake, which is one of the closest swimming lakes to the city. But it’s also a place with a lot of character. You’ll get closer to Berlin before the wall and Berlin when Weissensee was a village outside the city. Weissensee is another cup of tea as they say out here. By The Lake is a nice opportunity to realize that.

If you had to present the main idea behind organizing By The Lake Festival in one sentence, what would that sentence be?

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a bunny costume.

On Good because Danish – as the name of the blog suggests – we focus on news regarding the Danish music scene. This year By The Lake invited 3 Danish bands to perform. Can you tell us a bit more about your choices? Why did you pick Liss, Laid Back and Selvhenter?

Yes it’s a special part of the program this year that 3 of the bands are Danish, and quite frankly we didn’t base it on a Danish theme or similar. We simply think these 3 bands are freaking amazing in each of their way. Selvhenter is one of our favourite live bands, they blow you backwards with a wall of sound, shock and happiness, the music and especially the live show is extremely captivating, very physical and noisy, like a ritual of the coolest cult. Liss is an exciting young new band from Aarhus. They haven’t even put out a proper studio album, yet they are already signed to the legendary record label XL Recordings (Adele, The Xx, Vampire Weekend). Their music is elegant and smooth, instantly catchy, like a silk scarf. Prepare to fall in love. Now the final Danish act in the line up is Laid Back, and if you don’t know the band you’ll definitely know their songs. They are true pop stars. These 2 Danes are the masterminds behind massive hits like “Bakerman” (went #1 on the German charts in 1989) , “Sunshine Reggae” and “White Horse” (that Prince loved so much he had to release it). Now imagine floating in the Weissensee lake, with a cold beer and a joint in your hands, while “Bakerman is backing bread” – that just needed to happen, we’re extremely happy and lucky to be able to present these legends!

The festival took its name (we assume) from another initiative of yours – The Lake Radio. We’d love to hear a bit more about that, to share with our readers where they can look for unique and inspiring music after By The Lake Festival will be over.

The Lake Radio is an online radio station run by a big group of music and sound artists/journalists/fanatics. It is broadcasting at all hours. Mixing music and sound of all sorts. In between the live acts at the By The Lake festival, The Lake Radio will actually be hosting a radio studio next to the stage, broadcasting to various portable radios spread around the festival field. If you have a radio you should bring it to the festival, we’ll have a long list of exciting guests and dj’s in the studio and we’ll naturally play a lot of tunes and sounds rotating in The Lake.


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