Derelicht is an innovative series of electronic music events that rejuvenate redundant architecture in an exploration into electronic arts. Now Derelicht is expanding to launch an audio and visual bookings and management agency on May 24.

The last time we interviewed you, you were hitting the home straight towards your 2013 finale, D03. Please fill us in, what has happened since then?
D03 was way back in August so we enjoyed the rest of the summer (or what little there was left of it) and then got stuck into the planning of both the agency and the label ready for our release in May. We have signed Olly Jennings who has previously created tour visuals and music videos for Akkord on Houndstooth, plus we’ve signed Liam Roberts who is a fine arts graduate from Norwich who has worked with the likes of Dauwd, Lapalux, Baths, Olympians and has just been commissioned to produce a video for Australian outfit Seekae signed to Future Music.

Has anyone joined or departed the ever-expanding Derelicht family so far in 2014?
We’ve had no departures as such. Last year we had so many willing volunteers it was sometimes hard to keep track how big the family was – can’t complain there though! Liam Roberts joined about four weeks ago and should now be very familiar to all our followers, he will be performing at the launch event in May. We are aiming to launch Olly Jennings in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for some mind-blowing imagery there.

Derelicht was hugely successful last year, furthering the careers of people like photographer Tom Mountford. Do you have any advice for local talent/creatives?
Vision is key!

Any beermat dreams/ideas/surprises you’d like to realise in 2014?
There are a number of venues that I think are going to be a massive challenge for us; if we can pin those down I will be very impressed with the team. I’ve taken on a Production Manager, Ben Howells, who will be key to this effort. I’ve got nothing but massive respect for Ben as he has about 20 kids! He’s been there from the start of Derelicht and literally digs out blind whenever the going gets tough – a real trooper!

How did you discover the awesome visuals of Liam Roberts?
He was taught at Norwich by the legendary Dan Tombs. I came across his work on Vimeo and was instantly impressed. His work ethic and vision are something that aligns very nicely with the Derelicht brand, so it was a very easy decision for me.

Your agency will be capped at 10 artists to offer unrivalled artist support, as well as being co-owned by the artists involved. How else will Derelicht’s agency be unique?
Everything will be done in house basically. We look after our own design, PR, marketing, events, creative writing, social media, bookings, management, publishing, press, recording, mastering, production, etc. This means that at the end of the day more money flows back into the artist’s pocket – the way it should be! In addition we will very quickly build up a core set of capabilities that we will be able to offer to other local brands and companies who need support in specific areas.

We are already starting to do this on the PR and marketing front, so if there are any local companies who would like to become sponsors or partners for the 2014 series, we can give them a leg up and get their material seen by our current following, which is a reach of about 200,000 per week.

Can you begin to see a fresh culture emerging in the local vicinity off the back of last year’s successes?
To be honest I’ve not really looked as I’m just too busy concentrating on what we do and getting that right. If we do happen to inspire people to do similar then great, job done!

Your agency will open in an invite only 250 maximum capacity intimate affair with a monster six-hour set – how can people join in this exclusive loop (provided it’s not too late)?
They need to register at www.derelicht.com as we will only be inviting members to this one. An email will be sent out monthly with a secret link for tickets.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Yeah, if the fastest speed is meant to be the speed of light, what if you’re travelling in your car at 60mph and then switch your lights on. What speed is that?

Words: Emily Godden