Euphoria music festival is set to take Carson Creek Ranch April 7th-10th. The fifth year of the Austin, TX festival features its best lineup to date. We sat down with the festival founder, Mitch Morales, to discus the growth of the festival, the challenges of throwing a festival, the acts he is most excited about and all other things Euphoria.
Q: What gave you the inspiration to start the festival in 2012?
Mitch: Going to the other festivals has really inspired me. Some of the ones I liked more were Electric Forest, Outside Lands, Tomorrow Land in Belgium- fell in love with it and wanted to try and recreate it in my home I’ve Always been passionate about music. I liked going to concerts and I liked going to club shows. There is something special about the connection, community and experience with the camping festival. You are able to take a break and escape. After school, my career was in finance and I was working late hours. Music and music festivals were my escape.
Q: Five years ago, did you envision Euphoria being where is it today?
Mitch: It’s kind of crazy, but I thought I would be here sooner. I had thrown a couple of parties in college but never really on the scale of a large festival. Still I was confident in fast growth. It is really great to see the festival grow to what it has become today.
Q: What are three of the biggest challenges to putting on a successful festival?
Mitch:
1) When you first go to a festival. you see all the stuff a producer wants you to see like the stages and the artists. Learning all the things behind a festival is a challenge. You are building a city for tens of thousands of people, and you have to fulfill all the basic human needs. You must have a good infrastructure.
2) The competitive market of festivals. Festivals have blown up. I was fortunate to bring this festival to Austin.
3) Getting the right artists at the right prices. The bar keeps getting raised, and I feel obligated to bring in better artist every year.
Q: What are the most rewarding aspects?
Mitch: I am doing this because I am passionate about festivals and passionate about music. Friday of the festival is always tough, dealing with all the fires you have to put out. Later on in the festival, just going into the crowd and seeing the smiles on people’s faces is the most rewarding part.
Q: Are there any surprises we can look forward to this year at Euphoria?
Mitch: This year the campground will be opening a day early. Last year everyone got in at the same time and there was way too much clutter. To combat that, we wanted to get people in early. This year we will also have a Pre-Moon Party with Polish Ambassadors. I think Thursday will be a great way to set the tempo for the rest of the festival.
Q: Tell me five artists that you are especially excited to see at Euphoria this year?
Mitch:
SNBRN
ERIC PRYDZ
Shiba San
Above & Beyond
Lil Dicky
Q: How did you decide to broaden the lineup this year?
Mitch: I’m really excited that we have added hip-hop this year. I think that it is important to add variety to the festivals. I want people to experience many types of music and this year the lineup allows people to do that.
Q: How did you choose Carson Creek Ranch as the spot for Euphoria? What do you like about the space?
Mitch: Carson Creek Ranch is only about ten minutes away from downtown Austin which is paramount. I love that you can see the Austin skyline and we are also on The Colorado river. All of this adds a cool vibe too. It’s really perfect, it is close to a metro area, but is a big open space that offers camping. You get the best of both worlds.
Q: Rapid Fire Word Association (One Word Answers ONLY)
Mitch:
Bassnectar – Butterfly
Austin – Vibes
SoCo – Cool
Lil Dicky – Turnt
Dillon Francis – Super Turnt
Carson Creek Ranch – Amazing
Dancing – Live
Funk – Jams
EDM – Dancing
Rap – Added
Euphoria – Feeling
Q: Anything else you would like to tell us about Euphoria?
Mitch:
The curation, or the daily music schedule, is something I am very proud of. We worked really hard on putting together a schedule that allows festival goers to go on a journey. There is a reason for why each act is scheduled when it is.
Lastly, this year we are asking for people to participate in various activities. River cleanup, interactive contests with some artists, and more. We want people and our fans to take ownership in the festival, we want it to be theirs.
Euphoria is selling out fast. Make sure to get tickets here. You won’t want to miss out on year five!
