7107 International Music Festival founder addresses the ‘rumored’ lineup

With only less than a month to go, the two-day musical event dubbed as the 7107 International Music Festival will finally push through on February 22 and 23, to be held in Global Logistics City in Clark, Pampanga.

But before 7107 announced their official lineup in early December of last year, a list of international performers had already gone viral. It showcased a roster of big names in the international music scene: Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lorde, Ellie Goulding, and Drake, to name a few. But it was said to be a hoax.

And like most rumors, the said list remained a simple rumor, devastating to those who had hoped beyond hope.

"I don't know where those rumors came from. We did approach a couple of them [the artists], but they were either not available or just didn't fit the festival structure," said Mike Pio Roda, 7107 founder and producer.

"I must say some of the rumored were people that we approached—maybe like a handful of them," the producer stressed.

That said, for its debut year, the festival will bring together over 12 international acts and 42 local bands, both performing in the underground and mainstream scenes. The festival is headlined by "2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Famer" Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Hiphop artist Kendrick Lamar, and known disc jockey Kaskade.

How 7107 began

The idea of conducting the first international music festival in the Philippines began about two years ago, according to Tina Herrera, the festival's executive producer.

"We had to get so many things in place, everybody had to understand the vision, and it definitely took a lot of convincing," she told the media in a press conference held in Fort Strip, Taguig City.

"Staging an event is not really that difficult, but having the people believe in you and support you—that's the difficult part," she added. "But once they're convinced, they're pretty much in all the way. I never really expected this and I'd like to thank all our partners, too, because they really wanna see this succeed. They want the Philippines to have their own international music festivals, one they can all be proud of."

7107 is said to be a platform for local musical acts to compete on a global scale. Performing alongside big names in the music industry can help up and coming bands shy away from other international festivals all over the world.

If the festival turns out to be a success, 7107 is also said to be an avenue for local artists to gain success globally.

"I think it's gonna go more global. I don't know, it's such a large event that I can't predict the future, but I feel like they're gonna go a bit more global," he said.

"We have very talented musicians, they just need a platform to show what they have. I think they'll be able to keep up with the international team," Mike said.

Completing the line up

Choosing the lineup was the best part of the whole process, said the show producers. With local performers both coming from indie and mainstream, the festival is set to have a mixture of different musical genres for two whole days.



"It was a mix of recommendations and our own [tastes]," Mike said. "We went through a hundred or so applicants for the ones who perform in the indie scene."

The local acts include Up Dharma Down, Radio Active Sago Project, Sponge Cola, Pulso, The Ringmaster, She’s Only Sixteen, Yolanda Moon, Runmanila, Jensen & The Flips, Maude, Abra & Loonie, DJ B-Cal, DJ Ron Poe, Nix Dam P, Encounters with Yeti, Runway Crimes, Rocksteddy, and Cheats.

"[For the big-name artists], we just approached the labels, the management, and brought them in ourselves," he told.

Also in the festival are the Itchyworms, Musical O, Sleepwalk Circus, Hidden Nikki, Skymarines, Child/Ren of the Pilgrimage, The Charmes, Popular Days, The Sleepyheads, Not Another Boy Band, Wilderness, Taken by Cars, Techy Romantics, Keith Bryan Haw, Marc Marasigan, Aryan, Travis Monsod, Katsy Lee, Carlo Atendido, Patrick Po, Jessica Milner, Motherbasss, and Skratchmark.

Thus, a fewer number of international acts include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Empire of the Sun, Asteroid Galaxy, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Natives, Kendrick Lamar, Kaskade, Kid Ink, Alvaro, Luciana, DJ Riddler, and Reid Stefan.

"I'm anxious, excited, pretty much everything but I'm just extremely excited just to watch the bands myself, because the reason why we brought a couple of them live as well," Mike revealed. — VC, GMA News