Our Journey
It all started with COVID...a message from Souvenir Events’ director Jez Damsell
You might want to settle down with a cuppa to read this...
The COVID lockdowns of 2020/21 were a nightmare for everybody. Life changed as we knew it, in an instant.
Confined to home for what seemed like an eternity, millions of people struggled to find not only a reason to get up in the morning, but critically, to stay connected with the real world... whatever that was, now.
I’m a huge 80s music fan, but it’s always been synthpop / electronic / new wave (call-it-whatever-you-like) that I felt most connected to. I can’t really explain why...it just IS. During that first, never-ending lockdown of 2020, I began thinking about how I could preserve my sanity via the medium of the music I love, and get a connection in real time with people who had that same affinity, often to “geek level”! Being a massive fan of OMD in particular, I thought about how I could build an online community specifically to chat about their entire recorded output. It would certainly be a way to pass the time, of which we all had plenty of course. It would have been a massive task to build a community from scratch, so I approached the admins of the official OMD Facebook group with a crazy idea called THE OMD WORLD CUP 2020.
The WHAT?
The OMD World Cup 2020. A month-long online event run by me, and hosted by the OMD Facebook fan group, geared entirely toward people voting for their favourite OMD tracks....but not just a few tracks. Being ever-so-slightly completist, I decided it could only ever have been THEIR ENTIRE ORIGINAL RECORDED & OFFICIALLY RELEASED OUTPUT, which at the time amounted to around 220 tracks. Formatted like a football World Cup tournament, tracks were pitted against each other initially in groups, then knock-out ties which were the result of live draws broadcast in the Facebook Group. Fast forward to the semi-finals, Andy McCluskey had come to hear about how his intellectual property was being treated and expressed an interest to become involved in some way. So, resplendent in a vintage Liverpool FC shirt, Andy made the draw for the semi-finals captured live on Facebook for the OMD world to see. He picked a Joan-vs-Joan face-off, and so it was that ‘Maid of Orleans’ went on to comprehensively defeat ‘Electricity’ in the final. Fun times!
It was immensely gratifying to organise, but by far the best thing to happen during this was the myriad conversations that struck up, discussing this and that related to the music, and the memories this brought back from years ago. It made such a difference to me, and am pretty sure it did for others too. Which that was the whole intent behind the initiative.
The dust settled, but not long after, I started my own Facebook community – THE 1980s SYNTH WORLD CUP, featuring periodic events which followed a similar format to the OMD template. In a very short period of time, the group grew to a respectable 7,000, and whose members included artists like Heaven 17’s Martyn Ware, B-Movie’s Steve Hovington, and Peter Godwin. The events seemed to mean something to so many, during a time when it was needed most. I’ll never forget it, because one of my chat-generating posts asked people who they would like to see play at a fantasy electro/synth festival somehow linked to the Facebook group. It was never, ever going to happen...
Club Nights & Gigs
Summer 2021. “Real life” returns. The outside world beckons. What next? How could I translate what I was doing online into something tangible...something real? The answer was staring me in the face – create a club night for people who love the same music! With the unending support of my far better half Sharon, I (or rather, we) began a monthly club night in Taunton called ‘Computer World’, a name intended as a mark of respect to the godfathers of electronic music, KRAFTWERK, and their groundbreaking album of the same name. A very slow trickle of local people emerged to find out what this was all about. Taunton had never seen or heard the like. Monthly sessions took place, but I always had a strong desire to feature live music every now and again. How could I do that? The easy route would have been to tickets tribute acts, but that wasn’t what I wanted to do. It had to be ORIGINAL MUSIC. Ambition took over. A music journalist contact kindly provided me with a bundle of generic info@ email addresses for numerous bands, but after sending emails in hope not expectation, I received just one reply. It was a message which set me on the path toward hosting live music. The sender revealed themselves to be someone who had seen what I had done with the Facebook group and was keen to make something happen – the manager of CHINA CRISIS. The rest, really, is recent history.
Which brings us to ELECTRIC SUMMER. This would not be happening without the support, firstly, of my wife Sharon. She realises the huge potential this has for Taunton. She has the vision, understands mine, and is the most driven, motivated person I know and have the privilege to be married to.
Secondly, we attempted a very low-key, discreet private crowdfund campaign during summer ’25 with the aim of raising sufficient money to meet the many deposits required to get this off the ground. We raised a very respectable amount, enough to at least make the project viable. It’s absolutely true to say ELECTRIC SUMMER would not be happening were it not for that group of people. You know who you are. Please know that this event is down to you.
Thirdly, I have a team behind me who I lean on to do the things I have no idea about. My thanks to you for humouring me during my times of doubt and the many “doh!” moments I experienced over the last 18 months, give or take. Yes, it really does take that long to plan these things, it seems!
To the artists, their management and agents, who listened to us, considered what we had to say, and who ultimately agreed to appear. This means so much more than you can ever truly know. It means more than the world to me, Sharon, my team, and our crowdfunders. We all wanted to do something good for the town, an ambition you recognised and agreed to help become reality. It’s our aim to give everyone involved one of the best live music experiences they’ll ever have.
And there’s NORDOFF AND ROBBINS MUSIC THERAPY, the charity we’re supporting with this event. You are recognised and loved by the whole music industry because the work you do is undeniably of huge value. We are truly honoured to be involved with you.
And finally, YOU, the music fan. The supporter of live music. The synthpop nut. The religious gig-goer. The hardcore fan of whichever artist is appearing for us. The lover of life. You’ll be in good company if you buy tickets to come along. If you already have, thank you ever so much!
I’ve been reliably told that I sometimes have a habit of going on a bit. I suppose the length of this message confirms that to be so, but it’s the only way I find I can express myself properly, so people can understand. Summarising things you’re passionate about is difficult sometimes, so please accept my apologies for “going on a bit” here.
We look forward to saying hello to you at ELECTRIC SUMMER.
Jez
“I’m a massive fan of 80s music, in particular the synthpop/electronic rock genre. It’s a dream come true to create an event which not just celebrates that era, but also introduces some brilliant newer artists who loved the legends themselves and have gone on to create their own fantastic music. With thousands of people set to descend on Taunton over the next August bank holiday weekend, including fans from the United States and all over Europe, it’s set to be an unforgettable day of live music in Taunton.”
Jez Damsell
Director of Souvenir Events and Curator of the Festival
Electric Summer is operated by SOUVENIR EVENTS LIMITED