We flew out to the east last weekend to experience the first ever EDC Guangdong. While we were there we had the opportunity to interview Eric He, the co-founder of Storm Festival as well as one of the biggest reasons EDC was able to set foot in China. After experiencing EDC Las Vegas for himself not long ago, the Chinese EDM King knew he had to bring the festival to his home country. After discussing with Pasquale Rotella, they introduced EDC to Shanghai earlier this year in April. As the second ever EDC in China, Eric decided to bring the festival to Zhuhai in Guangdong. Check out our full interview with him below now.
1. The EDM scene in Asia was still considered relatively small 2 years ago, but within just a few years, you’ve been able to partner with Pasquale for EDC and even create your own festival in Storm festival. How do you think that this scene came to be in China?
In 2013, I founded Storm festival after traveling to 7 different cities to organize events. In 2017, I met with Pasquale to see if there is any other advancements that could be made in China specifically. I can see the audience is getting more hyped about this kind of music and there’s more people listening to electronic music so I want to see where this can go in the future as well.
2. You are the co-founder of Storm festival in 2013. How does preparing for Storm festival compare to preparing for EDC?
When I first founded Storm festival, the event was meant to be for local people to enjoy the EDM scene. EDC is different, it reaches out to a much larger spectrum of people. EDC is meant to provide a more astonishing experience that will attract people from all around the world to come and attend no matter where it may be.
3. Being that this is the second EDC of China in this year alone with the first being EDC Shanghai back in April, was it a lot easier to plan EDC Guangdong since you guys are more familiar with the laws and regulations from planning EDC Shanghai?
Firstly, specifically in China, with all the strict laws and regulations, it is very difficult to find a venue location to host such an event. The first one I could think of was Shanghai because many organizers and artists love to perform in that city so it is a very popular destination. However, being that we are prohibited to incorporate various entertainment tactics such as fireworks and we had to shut down the festival by 9pm. I decided to host a second EDC to fulfill the dreams of those local ravers and give them the full experience. Northern China is often very cold around this time of year so I felt that Zhuhai in Guangdong was the best location to host the second festival.
There is a growing demand on EDM in China. Residents of China have already been traveling to various places around the world and now we can bring it directly to them. The most important thing is the correlation of the demand of the Chinese people to what we can offer them. There are so many different genres of EDM and we try to satisfy everyone’s interests by bringing a diverse lineup of talent to our events. We are still trying to figure out the market in terms of preferences of the genre of music. For example, some want trance, Guangdong likes bass, and others want hardstyle.
4. We walked around the festival yesterday and we were very impressed by how the experience was similar to that of EDC in the United States. But with that being said, we know you are a man of innovation, and is always looking for ways to improve. What improvements would you like to make to EDC in upcoming festivals?
For the venue, the first time, the Chinese team would scout out a venue and then the American team would come and discuss the location. We are also working on various other merchandises including custom external battery packs to be sold at festivals. The construction speed is very quick as well. We have a lot of manpower here so we actually just received all the equipment here including the Gaia statue to the tents all on Monday and we were able to put it altogether within a week.
5. With 2018 coming to a close, you’ve already had two EDCs in China, what do you have in store for next year?
EDC is not a festival that is very suitable for hosting too many times a year so we will probably stick to just Shanghai and Guangdong next year as well. However, I am currently looking into a handful of various other events including hosting smaller events with a 5000 person capacity, or on a beach or even bringing Electro Run to China. I may focus the locations of these events in more southern areas of China to just expand our grounds and reach of the audience.
6. Is there a chance you will want to conquer elsewhere beyond that of China or would you want to keep your aspirations within Asia?
EDC is interested in expanding to Korea and Thailand, and I have various connections to these markets so we are looking into what we can do in those areas. As for Europe, I’m in connection with the IP for The Rolling Stones so with our various connections, we would like to expand into other markets outside of China as well.
7. It’s clear that you are a big fan of the music as well, what is your personal favorite genre of EDM and who is your favorite DJ?
I love big room and my favorite DJ has got to be Hardwell!
上周末，我们飞往东方去体验有史以来第一次的EDC广东。 虽然我们在那里，我们有机会采访Eric He，风暴节的联合创始人以及EDC能够踏足中国的最大原因之一。在经历了EDC Las Vegas前不久，中国EDM国王知道他必须把这个节日带到他的祖国。在与帕斯夸尔*罗德拉(Pasquale Rotella)讨论后，他们在今年4月早些时候向上海介绍了EDC。作为中国第二个EDC，Eric决定将这个节日带到广东珠海。 现在看看我们下面对他的全面采访。
1. 亚洲的EDM场景在2年前仍然被认为相对较小，但在短短几年内，你已经能够与Pasquale合作启动EDC，甚至在Storm festival中创建自己的节日。 你怎么认为这个场景来到了中国？
在2013年，我到7个不同的城市举办活动后，创办了风暴节。 在2017中，我会见了Pasquale，看看是否有任何其他的进步可以在中国专门制作。 我可以看到观众越来越炒作这种音乐，有更多的人听电子音乐，所以我想看看这可以去的地方以及未来。
2. 你是风暴节在2013年的联合创始人。 如何准备风暴节相比，准备EDC？
当我第一次成立风暴节，该事件是为了让当地人民享受EDM的音乐。 EDC是不同的，它达到了一个更大的频谱的人。 EDC旨在提供一个更令人惊讶的体验，无论它可能在哪里，都会吸引来自世界各地的人们前来参加。
3. 由于这是今年中国的第二个EDC，第一个EDC上海在4月份，因为你们更熟悉规划EDC上海的法律和法规，所以规划EDC广东更容易？
首先，在中国，所有严格的法律法规，很难找到举办这种活动的地点。 我能想到的第一个是上海，因为许多组织者和艺术家都喜欢在这个城市演出，所以它是一个非常受欢迎的目的地。 然而，我们被禁止纳入各种娱乐策略，如烟花，我们不得不在9PM关闭节日。 我决定举办第二次EDC，以实现这些当地人的梦想，并给他们充分的经验。 每年的这个时候，中国北方地区往往非常寒冷，所以我觉得珠海在广东是举办第二届艺术节的最佳地点。
中国的人们开始喜欢这种音乐。 中国的居民已经前往世界各地的各个地方，现在我们可以把它直接给他们。 最重要的是中国人民的需求与我们所能提供的相关。 有这么多不同类型的EDM，我们试图通过将多样化的人才阵容到我们的活动，以满足每个人的利益。 我们仍然试图找出市场方面的喜好流派的音乐。 例如，有些人想要恍惚，广东喜欢低音，而其他人想要强硬。
4. 我们昨天走在节日周围，我们非常深刻的印象如何的经验是类似的EDC在美国。 但随着这一说法，我们知道你是一个创新的人，并一直在寻找方法来改善。 在即将到来的节日中，你想对EDC做些什么改进？
对于场地，中国队将侦察出一个场地，然后美国队会来讨论地点。 我们也正在研究各种其他商品，包括在节日销售的定制外部电池组。 施工速度也非常快。 我们在这里有很多人力，所以我们实际上只是在周一收到了所有的设备，包括盖亚雕像到帐篷，我们可以在一个星期内把它放在一起。
5. 随着2018即将结束，你已经在中国有两个EDC，你明年有什么？
EDC不是一个非常适合每年举办太多次的节日，所以我们明年也可能会坚持到上海和广东。 但是，我目前正在研究一些其他的各种活动，包括举办5000人的小型活动，或者在海滩上，甚至是在中国举办电竞活动。 我可能会把这些活动的地点集中在中国的更多的南部地区，以扩大我们的场地和观众的范围。
6. 有没有机会，你会想超越中国的其他地方征服，或者你想保持你的愿望在亚洲？
EDC有意扩大到韩国和泰国，我与这些市场有着各种联系，所以我们正在研究我们可以在这些领域做些什么。 至于欧洲，我与The Rolling Stones的IP有关，所以随着我们的各种联系，我们也想扩大到中国以外的其他市场。
7. 很明显，你是音乐的忠实粉丝，什么是你个人最喜欢的EDM流派，谁是你最喜欢的DJ？
我喜欢大房间，我最喜欢的DJ一定是Hardwell！
