If anything should make you feel old, it's realising that the promoters of one of this year’s most exciting events are teenagers. Young guns Tom Notley and Dan Soler have teamed up with Spectrum’s Pete Jordan to create Human Zoo – a Suffolk based festival with a twist. The three day outdoor party plays host to three music tents playing the very best in electronic music, with major club brands Slaang and Technique pitching up to supply some of the world’s most exciting acts. Not only will this be one almighty aural feast, the site will provide healing fields, saunas and hot tubs over the mid-summer weekend.

Having just confirmed Kid Creole and The Coconuts as headliners, PlanetNotion caught up with Tom and Dan to see what makes Human Zoo stand out from the dozens of events on offer this year…

What were your greatest motivations for putting on your own event? Did you feel that the festivals going on these days were lacking something?
Well, Tom has always thrown big parties and after a dream that Dan had to put on a club night called Human Zoo we decided to throw another party maybe with one big name, it sort of escalated from there to where we are now, we never sat down and thought that the scene was lacking anything. Although I do think that there are no events that we have ever been to that provide what we are aiming to deliver.

Where there any other events or nights inspired Human Zoo? Is there a certain atmosphere that you wanted to recreate?
Yeah, definitely! After a few festivals every summer for the last few years we really liked the vibes of Bestival, which of course started out small and has grown massively. They have something really nice going on, great music, a high standard of food, drink, etc and its just more civilised than say Reading or Glastonbury. We are also big clubbers of course and half of the dream is just to be working in that scene, hopefully we can enjoy it now from all sides, the punter, the performer and the organiser. Both Dan and I play in acts, Dan is in an electro act called Fenech-Soler and I’m one of two DJ’s that makes up The Old Boyz! We have a lot of fun.

So, being teenagers, do you find that sometimes you don’t get taken seriously in the business?
Actually people don’t really care how old we are, most of the people we have been dealing with so far have treated us on their level.

Which of the acts on the Human Zoo line-up are you most excited about putting on?
All of them to be honest, I mean where do you start?


How did Pete Jordan of Spectrum get involved?

Hexadecimal (a friend of ours) gave us Pete’s number when we were clubbing one night and explained what we were planning to do. Dan went to meet him in Nottingham to do the deal! We are obviously extremely pleased to be working alongside Pete. His reputation certainly matches up with his ability to pull in such a fantastic line up for the festival.


You have big club names ‘Slaang’ and ‘Technique’ on board too – what is it about these clubs that made you want to get them involved?
Well, Slaang are just doing something a little different, like us. After going to a few events it soon became apparent that they are on the same wavelength, as for Technique they’re an institution and everything they do seems to be a success!

Human Zoo is taking place near Bury St. Edmonds. Why did you choose this location in particular?
Well, Tom’s dad Chris who is also apart of the Human Zoo team has lived and worked here for ten years and is good friend with John Agnew the owner of the Rougham Estate. It just seemed obvious to use the area as nothing like this is happening in East Anglia at the moment. The messages of local support have been overwhelming!

There’s stuff for children going on at the festival - is this to bring families to the event rather than ravers?
Well yes, this is an event for everyone and has activities to back that. We think it is really important to have something for everyone.

What will Human Zoo offer that’s different to the other festivals on this summer? Why should people travel to your festival?
Well there are a so many aspects but I mean things like the standard of living, i.e. the flushing toilets and shower blocks and the food quality is also great we have some fantastic diversity there. Another main point would be the intimacy factor; we have chosen only to go for 5000 capacity to make sure we keep this vibe! It wont be a festival where if you lose a person you don’t see them again for the day, it wont be an event were the arenas are so packed you barely have room to stand let alone dance. It will be an event of comfort and class with some of the heavyweights from every genre of dance music and beyond performing!