Gypsy Land 2 is coming in hot.
When we first heard Instagram comedian Urmumsyadad AKA Kai Suteja was moving into the festival industry, most of us were left scratching our heads. Now, it seems, he’s getting the last laugh. With three immensely popular events under his belt, that have attracted thousands of punters, no one would deny his status as something of a tastemaker for a certain section of disaffected festival goers.
His inaugural festival Gypsy Land, which ironically occurred over the same weekend as Splendour In The Grass last year, is back again this July 13th and 14th with even more outrageous attractions. Outside of international DJs, you can expect to see a huge flying fox, a motorcycle of death (whatever the fuck that is), cage fighting, bull riding, and more. And it’s all going down in Kuta, Bali.
Sounds like an experience right? Head here for tickets and check out our interview with Kai below, where we chat close calls, lessons learned, and what it’s like running a boutique festival:
Last time we spoke you were still setting up for the first Gypsy Land festival. What have you been up to since then?
I never thought I’d say this but I work in an office now 9-5 Monday to Friday. The first Gypsy Land was an overwhelming success, many dubbed it the next Fyre Festival, but we pulled through with all the promises we made and ended up getting 4,000 people through the gates. There’s a photo of me with an earpiece in and a massive grin on my face, I’d just been told we’d broken even, that was the moment where I was like “well, I guess this is my job now”.
After Gypsy 1, I had my eyes set on a Halloween party so I ended up throwing a super spooky party at my old abandoned kindergarten which by the way was number 666 (you couldn’t script that). We turned all the classrooms into different themed horrors; one room included over 10,000 photos of Justin Bieber, because nothing is scarier than a teenage heartthrob. There was also a vegan butcher shop which sold tofu meats and Area 69 complete with an alien dressed as 6ix9nine the rapper.
This one was a trap party, kill people, burn shit, fuck school kind of music, with a headline performance by Warhol.SS and the event was a sell out with 2,500 attendees. It was coming up to New Years Eve, so I rented a four story shopping center with an airplane on the roof and threw a cyber goth rave, we called it 2049 (inspired by Blade Runner).
Last time we also talked about the potential dangers of the event. Did anyone die? Any close calls?
No one died, but there was a lot of mischief. People having sex in the maze, people getting airborne on the giant swing, people wrestling in the cage..
What were the toughest lessons you learned about putting on festivals/events?
Duty of care. Yes, we’re not subject to the same laws as Australia but as an event organizer you still have a responsibility to maintain the safety of your guests given a sensible degree of common sense. This means having intense talks about counter terrorism, meeting with engineers about safety and having everyone trained for emergency procedures. Yes we’re fun, but we also care. If you choose to drop in on the half pipe and break your ankle that’s on you but if choose to party on the roof top – then it’s my responsibility the roof is safe and doesn’t collapse.
How do the locals react to thousands of kombucha loving cybergoths rolling into town when your events are on?
Both myself and my business partner are half-Balinese, we’ve got a great understanding on how to conduct business in Bali which revolves around respect for Balinese culture and tradition. It’s not always about paying $$$ to do something, sometimes a black coffee with an elder and a small ceremony is all that is required. We also understand that everyone requires an income, we recently built public parking for the local council to privatize, they’ll be charging 20 cents to kombucha loving cyber goths who require parking at our festival this July.
What can you tell us about the musical entertainment at Gypsy Land 2?
Headline performance by Francesca a Lombardo and Ramon Tapia, supported by a banquet of Australian DJs.
We see there’s some new attractions being added to the festival, can you tell us about it?
We’ve got a Ferris Wheel, we’re going to call it Low-Chella because it’s a low budget Aldi version (it’s still pretty tall at 20m). The most hektic thing we’ve got this year is the motorcycle of death and a flying fox which we’re aiming to go from stage to stage.
As you may have heard NSW Government has reached new lows and is currently in the midst of a crackdown on mirror balls… Where do you draw the line for Gypsy Land? Is there anything too crazy for the festival?
Common sense goes along way, if you look left and right you’ll be able to cross a road without getting hit by a car. We use a third party consultant security company, for the most part they’ve been pretty down with our shenanigans but have sometimes blatantly refused to work unless we change ideas to a “safer” alternative.
Do you consider yourself to be one of the attractions at the Gypsy Land? Do people come to see you? If so, how do you respond to that?
hahaha definitely not, if you’re paying flights to Bali and $50 to come see me you’re off your head. Sometimes people say Hi, but I’d like to think Gypsy Land really stands by itself and is its own experience.
A lot of people were comparing Gypsy Land to Fyre Fest early on. Have you seen the Netflix doco where they guy was prepared to suck dick for the Fyre? How many staff do you have on board? How committed are they?
My staff would one hundred percent swallow cum for me. I’d never make them or put them in that position, but that’s the difference between a good boss and a bad boss. We’ve got four fall time staff in the office these days, still a very small team but when I did Gypsy 1 it was just me and my buddy working from cafes so an office feels nice.
Last year we asked you to sum up Gypsy Land in one meme. Can you do the same for Gypsy Land 2?
Yep. Here’s our marketing campaign we’ll roll these out on a few billboards in Bali.
You’ve slowed down on the Instagram skit kinda thing you were doing, why is this? To focus on festivals? Got over it?
I don’t think I ever wanted to be “just a guy who makes videos”, there was always a negative connotation that I wasn’t really doing anything with my life. It feels good to be able to apply the skills I learned on Instagram specifically digital marketing (writing, directing, video editing, content creation) which has helped me in creating engaging marketing campaigns for Gypsy Land.
Last year you were interviewed by Kyle & Jacquie O before Gypsy Landl. If you were to incorporate them into the festival as some sort of attraction, what would it be?
I’ll fucking name a stage after them if they come get dirty on the dance floor.
