"The Future Depends upon Impartial Festivals": Inside Okeechobee's Return to Soundslinger

In an age of relentless stimulation and supersized manufacturing, Okeechobee is making its case: the way forward for festivals might not be constructed by going greater, however by going deeper.

The competition will happen March 19-22 at Florida’s Sunshine Grove beneath its unique, unbiased possession following a two-year hiatus and a interval of Insomniac possession from 2020 to 2023.

Now again within the arms of Soundslinger and its founder Julio Santo Domingo, who goes by Rechulski, Okeechobee is working on the precept of depth somewhat than commercialization. The competition is being pushed by his sense that one thing important has been misplaced alongside the best way.

For Rechulski, who reduce his tooth DJing and organizing the “Sheik ‘N’ Beik” occasion collection in New York Metropolis, the competition panorama has began to blur along with related lineups, layouts and experiences regardless of the place you go. The trade’s fast enlargement has favored consistency over character, and what used to really feel handcrafted now typically feels mass-produced.

“Pageant followers, together with your complete Soundslinger group, should not happy by most competition experiences in recent times,” Rechulski tells EDM.com in an unique interview. “The homogenization of the market leaves us hungry. We’re at some extent the place persons are insatiable, so it’s necessary to attempt to break the mould and the cookie cutter strategy, and actually look inside ourselves to seek out what the longer term is fabricated from.”

On the identical time, the economics of working and attending festivals have shifted dramatically. Rising manufacturing prices and post-pandemic pricing pressures have raised each fan expectations and scrutiny.

“I feel [fans are] craving worth in the place they’re spending their cash,” Rechulski says. It’s not a secret that the worth of the whole lot has gone up and followers really feel it. We really feel it.”

As costs climb, audiences more and more anticipate rather more from their hovering ticket costs than simply nice performances. Okeechobee’s reply is what longtime attendees name the “Okee OG” spirit: a philosophy rooted in authenticity and the restoration of what made festivals really feel transformative within the first place.

Rechulski says the “Okee OG” ethos is outlined by three primary values: neighborhood, intention and everlasting youth.

“We attempt to give as a lot worth as potential for the ticket, and make it very distinctive, in comparison with a number of different occasions which might be on the market,” he explains. “We wish folks, after they go to Sunshine Grove, to seek out their interior little one. We wish them to let go of their worries and simply benefit from the second, as our levels, Be, Right here, Now are known as.”

That emphasis on emotional expertise begins with the land itself. Not like many large-scale competition grounds constructed round everlasting infrastructure, Sunshine Grove stays largely untouched. The open, pure atmosphere permits timber, water and sky to outline the setting simply as a lot as audiovisual manufacturing.

“We’re one of many few festivals on the market the place there isn’t one constructing fabricated from concrete on our property,” Rechulski gushes. “All you see is timber, grass and nature, offering an escape from the pressures of the world.”

The atmosphere isn’t simply aesthetic. For the Okeechobee group, it’s deeply philosophical, too. With the more and more overstimulating and quick tempo of contemporary life within the digital period, the competition goals to perform as a reset to one thing slower and extra human. That’s why stewardship of the land is handled as cultural infrastructure, somewhat than simply operational.

“We actually care concerning the land a lot, and the rationale why our followers love the competition is as a result of they really feel at house at Sunshine Grove,” Rechulski says. “We really feel a really deep accountability to take care of the land, to maintain it clear, to maintain it pure and to make it stunning for everyone.”

This yr, that philosophy extends into coverage. Okeechobee is banning single-use plastics from meals distributors to assist protect the house that defines the expertise.

Nonetheless, the bodily setting is simply the place to begin. The panorama could body the expertise, however what Okeechobee finally creates is a collective belonging formed by music, a power that dissolves distance and distinction.

“Music is the place all of the partitions break down,” Rechulski says. “You might be from anyplace on the earth, and never converse the identical language, and be listening to music, and feeling the identical factor and understanding that secret language that folks have.”

For him, festivals should not simply leisure merchandise, however social equalizers within the type of non permanent neighborhood.

“It’s necessary for us to offer areas the place we are able to nonetheless really feel that [unity],” he explains. “To really feel like we belong in one thing, right into a oneness that we’re collectively residing this expertise on this tiny, little piece of rock that’s capturing throughout the universe. We’re so insignificant in all of it, and typically we overlook that. I feel that festivals present the chance for a protected place for folks to collect. That’s why all of us do that.”

Past the neighborhood connection, Okeechobee provides an opportunity to step away from the fixed noise of day by day life, decelerate and easily be current.

“There’s so many issues occurring in our world,” Rechulski stated. “We’re so captivated by breaking information, all these items occurring 24/7, and we overlook to benefit from the second. After we’re listening to music, we are able to disconnect from all of this noise. We will Be Right here Now and benefit from the second.”

That ethos carries by way of all of the competition’s levels, notably Jungle 51, which acts as an extension of Rechulski’s NYC occasion collection and document label, Sheik ‘N’ Beik. Jungle 51 pushes the label’s curated acts to the forefront: a reminder that Okeechobee isn’t only a collection of high-tier performances, however a deeper collective of artists and expertise.

It’s this identical philosophy that informs Rechulski’s broader critique of the competition trade. If the previous decade prioritized enlargement, replication and spectacle, the following one ought to prioritize intention and cultural authenticity, with unbiased festivals like Okeechobee main the best way.

“Wanting on the homogenization of festivals,” Rechulski says, “I feel the longer term actually will depend on unbiased festivals to protect the spirit of neighborhood.”

Okeechobee returns March 19-22 with performances by LCD Soundsystem, Alison Wonderland, GRiZ, FISHER and EDM.com Class of 2025 artist Beltran, amongst others. Tickets can be found right here.