Exclusive Justin Dowes of Frenzy Interview

July 2005

Justin Dowds is a busy man. Not content with having spent the best part of 12 months organising the first ever FRENZY event - a Christian music festival attended by thousands on 11th June, 2005, in Dunfermline, Scotland - he is now in the throes of organising the follow-up: FRENZY 2006. Somehow, in the middle of his hectic schedule, he managed to find time at the end of July to email some answers to our questions. We hope you are challenged by what he wrote.

There's the Ultimate Event at Alton Towers, various CrossRhythms events, Soul Survivor, and more. Why start yet another Christian music event?

We wanted to start an event that was all about quality in all areas. We wanted to create an event where Christians felt so confident in the event that they would compel their non-Christian friends to come also. We did not set ourselves up as a promotional event giving up-and-coming bands a push; we only went for recognised names in the area of Christian music. We wanted the line-up to be the biggest and best ever brought together on one stage in the UK. We also wanted to do something in Scotland in the capital of our nation, an event that would give us the opportunity to win many souls in our nation. Our event was purely and simply to lift the name of Jesus high and see souls won. We felt Christians needed the "T in the Park" opportunity with Christian artists. A day full of their favourite Christian music artists.

How did you become the organiser of FRENZY? What is your own particular background?

I'm a pharmacist by profession and also work two days per week in the office of the Vine Church, Dunfermline, doing PA work for the pastor and managing all the events we run there. Whilst studying in Aberdeen I rented a small room from a minister called David Hutchison. His brother is the legendary "Hutch" (Delirious? photographer and former Delirious? lighting director) and one day he called me and asked if I'd help promote a Delirious? concert that was coming to Scotland. We sold it out in a week and ever since then I've worked in helping promote all the Delirious? concerts in Scotland. Over the years I've built up a long list of contacts and last year when Delirious? played the Vine Church, Dunfermline, as part of their World Service tour we sat down and asked if they would be interested in helping us get a huge Christian music festival up and running in Scotland. Once we had them on board we went after Third Day. With two headline acts confirmed we set up a limited company called "Lemonade Productions" (we rent an office in the Vine Church and the building used to be a Lemonade factory) and began to take the event from there. I gave up my pharmacist role for the year and put my back into promoting the event the length and breadth of the UK.

What were the highlights and low-lights for you as the organiser of the festival?

Highlights were too many to count. Dave Crowder on his first visit to Scotland literally blew the crowd away. Standing on stage watching the entire crowd jumping to his last couple of tracks was, in the correct sense of the word, AWESOME. Delirious? wrote a song using famous John Knox words that brought tears to thousands. With the pipes playing there could not have been a dry Scottish eye in the place as Martin Smith called on God to "give us Scotland before we die". Flying the Newsboys in on a private jet from Holland (after they had played there in the afternoon), getting them out of the airport and straight onto stage to close the evening was pure rock ‘n’ roll. Of course, it's all about winning souls, however, and over 75 people made first time commitments which we were jumping up and down about. Since the event, though, we're hearing so many stories of people who were there thinking about things a bit more and then giving their hearts to God in the weeks after FRENZY.

Low-lights … hmmmmmnmnmnm … Not quite getting to the 12,000 sell-out mark … maybe? … Oh yes, the combined total of just 19 hours’ sleep in the week running up to the event.

FRENZY was aimed at young people. What part do you think the Bible has to play in the lives of young Christians?

Bad Question. FRENZY was most def not aimed at young people. We aimed FRENZY at all ages and tried to create a real family feel to the day. We want the church to be representative of all ages. No one was more up for it than our pastor and he's 53 going on 24.

I think the Bible gives the direction to young people that they are crying out for. Society today gives so many mixed messages concerning morality, sexuality and spirituality. The church as an institution often does not bring much clarity to the debates either. The Bible, however, is the unchanging Holy Spirit-inspired word of God. It is not confusing or liable to changes in political persuasions. It sets out clearly God-exacting standards for living a life according to his will. It's simply invaluable to every young person.

Will there be any more FRENZY festivals, and if so, how can we find out more? Is there any way that people can support the festival?

YES is the answer. We are planning FRENZY 2006 already. www.frenzyfrenzy.com is the best way to find out about FRENZY 2006. Next year’s date is Saturday, 10th June, 2006. Same venue in Edinburgh. We're making quite a few exciting changes to the way we do things. Tickets go on sale 1st November. What a great Christmas present, guys. You guys will be the first to hear that we just received confirmation today that Delirious? will return for FRENZY 2006. We have also confirmed that TREE63 will play FRENZY 2006. At present we're also in discussions with a number of other bands - Dave Crowder in particular as we'd love to have him back as a headline act in 2006. We're going for bigger and even better than 2005 in line-up. No one will want to miss 2006; just ask anyone that was at FRENZY 2005.

If there is anyone out there that would like to help out financially, that would always be most welcome. Lemonade Productions is a not-for-profit company and any profits left over will be donated to local Christian charities. We're also looking to extend our sponsorship network for 2006. Anyone interested in sponsoring the event should contact me on 01383 842272.

Justin, we wish you well. It sounds like you have a busy but rewarding year ahead of you. Thanks for answering our questions!