Behind The Scenes at Offset with Paul Artrocker

Photo: Paul Artrocker (on the left) at Offset, doing something important no doubt
Credit: Beki Cowey

Artrocker.TV: Here we are at Offset, where you're in 'mid flow'.

Paul Artrocker: I am indeed mid flow! And you've caught me during a momentary lapse of brain power actually. But you see that van behind you, the blue van? I've heard that's Atari Teenage Riot, so that's our last headliner. So that means all my bands are here. Thank God.

It's a very important looking van, isn't it?

Yeah there are tinted windows... that does the trick doesn't it?

Are you expecting Alec Empire to get his pecks out for the crowd later?

He'll go for it, I'm sure he will! And the sun will have gone down by then, so the atmosphere changes and hopefully people will go mental. I wish he'd been here to see Monotonix play, because I think they set the bar quite high. But Atari Teenage Riot will go for it. I doubt they know how to do anything else.

Is everything going according to plan today?

Yeah, smoothly really! We're ten minutes behind schedule, which in the scheme of festivals is pretty good actually. Especially when you get bands like Chrome Hoof playing, who've got 12-14 people on stage - it was a major headache for the technical people up there. But they've done wonderfully well. In fact, Monotonix were just two people and they were even more of a headache because they played in the crowd! So at least the Chrome Hooves stayed on the stage.

Where's Kieran (Offset Festival founder) - he's the only person I've not seen all weekend!

He's on the other end of this walkie talkie! Listen, there he is....

FEMALE VOICE: What's the policy with charging to get into the car park?
KIERAN: We stop charging once the bands have finished, at midnight. Over.

There you go, really boring stuff about when we should stop charging an entrance fee. When I went to bed last night I left the walkie talkie on, and it was fantastic, like a soap opera - you're listening in to people's conversations about things going on around the site.

Like people trying to break in through the fence?

Yeah, you might not have a TV in your tent, but it's the next best thing. The festival soap opera.

Radio Offset!

Exactly.