Interview | Killian Glemas

As a live music industry professional, ICMP's Killian Glemas has already enjoyed a huge amount of experience, from running festival stages to promoting his own gigs. 

Killian initially joined ICMP's musical community via our BA Songwriting degree before moving to the BA Live Event and Festival Management (BALEM) course. Since he's changed courses, he's gained experience of working for big events courtesy of Festival Republic alongside his own promotions through his Somber Discos venture. 

We caught up with Killian to learn more about his experiences in the live music industry...

What led you to ICMP?

I was working full-time throughout Covid, spoke with a friend via group calls, and he told me all about ICMP. 

At the time, I'd started writing songs and learning guitar so I checked it out. I auditioned for BA Creative Musicianship and BA in Songwriting, attended a Songwriters' Circle that was live-streaming at the time.

There was just something about it that drew me in, the talents of the students and the success stories. So I moved to London with the firm intention of becoming an artist and had this year of going out gigging and writing songs. 

How did you move from BA Songwriting to the BA Live Event and Festival Management (BALEM) degree? 

I got to a point where I really loved songwriting but wasn't sure if I'd be able to turn it into a sustainable career. 

My start in live events came via the North London Tavern, the pub round the corner from ICMP which hosts lots of live music.

I ended up being responsible for a Freshers event, having to organise it in just two weeks. We went from having no show to having 16 artists and getting 80 or 90 people coming down." 

I found out about the BALEM course after that, met Programme Leader Jamie Johnston and realised that this was for me. I haven't looked back since then. 

How is the course going? 

The course has been great, this time two years ago I didn't know how to mic up a drum kit, then two weeks ago I was running a sold-out show at Village Underground in Shoreditch. 

I can confidently run festival stages, I've staged-managed shows in venues like the Troxy with the Global Youth Awards. I was there to arrange timings and manage the crew. 

This has everything to do with BALEM, going from those initial lessons looking at the fundamentals of the live industry to the backline, then the business modules that teach you who all the different stakeholders are. 

It's given me the confidence to go into a venue with a team I've never worked with before and win them over and successfully deliver high-stake shows. 

How have your industry experiences been?

I run a promotions endeavour called Somber Discos alongside my freelance work. It's been great, even going back to the first festival I did, the headliners were established within grassroots, indie circles. I thought there was no chance they would be up for playing but they agreed and to pull it off provided a sense of satisfaction my work as an artist has never delivered. 

I worked with this band called Queen Cult, an alt rock trio from Macclesfield, I met their manager and I put them on for a show at the Hope and Anchor in London. Since the show, they've played many more shows in London, a support slot and I'm looking at organising another show. Support bands for the Queen Cult show were ICMP student acts - a group called Caiman Radio and the band Afraid of the Dark.  

We recently did a gig with Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Tim Elsenburg's band, at a church in Walthamstow, a collaboration between me and Sam Jones who taught me as part of the BALEM. It was a great success. 

What freelance work has been keeping you busy?

One of my recent highlights was the show with Arlo Park at Regents Park Open Air Theatre, it was so problematic due to the rain. Being on the ground to help with that and keep the production team happy felt like an achievement. 

The Village Underground gig with DEHD was the biggest capacity show that I've done independently.

There were different lighting and sound professionals, a security team I had to brief, looking after the bands, crew too - it's a lot of pressure but through doing so many of my own gigs and having studied over the last couple of years, it's given me the skill set to know what I’m doing and have the confidence to deliver." 

I do a lot of work with Festival Republic during the festival season, working in various production and event assistant roles. 

Do you have any advice for aspiring BALEM students?

Stamina, resilience and perseverance are key, show days usually involve long hours, there's a lot of mental fortitude. You might be sitting in a production office for hours and you need to be constantly engaged - there are so many people involved in putting on live music.

Whether you're working freelance or self-promoting, there's a lot going on. With the latter, you need to have self-belief, particularly if you feel you've found an artist you think is amazing and can deliver a good night. You need to create a strong game plan and sticking to it is really key. 

What's next for you?

Post university, I'm hoping to continue freelancing as I've got so many contacts already so expanding who I work for and doing bigger shows too. I want to have free time to work on self-promoting gigs and hopefully moving into festivals and bigger events. 

Somber Discos | Instagram