This year, thousands of festival goers will head to The Secret Garden Party from 25th-28th July to see headliners like Regina Spektor, Bastille, Django Django and Public Service Broadcasting. But most of them will probably also have chosen SGP because of how much more it has to offer than most musical festivals- and that's thanks to the Head Gardener, Fred Fellowes. He founded the party back in 2004 as an antidote to more mainstream affairs-largely inspired by the principles of Burning Man, SGP is all about freedom of expression, freedom from banner sponsorship, freedom to celebrate and interact with your fellow festival-goers. Fred let us in on his best moments so far and what he's looking forward to this summer.

Katie Antoniou: I remember coming to Secret Garden Party in 2005, I think, when there were about 3,000 of us? That weekend is probably still my favourite UK festival experience ever. Do you ever wish you'd kept it small and 'Secret'?

Fred Fellowes: Partly yes, but it was impossible not to lose money at that size and still achieve everything we wanted to.

KA: You've tried to implement the Burning Man principle of 'Leave No Trace' at SGP- with varying results. Why do you think the British festival-going crowd are such litter bugs? How will we get them to change their habits?

FF: Cattle-prods? I honestly don't know, I think because there is festival culture already where it's accepted that you get litter-pickers as part of your ticket-price. There is little you can do without getting a little dictatorial (and I'm not good at dictatorial). So all we can do is encourage, we’ve increased the number of recycling bins across site, we’ll once again be providing recycling bags in campsites and encouraging Gardeners to remove, beforehand, all unnecessary packing from things they bring to the Garden…. We now need every single Gardener to help us in our mission; glitter, not litter.

KA: How do you choose which acts you want at the festival?

FF: Pretty much based on my favourite music of the moment (and of course availability)-the old adage of there being only two types of music is very much a motto of ours.

KA: Who are you most looking forward to seeing this year?

FF: Django Django, Bastille and Regina Spektor are my top three but to be honest I will be running from one side of the site to the other all weekend trying to catch everything. Me and my Mrs are determined to catch David Icke for instance, and the list of bands on the Wild Things might mean I never escape from there (Wolf Alice, London Grammar and He's my Brother She's My Sister are all on my list!).

KA: What would your ultimate, dream line-up be?

FF: My dream double headliner has always been Dolly Parton & Pixies

KA: Have you ever had any ridiculous, Mariah Carey-style rider requests?

FF: A band once asked for a shrine to David Hasselhoff to be set up in their dressing room. It goes without saying they got it.

KA: What's the first party you remember going to?

FF: My cousin's 7th Birthday Party…. probably the first 'organised' event I attended. They had party bags; which totally blew me away.

KA: Why do you think it was so memorable?

FF: They had Smarty Arty the Clown .

KA: My favourite Secret Garden Party moments include discovering Regina Spector and sneaking onto Hard-Fi's tour bus with them (in the days when you had no security around). What are your best moments ever?

FF: Not sure if this is my 'best ever'; but it’s one of the best. The second ever year, at the end of the whole festival, I was talking to the local licensing officer from the district council and a totally naked woman ran right past him. After having a good stare, he turned to me and asked who that was. I then had to admit it was my main stage-manager….

KA: Where does the head gardener hang out in an urban environment like London? 

FF: Mainly on the Thames; I live on a house boat.

KA: Where do you go to see live music when it's not festival season?

FF: As I have to see a lot of bands; almost everywhere… but due to this I have set up a small music night at the Lexington called ‘Raiders of the Last Tube’ for people who'd like to go out and see great new bands but can’t stay out after 10pm on a week night (when most bands headline). So instead, the night is aimed at people who want to leave work, go see a band and get a bite to eat right away.

KA: You've been throwing some parties in the States too- how do they differ from SGP?

FF: It’s a different audience so it's a very different approach and culture. Added to that licensing and rules are vastly different - so they are worlds apart.

KA: Do American audiences have different party-needs?

FF: It's odd; there is no general concept of what a festival is over there. Whilst they have Bonaroo, Coachella etc they are all very far removed from Glastonbury-the UK blueprint- camping etc are not givens. So, yes, very different needs.

KA: Are there any other countries you'd like to take the SGP spirit to?

FF: Maybe Easter Island… or perhaps the Orkney isles

Buy tickets for The Secret Garden Party 2013 here.

Photo by Andrew Whitton