InterviewsScene
2025 marks a significant milestone for the Garden, one of the brands that has shaped, built, and defined the Croatian festival scene. This month, they celebrate two decades since the first edition of the iconic Garden Festival and ten years of Love International with a homage to everyone who played a crucial role in their journey. However, it is the Colgan family who initiated the whole story right after they moved from London to Zadar. From Lounge, Festival, and Resort on the coast to Brewery and Taproom in the capital, their projects have brought countless visitors, artists, investors, and globally acclaimed festival brands to Croatia.
While preparing for the summer season in Tisno, which is set to start on the first week of July, the two-milestone celebration is held at the Taproom and coordinated by Ben Colgan, who was seven years old when his father organised the first edition of the Garden Festival. I came by the newly refurbished terrace, and we had a chat about his childhood, surrounded by hundreds of inspiring artists, the Croatian and British electronic music scenes, and how they impacted his career.
You’re from the UK but grew up in Croatia. Looking back at the 20 years of the Garden festival and 10 years of Love International, it’s safe to say that you’ve been on this scene since you were a child. What are your views on the past 20 years of the development of all Garden brands – from Tisno to Taproom – how was the journey for you?
We moved to Croatia when I was seven, and we opened a bar soon after. It was just that summer afterwards that we started the Garden festival. Until I moved back to the UK when I was 18, there was just music going on every summer. From the start, there were always so many friends and family gathering there, so I didn’t really feel like I was living in a festival, as it was more like ‘oh people I know are coming over and there’ll be great music then’ – for me, it was completely normal. Then, it gradually progressed, and 3-4 years later, there were around 3.000 people, and at that point it started to feel a bit more serious. However, the thing about the Garden is that it retained that ‘family feeling’ and everyone was always coming back. The people started to bring their friends, and it organically grew – that stayed in its DNA throughout the years. That momentum kept going until 2015, which was 10 years of the Garden festival when they thought that would be the final year, but then one of the team members who was creating the lineup said that they’d like to start over and run a new festival – that was the beginning of Love International. Looking back at the decade of Love International and 20 years of the Garden, a lot of people who came to the first edition of the Garden festival keep coming back every year. Many artists also became regulars. For example, Midland was playing at the Taproom last week, and even though we had never met before, we now shared so many similar experiences from Love International and Garden. We were reminiscing about things and events that we never knew we were both at. You just have that kind of familiarity. In 2016, the Brewery opened, following the Taproom opening in 2020. That organic growth became an established business with various parties. Our idea of marking 20 years of the Garden festival was to gather the people who played at the first edition, the ones who were a part of its growth, involving new partners like Balance, Hohcajt. It’s about reminiscing back through the whole 20 years by doing it all again in a smaller way.
Comparing the British and Croatian electronic music scenes, what are the main similarities and differences?
I don’t know if it’s a thing in the UK, but specifically in London, most people choose events based just on genre. On the other hand, here I feel like people are more willing to try a bit of everything, see what they like, and go to various things and events by different promoters. I guess there is that variety in Tisno as well – festivals covering different genres for different clientele. Love International will cover house and electro, while Dimensions might have dubstep and a bit of reggae. However, at all of the festivals over there, I feel like artists and promoters do experiment a bit more and expand their horizons. For example, Dekmantel is doing Selectors, and the idea is that DJs can play whatever they want – you can hear a techno producer playing deep house, or whatever they feel like. Speaking of Zagreb, I think it has developed in the past 5-6 years and has become more similar to London. It has more places, more happenings, more international DJs, and the local scene is growing a lot.
That actually adds up to my next question – how do you feel the Croatian scene has progressed over the years? Compared to London, where people are attracted to the genre, what would you say attracts the Croatian partygoers – music, DJs, promoters, or venues?
That’s a tough one. In the UK, there is definitely an attraction to promoters because people know what kind of genre and, more importantly, the vibe they can expect. Many of my friends always go to the specific events always organised by the same promoters. I feel that has also started happening here – there are some promoters that people will always support, even though they are organising events in different venues.
When it comes to your journey in the industry as a DJ and electronica/ambient/experimental music producer, how would you describe yourself as an artist? How did you delve into music production? What drives you?
Growing up around electronic music, mostly, but music in general, it was always my creative outlet. When I was younger, I played drums in a band, then picked up bass at university. I still love live music, which I now do less. Regarding electronic music, I started producing in 2020, mostly during COVID. At the time, I was living with a couple of guys who were into it, so we started doing music together. When you’re starting as a producer, you might have something in your head and might not be able to make it due to a skill issue. But in the end, what comes out is a mix of your influences, somewhere in you. The music that ended up coming out probably has that kind of sound because of what I grew up around and what I was used to. And now, even though I sometimes sit down with an idea of making some kind of electro, in the end I always come up with something more ambient that has that Adriatic feel to it.
If you had to choose, electronic or unplugged?
At the moment, I’d probably go with electronic.
Summing up your whole career on the scene, creating music, being an events coordinator, and growing up in the industry, where do you see yourself in the next 10 years? As a producer and build your career as an artist, or do you prefer event production, organisation and coordination? What’s the dream?
Producing and playing music would always be more of a creative outlet. I don’t love the idea of trying to monetize it in a way, so I’d rather keep it for myself – it’s an enjoyable process. As per the event planning and organising, for me, that’s more satisfying in a way. There’s something about putting everything together and seeing people enjoying themselves, bringing artists you love listening to, and discovering them to people who never had a chance to hear them before. I’d love the idea of doing that for the next ten years, hopefully – you never know (laughs).
When it comes to showcasing new local and international artists, Garden has made a significant impact on the scene. How do you view its influence on Croatia?
Well, putting aside genres and variety, I’d say that the first few years showed the possibility of organising larger-scale events in Croatia. Back then, there were a few things happening besides the Garden, but the festival has shown that there was a market and interest from people abroad, similar to how Ibiza started years ago. It opened the market to foreign, and mostly British, promoters. We showed how to successfully get people to Croatia. It kind of opened the floodgates. Speaking of music, I believe it would always get there. The Garden might have accelerated the popularity of certain types of music, but in this industry, it is a changing process.
How did the music trends affect Garden?
One of the things we’re lucky about in Tisno is that we now have a broad range of genres and events. It’s interesting to see it from our perspective, because one year a certain festival sells out super quickly, the next year they struggle a little bit, and again season later, completely opposite, sold out in 24 hours. It’s interesting to look at the factors – whether there are new people coming or trends changing. This year is one of the strongest years; it might be a positive indicator of the financial situation getting better after the pandemic, but there are definitely also a certain ‘buzzes’ for certain genres that happen for specific events and days of the festival. We can know in advance which day there’ll be a full stage, we learned to know where ‘the buzz’ is. It changes night to night, it changes every year. Garden festival was always very consistent with a certain vibe, but now, in my opinion, as a promoter, you have to be willing to change a bit, be adaptable, and create an experience – that’s what the audience is looking for.
Speaking of experience, do you think people actually listen to music when they go out?
I like to think so. It changed a lot, as 20 years ago, DJs would have to bring their CDs and a lot more equipment. The music was not as accessible as it is today. The way you chose to listen to music before was more intentional – you’d sit and listen to the whole album, whereas now you can listen to whatever you want whenever you want. People’s attention spans are lower, everything is served, and trends are changing quickly.
Summing up the Croatian scene, we mostly talked about Zagreb and summer season festivals. What are your views on that phenomenon? Should Croatia be less seasonal?
Yes, definitely. I recently had a chat regarding this topic with my friend from the UK, who did events in Rijeka and Belgrade. For example, people from the UK know about Belgrade as a placeholder on the scene – they know who’s playing there, they have gone to events, but they don’t know much about Zagreb and Croatia’s scene. In my opinion, there is no specific reason why that is the case. Croatia has good venues and regionally great DJs, so I guess there is a lack of self-marketing on this scene. There is something about speaking of electronic music in the context of Croatia, people initially think of summer, but maybe we should utilize it and push the winter season by creating experiences with Europe-centric lineups. I think it can still grow massively.
Do you think local artists get enough recognition in Croatia and abroad?
Promoters always feel like they have to have an A-list DJ on a lineup, but it’s always important to have local support artists. It’s almost a grassroots thing – playing at various events and touring. Having local DJs on a festival lineup is a mutually beneficial thing. First of all, it’s nice to have their names linked to other international DJs who play similar genres and bring a similar vibe, and vice versa, it’s about linking them to new promoters. It’s all about integration and building a story around the scene, which is why organising and promoting more events in different cities during wintertime would make an impact on the Croatian and global electronic music scene in general. In terms of the Garden Tisno, as there are various acclaimed festivals, there are many promoters and DJs who go to those types of events. Even though you’re playing a genre that is currently not that popular in Croatia, such as dub, for example, there will be people from other countries who will have a chance to discover you and book you for an event in their country.
We covered the past twenty years, we covered the reality, and my final question is about the future: what will Garden look like in 2045?
Well, to be honest, twenty years is too long (laughs). Let’s cut it down to next year. Now we have Tisno coming up. It’s eight festivals in nine weeks – the most we’ve done in one season so far, and pretty much all of them are sold out. Afterwards, in September, we are back in the Taproom with preparations for autumn. We intend to do pop-up club nights bringing a sense of Barbarella’s to Zagreb. Winter plans are still in the making, we’re looking at some exciting new long-term projects.
From techno to dubstep, electronica to classic house, glitter and disco to leather and rave – some of the best global festivals have their slots in the Garden Resort this summer. However, May and June are booked for the Taproom, offering various events on the terrace. ‘Come down to the Taproom, listen to the music, and go and see your local artist’, Ben concluded while finishing off his coffee and moving on to another event production meeting.
