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Laneway Festival has woven itself into the rich tapestry of Auckland's summer schedule, and this year brings the likes of international musicians FKA Twigs, Mac Demarco and Flying Lotus to our shores.

One of the festival directors, Mark Kneebone, tells Barney Chunn how it all came to be.

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Seeds don’t give away much of what they will become.  So too with the proverbial of Laneway Festival, that now runs in seven cities in three countries, and continues to expand every year. In fact, the name ‘Laneway’ was purely descriptive. The festival began in 2005 as a series of shows in Caledonian Lane in Melbourne, a small laneway behind the ‘glorified speakeasy’ (as it’s described on the festivals website) named St Jerome, where founder Danny Rogers was working. As Rogers has stated - ‘In my mind it was a block party’ - but the party was set to expand.

By 2009, Laneway Festival had spread from the back streets of Melbourne to festivals in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Then Dave Benge, a NZ band manager, promoter, and friend of Rogers, suggested they bring the party to NZ.

Mark Kneebone, the then (and current) director of Isaac Promotions and another friend of Benge, was put forward as someone worth talking to about running of the festival. “Maybe 3-4 months later, over a burger in Australia, we nutted out a deal,” says Kneebone.

I met Kneebone at the Laneway office on K Rd - a bare-bones, concrete room with only a handwritten sign on the upstairs door as an indication of where I was. The outside deck faces into a carpark and appears to be well used for a cigarette and a private(ish) phone call. The ubiquitous Ben Howe had also been talking to Rogers and, in a wonderful, tempered way, they decided to all work together. Manolo Estave, a promoter at Chugg Entertainment, a partner and co-promoter of Laneway Australia, was also brought on because, as Kneebone quotes Michael Chugg, “you guys have no idea what you’re doing, and he’s been doing it for 30 years.” Though Kneebone and Howe were already business acquaintances and friends – the first time the group all met together was at a site meeting with the council in a car park.

“And that’s how the weirdest bunch of people got together to do Laneways.”

It was a new venture for a newly formed group. “In the first years we relied heavily on Manolo, cause we had no idea how to run a festival. We knew about the acts. We knew how to market shows. But in terms of how to put a stage up? Zero knowledge.”

Not that it seemed to affect their first foray – the initial Auckland Laneway in 2010 was sold out, with more than 5500 people attending the festival at its original Britomart location. The festival has grown every year since then, moving from Britomart to Aotea Square, before settling in Wynyard Quarter, where it’s held today.

So what’s the secret? Without wanting to reduce the complicated process of building and maintaining the success of anything, let alone a large scale music festival, to simplistic truisms – ultimately it seems the continued success of Laneway Festival comes down to one rule – a phrase Kneebone repeated numerous times during our talk. “People are going to react to good music – that’s the key.”

Though the festival has grown to 10,000 this year, Kneebone is careful and aware of not outgrowing the ability to adhere to that philosophy. "When you have a show with a capacity of 10,000 – you have a lot more freedom. You’re not trying to sell 50,000 tickets, which means you can take a punt and take a lot more risk."

That risk is to book bands like Quarks! – a kiwi artist with around 200 Facebook followers that doesn’t often play marketed gigs at venues, preferring house parties or warehouse raves. But as Kneebone says, “he’s that good, and all we’re looking for is someone who’s really good. As cheesy as that sounds, that’s it.”

Working with a blueprint of a successful festival from Australia with a lot of credibility makes it a whole lot easier, but it certainly doesn’t guarantee success in a difficult market.

Auckland has its challenges as a location. For one thing, it’s a long way from anywhere for most bands. As Kneebone bluntly puts it, ‘no-ones going to fly in to Auckland and just fly home again.’ It's meant having to be aware of where and when bands are touring, of hooking in with other promoters, especially around Australia and Asia. When Lykke Li pulled out of the festival around Christmas last year, that’s how the team were able to so quickly pull in her replacements in Dan Deacon, Arial Pink and Iceage. “That was a busy week though man.”

On the other hand, Auckland has one big advantage that it’s always on Auckland Anniversary weekend – a Monday and a public holiday in Auckland, but not anywhere else in the country (though this year the date does fall on Australia Day). “No-ones playing Sydney on a Monday night. You can grab these bands that are playing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Australia or in Asia, and pull them into Auckland for the Monday, using Sunday as the travel day.”

Not only that, but the festival founders are aware that although similar, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, are notably different markets that require different approaches to the festival. It’s an understanding that maybe other Australasian festivals have given less consideration too in the past.

"We build a show for an Auckland audience, and we’re given the freedom to do that.” There is a pool of artists that the Australian team books, that Auckland can draw from. The NZ Laneway organisers choose around half of the acts from that pool, and choose the other half between local and international acts that comes only to Auckland (or Auckland and Singapore).

There is another truism that you never have as much fun at your own party. For Kneebone, that’s only half true. While he says he doesn’t get to listen to much of the music and is taking notes all day long, it’s still his favourite day of the year.

“I love it. You put on a massive party and all your friends go. Basically you’re just trying to give everyone a really good day.”