As a lot of Malaysian music enthusiasts know, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the upcoming musical event, Peakstorm Festival, featuring a star-studded lineup of acts including Alyph, BLINK, Airliftz and most prominently, the international superstar himself: Joji!
But what few people realise amidst all the hype is that there have been a lot of sweat, tears and most importantly, honest hard work churned into making this event a reality.
So to gain some insight into the festival’s background, behind-the-scenes processes and the ultimate mission of Peakstorm as an entertainment brand, we here at WORLD OF BUZZ spoke to the CEO of Peaky, the organiser of the inaugural Peakstorm Festival 2023 Presents Joji Live in KL!
Meet 24-year-old Michael Xavier Francis, the CEO of tech and event company, Peaky and spearhead of the vision to bring Joji to Malaysia!
To get the low down on this highly anticipated event and the Peaky brand, we sat down for a chat with this bright and young Malaysian CEO! From our conversation, we learned a whole lot about Michael’s work ethic, vision and journey leading up to Peakstorm Festival!
From music fan to music event mastermind!
Michael (left) with Malaysian DJ, BLINK (right) who will perform at Peakstorm Festival 2023!
Before putting his back into organising Peakstorm for the past year, Michael has always been an advocate of the Malaysian entertainment and nightlife scene. And by founding Peaky, he has decided to make a career out of his passion! “By turning my passion for music into a job, I made sure I would never have to work a day in my life!” he said. “Plus, the bigger picture I’ve set for Peaky is to make a difference and impact people’s lives. Making money is a secondary motivation for me.”
Under this vision, Peaky is run by young Malaysians just like Michael!
But Peaky is not a one-man show, as Michael rallied with other like-minded individuals to build a community that develops technology to build a convenience-driven entertainment industry for Malaysia. The long-awaited result of this vision is the Peaky App, a soon-to-be-released app that aims to improve the lives of the merchants and customers they work with.
Michael (bottom row, second from right) with a few members of Peaky.
“Our team consists of creative and innovative young adults who studied abroad, and thanks to their experience and insight, we realised that more developed countries heavily leverage technology for simplification,” he noted. “So with the Peaky App, we’re granting businesses the freedom to creatively innovate new ways to engage with their customer base while users can access a quality selection of clubs, bars and events to attend in their city.”
Potential merchants that want to learn more about what they do can reach out to Peaky at peakyapp.com or moc.ppaykaep@nimda titling: “Peaky app Merchant Inquiry”.
“Peakstorm is more than just a business.”
With Peakstorm Festival coming in just a few weeks, Peaky’s team has been hard at work to make sure everything’s in order for this long-awaited event. Yet, from our talk with Michael, it’s clear that their excitement has staved off any sign of exhaustion as they prep for this upcoming festival!
“To us, Peakstorm is more than just a business; it’s about us being our own target audience and with that, providing the customer what we would want as consumers ourselves,” he told. “Creating that bond and community through customer satisfaction will be the story of Peakstorm. As an advocate of the scene, customer first is embedded into everything we do for this event.”
Michael (white shirt) on-site at Sunway Lagoon to make sure everything is dandy for Peakstorm Festival 2023!
That being said, like any other festival, the prepping process for this event was not 100% smooth sailing. Starting from the announcement up to the opening of ticket sales, there were a number of netizens who took to social media to speculate that this festival is a scam. Even their partners Sunway City and Sunway Lagoon were not spared the inquisitiveness of social media users who questioned if Peakstorm was legit.
Michael acknowledged this hoopla and took it as just one of many bumps in the road to organising a music show. He said, “Being the new kid on the block comes with a level of needing to prove ourselves. Thankfully, with support from our venue, media partners, artists and the like, we managed to mitigate that and turn the negative attention into a positive outcome that helped us garner exposure.
“Running a festival company is about cultivating a cluster of feelings and memories to curate a memorable experience for our attendees and how we can best do that as our number 1 priority always. And now that we’ve proven ourselves, the world is our oyster and it’s only up and up for us during this show and the next!”
But wait! There’s more after Peakstorm!
As Michael has mentioned several times before, Peakstorm Festival 2023 Presents Joji Live in KL is not a finish line, but a starting point for the Peakstorm brand. With Malaysia’s entertainment industry surely making a comeback in 2023 and beyond, this young and hungry CEO has no plans of sitting by quietly!
“We understand that Malaysians have been yearning for more outdoor music festivals for the past few years now,” he told us. “That will inevitably be the direction Peaky is heading towards; we’re in talks with the management of some of the biggest artists and DJs in the world to bring you a 2-day music festival next!”
Consortium 21 and Peaky Technologies signing their Memorandum of Collaboration with Michael (front row, right) at the helm!
This is just the beginning of 24-year-old Michael Xavier Francis’ journey and we can’t wait to see what he churns out next! Ambitious and unabashed, we can only wonder what he has in store for our entertainment scene and how he’ll make a difference to his fellow Malaysians in the future!
But for now, we can be a part of that journey through Peakstorm Festival 2023 Presents Joji Live in KL! For those of you who aren’t in the loop yet, this awesome music festival is taking place this 19 February 2023 at Surf Beach, Sunway Lagoon!
Feeling the hype like we are? Then purchase your tickets NOW on Peaky’s website or follow them on their social media pages for all the latest updates!:
