“We might be more on top of organizing this event than we had previously,” Arnold said. “We’ve definitely got more people dedicated to Noise Pop than in the past. We decided it was time to go out and do something a bit more formally, make it a self-sustaining business. We think with the name and reputation, the brand is there and pretty much established. We like to do it and do it ourselves, so we felt it was time to up the bar a bit. There’s a lot of directions we can take things from here.”

But Arnold stresses that there’s no need to worry about Noise Pop straying from its roots.

“There’s a lot of interesting new things this year, but at its core, it’s more of the same – a hefty pummeling of good new music from around town,” Arnold said.

“We do have more ambitious ancillary activities around the festival, such as the Noise Pop Expo at Swedish American Hall, which includes the Pop & Shop crafts fair, the Noise Pop Educational series, “Indie Night School”; a poster art show and a D.I.Y.-focused musician’s forum; as well as the film festival and art shows, but it’s still all about the music.”

So how do Arnold and his cohorts come up with a lineup each year? It’s a mixture of luck, connections and who’s available. In other words, scheduling a six-day event at multiple venues is as hard as it sounds.

“We look at who’s got an album out or coming out around the festival, who’s touring, whose arms we can twist,” Arnold said.

“We’re at a bit of a weird time because the festival is held fairly early in the year, when fewer albums are released and bands touring.

So the dates vary from year to year. Last year, we tried doing it toward the end of March, close to South by Southwest (an annual music showcase in Austin, TX), but we decided on moving it back earlier again to give us some more breathing room.”

Availability aside, Arnold said the deciding factor for the lineup is simple: Organizers pick the bands they want to see perform live.

“We pick things that we like or think are interesting, if they’re doing something notable,” he said. “We come up with a very big list every year and think about it on both local and international levels.

“Giving back to the community – that’s always been a pretty key part of the festival for us – and supporting our own backyard. We don’t have any strict quotas on how we pick locally. We definitely take some pleasure in presenting artists we like, but we don’t aim to take any credit for it. It’s about the performers.”

As for the future, Arnold says he has no plans to bow out anytime soon.

"Sometimes I think it’s surprising for me to still be involved with this, but we’ve had so many people volunteer to help out because they believe in this,” he said. “That’s the good thing about Noise Pop. The music changes and evolves but it always stays interesting.”

For more on this year’s festival, including schedule, venues and performers, go to noisepop.com/2007.