Hoverfest Adds Acid King, Danava and Wounded Giant to Lineup

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 23rd, 2014 by JJ Koczan

I mean, I suppose you could put on a heavy festival anywhere near the Western Seaboard and not have Acid King play, but I’m just not sure why you’d do such a thing. Hoverfest — the celebratory gathering to be perpetrated by Hovercraft Amplifiers in Portland, Oregon, next month — clearly feels the same way. The San Francisco trio have been added to the lineup along with Portland’s own Danava, who’ll be debuting a new lineup, and Wounded Giant, all three joining an already landmark gathering of YOB, Witch Mountain, Mountain God, Eight Bells and Holy Grove. Oh, and Billy Anderson‘s working the sound. God damn. Can you fucking imagine seeing Acid King with Billy Anderson doing the sound? Talk about seeing a band the way they’re meant to be seen. Yeah, so, here’s the dude who’s produced all their records — including the long-awaited new one, out early next year on Svart — fidgeting the dials for their stage show. Sign me up.

The final poster for the shindig, and the lineup and ticket info follows here, snagged ruthlessly from the clutches of the PR wire:

DANAVA, ACID KING & WOUNDED GIANT added to Hoverfest; final lineup and poster revealed

We are proud to reveal the final lineup of HOVERFEST, happening on August 23rd, in the alleyway behind Cravedog in Portland, Oregon, at 12:00pm.

The final lineup is as follows:

YOB
DANAVA (FIRST live show with their new lineup)
ACID KING
WITCH MOUNTAIN
EIGHT BELLS
WOUNDED GIANT
HOLY GROVE
MOUNTAIN GOD

All sets will be mixed by Billy Anderson.

Tickets are $15 in advance can be found HERE.

Only 500 tickets will be sold.

On behalf of Hovercraft Amplifiers, we are thrilled to announce the first-annual Hoverfest, a festival of friends of and music created with Hovercraft amps, which will take place on August 23rd, 2014 in the blocked-off alleyway by Type Foundry Studios at 611 N. Tillamook St. in Portland, Oregon. Presales will be available in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, here is some info on this incredible event. The event is being graciously hosted by Cravedog Media, booked by Nanotear, sponsored by PBR, and the live music on the day of the show will be mixed by the legendary Billy Anderson. Presales will be available in the coming weeks.

Poster artwork by Liesl Meissner.

facebook.com/hoverfestpdx
facebook.com/events/1508809612663911
hovercraftamps.com
cravedog.com
nanotear.com
southerncrosspr.com
billyanderson.net

Acid King, Live in Scotland, June 2014

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Witch Mountain, YOB, Mountain God and More Confirmed for First Annual Hoverfest

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 2nd, 2014 by JJ Koczan

Called to assembly by Hovercraft Amplifiers and Nanotear Booking, the first annual Hoverfest is set to unfold on Aug. 23, 2014. They’ve put together a maddeningly good lineup for their initial installment, culling together Oregon-based acts YOB, Witch Mountain, Holy Grove and Eight Bells, rounding out with New York ambient sludgers Mountain God and getting none other than Billy Anderson to run the sound for the night. Figure it’s gonna be a good time.

Naturally, Hovercraft will provide the backline, and company founder Nial McGaughey provides some insight below via the PR wire on what brought it all together:

HOVERFEST: First-Annual Portland Heavy-Music Festival Featuring YOB, WITCH MOUNTAIN & More Announced

On behalf of Hovercraft Amplifiers, we are thrilled to announce the first-annual Hoverfest, a festival of friends of and music created with Hovercraft amps, which will take place on August 23rd, 2014 in the blocked-off alleyway by Type Foundry Studios at 611 N. Tillamook St. in Portland, Oregon. Presales will be available in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, here is some info on this incredible event. The event is being graciously hosted by Cravedog Media, booked by Nanotear, and the live music on the day of the show will be mixed by the legendary Billy Anderson. Presales will be available in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, here is some info on this incredible event.

Initial Lineup (More TBA):
YOB
Witch Mountain
Holy Grove
Eight Bells
Mountain God

The Facebook event page can be found HERE.

More info on the inception of Hovercraft Amplifiers and Hoverfest:

As the world of heavy music continues to burst at the seams in the Pacific Northwest and worldwide, so does the need for the equipment to keep things loud. Nial McGaughey, local Portlander and engineering wizard, has been building custom, recycled tube amplifiers since 2010 under the name Hovercraft Amplifiers, a name which is becoming increasingly synonymous with the ear-crushing, chest-thudding sounds of Pacific Northwest heavyweights like YOB, Blackwitch Pudding, Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, and many more.

After 13 years of playing in bands and building amplifiers for 65amps in Los Angeles, McGaughey returned to Portland to start a new life. The very first Hovercraft amp was built in his living room as he was going through a divorce. Once he figured out how to replicate the sound of highly sought-after, generally unobtainable vintage or custom tube-amps using recycled and sustainable materials, he kept tweaking the sound to improve it even further.

Once he was satisfied with the sound he had created with his own custom amplifer, he consigned it at Old Town Music. Within a couple of weeks he got a phone call that it had sold. That first customer was so satisfied with the amplifier that he started telling people how great it sounded—he loved how reasonably priced it was and the fact that it was made locally, from recycled parts. The demand became so high that Old Town Music requested that McGaughey bring more in to sell. From there, he opted to post some amps on Ebay, which began selling within five minutes of being listed. 500 amps and four years later, the shop space has been transformed into a pile of parts that reaches the garage rafters.

More recently, McGaughey’s self-described “oh shit” moment was when he was in the audience at Stumpfest, and all of the bands were using a backline of Hovercraft amplifiers and cabinets. It was then that he realized he had done something incredibly spectacular and special and wanted to give back to the bands that create such amazing music using the gear. The first annual Hoverfest is the perfect way to celebrate how far Hovercraft Amplifers has come and to reflect on the amazing support the business has gotten from the people who love what they do.

Links:
facebook.com/hoverfestpdx
facebook.com/events/1508809612663911
hovercraftamps.com
cravedog.com
nanotear.com
southerncrosspr.com
billyanderson.net

Witch Mountain, Live at the Underworld, Camden, UK, June 14, 2014

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