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The Heads to be Artist in Residence at Roadburn 2014; Mikael Akerfeldt to Curate

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 27th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

The psychedelia fetish that led to reuniting Loop to play as headliners for Roadburn 2014 now enters its next phase with the announcement that The Heads will act as Artists in Residence, playing three separate sets over the course of the fest. The first will be Kandodo, a solo-project from The HeadsSimon Price, and that’s followed by two sets from The Heads proper, who’ll be joined for both by former Monster Magnet and Wellwater Conspiracy guitarist John McBain and for the second by Carlton Melton for a one-off collaborative freakout. One of those “you’ll only ever see this at Roadburn and be thankful everything is recorded” kind of situations. An endless flow of badassery continues.

In recent days, Conan, Locrian, True Widow and Freedom Hawk have also been added to the fest. For those fortunate enough to attend Roadburn in 2014, here’s who you’ll be relaxing with:

Beginning a new chapter of their ongoing legacy, Bristol’s psych rock band The Heads will follow in the footsteps of Enslaved, Circle, Justin K Broadrick and Neige (Alcest) as Artist In Residence at the 2014 Roadburn Festival.

With Heads’ members recording and releasing solo albums – Simon Price focusing on his solo project Kandodo (roping in Wayne Maskell and H O Morgan to augment the Kandodo live performance) and Paul Allen leaving the fold to focus on his solo venture ANTHROPROPH, it seemed that The Heads might be on a constant hiatus. However, rehearsals for Kandodo’s forthcoming live shows made the remaining trio – Simon, Hugo and Wayne – to reconsider The Heads as a band, and start working out new jams with a view to recording new Heads material purely as a studio project.

The band’s idea was to record some new tracks with various guest lead guitarists and re-connecting via mutual friends (having briefly met in Seattle in 2000 where they all shared the same bill) it was a proverbial lightbulb flash moment: ”Ask John McBain!” – a man who’s work with early Monster Magnet, was a major influence on the Heads in their formative years. Having recorded and toured with Hater and Wellwater Conspiracy and guested on recent Carlton Melton recordings, John McBain, now based in San Francisco, was immediately excited by the proposition and agreed to jump onto the ride.

Roadburn is The Heads’ spiritual home, and they are honoured to be asked to be the Artist in Residence and are excited to have John McBain join them for this and new recordings. As part of the Artist in Residence, Kandodo will perform as a three piece on Friday April 13th at Het Patronaat. The Heads will play a live set for the first time with John McBain on Saturday April 12th at the Main Stage. The Heads (ft. John McBain)’ residency will lead in to a collaboration with fellow psychedelic travellers Carlton Melton in a one-off Roadburn exclusive performance on Sunday April 13th at the Main Stage as well.

Carlton Melton will also be playing their own set at Roadburn (scheduled for Saturday April 12th)

Of course, the fact LOOP are headlining, well, that makes it even more amazing, over three days at Roadburn 2014.

Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt To Curate 2014 Roadburn Festival

We’re elated to announce that Mikael Åkerfeldt has agreed to curate Roadburn Festival 2014 on Friday, April 11th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands. As curator, Mikael will personally select the bands for his special event, and play a headline show with Opeth, too!

Musically, Mikael has consistently pushed the boundaries. Over the last two decades, he guided Opeth‘s evolution, drawing the band out from under the doom-laden shade of occult-infused Scandinavian death metal and into a place in the sun as revered progressive rock / metal innovators, never once sacrificing the authentic spirit of previous artistic endeavours.

Mikael‘s steadfast devotion to aesthetic progression and perfection has proven ground-breaking and highly influential for an entire new generation of musicians practicing the art of progressive rock and psychedelica. At the same time, he has steadfastly honoured the mystical pioneers of late 1960s and early 1970s psychedelic folk, rock and prog — some of Opeth‘s albums are named after obscure psychedelic prog outfits or song titles — all of which is in perfect sync with Roadburn Festival.

Opeth‘s body of work is highly respected by Roadburn audiences, which makes Mikael the ideal choice to carry on the tradition that began in 2008 with David Tibet / Current 93, and continued with Neurosis, Tom G Warrior, Sunn 0))), Voivod and Jus Oborn / Electric Wizard.

“It’s with great honour that I accepted the invitation to be the curator for the 2014 Roadburn festival”, says Mikael Åkerfeldt, “I’m pretty damn far from being a professional booker / promotor, and I’ve never been part in choosing bands for an event apart from bands that Opeth has toured with. So this is a first for me, but I have to say I’m very excited.”

“I’ve reached out to a handful of my favourite bands from the past and present. As of now it looks like it will be an amazing musical event. Still brainstorming about possible bands for this glorious festival but I already know that I’m going to be like a kid at Christmas. It will be amazing! Plain and simple. Obviously Opeth will perform as well, but to be quite honest with you, our own performance doesn’t get me nearly as excited as the thought of experiencing the bands that have shown interest. It will be remarkable and memorable. A celebration, bitches!”

We are so excited and proud to be working with Mikael and to have Opeth headline his curated Roadburn 2014 event. It will truly be a celebration of progressive rock, psychedelic folk, the heavy 70s and beyond. We look forward to this collaboration and cannot wait to see how he will expand Roadburn Festival‘s musical horizons as well as explore more familiar territory from new angles. We will definitely be in for some artistic surprises.

Roadburn Festival 2014 will run for four days from Thursday, April 10th to Sunday, April 13th, 2014 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

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