Review of Werk Out! Music and Arts Festival
Sept. 20th-23rd, 2012 – Legend
Valley, Thornville, OH
Written By: Ryan Neeley
Edited By:
Rosemary A.W. Roberts, www.jamsplus.com
Exclusively for
JamsPlus Media and Mark Loveless Photography
For many years, fans of the Grateful Dead believed that
they could control the weather. Those in attendance at
the 3rd annual WerkOut Festival at Legends
Valley over the weekend can add another band to that
list – Dayton, OH “livetronica” supergroup The Werks.
Held in Thornville, OH the past weekend, formerly
Buckeye Lake, hallowed site of numerous Grateful Dead
shows in the late 80’s and early 90’s (including my
first show), the Werks put on a festival that had a
family-like atmosphere and was pleasing to all five
senses. With dozens of artwork installations,
performances by fire jugglers, stilt walkers and hula-hoopers,
every corner you turned held a visual treat. Vendors
provided food choices that would satisfy meat-eaters,
vegetarians and vegans alike, with the scent of Disc-O
pizza, French fries, Barbecue and Veggie Stir Fry
drifting through the air. Each person you met held out
a hand, pulled you in for a hug or let you pet their
therapy goat. And then there’s the music… And what a
show it was.
Festival organizers Alchemy House and Funky Bean
Productions did a fantastic job weaving the lineup into
a weekend filled with a little bit of something for
everyone in a way that was smooth and seamless,
something that can be quite difficult with the recent
marriage of dubstep/electronic music with guitar-rich
jambands on the festival circuit. The weekend included
livetronica legends Papadosio, EOTO and LOTUS with newer
groups like Break Science and Zoogma rounding out the
lineup for dubstep fans. Livetronica, sometimes called
trance fusion, is a genre of the electronic movement
that combines sequencers and synthesizers with guitars
and drums, typical rock and roll instruments. Made
popular by The New Deal and Disco Biscuits in the late
90’s, it has evolved and inspired numerous artists to
step into this experimental world. Not forgetting fans
of extended psychedelic guitar licks and bluegrass
picking, jam vets Ekoostik Hookah and Rusted Root,
Muncie, IN group Glowstick Willy and bluegrass
powerhouse Greensky Bluegrass would delight the most
ardent fans of traditional rock.
Thursday evening started with Colorado 3-piece pH
Factor, who have been getting a lot of buzz from touring
with Papadosio and Ultraviolet Hippopotamus. They brought the
energy, and had a jazz-fusion sound that was
refreshingly different. Aliver Hall, Dirtfoot, and
Cosby Sweater kept reeling the crowd in, and by 8pm, the
gravel lot in front of the stage was filled with
wide-eyed festivarians hungry for a dose of jamtronica.
And Papadosio delivered in typical fashion, wowing the
crowd with driving beats, harmonic melodies and an
amazing visual show that would blur the gap between
perception and reality. Dr. Fameous kept the crowd
entertained before the first of three performances by
The Werks. The band came out and the masses let out a
roar of anticipation, and the band would not let anyone
down, roaring into “Sweet Content” and a jamming
“Burning Groove”. Guitarist/Vocalist Chris Houser
flexed his musical muscles, shredding during the “Moetry
in Potion>Moby Dick>Moetry in Potion” montage.
Keyboardist Norman Dimitrouleas pounded on the keys with
precision and skill, reflecting his background in
classical music while adding just enough funk to liven
things up; bassist Dino Dimitrouleas held down an
impressive percussion section, popping and slapping his
bass; and Rob Chafin beat up the drum set like Muhammed
Ali whooping up Sonny Liston. But the highlights of
the night were a surprising Phish cover, “Slave to the
Traffic Light”, with the crowd swooning along, and
Papadosio joining the Werks on stage for some WERKADOSIO,
performing “G-Funk” with Nick Gerlach of the Twin Cats
on saxophone for the encore.
Friday would begin at noon with Subterranean House Band
laying down the funk, followed by Soul Rebels, Magic
Jackson, Roster McCabe, Funktion, The Macpodz and
Strange Arrangement. Michigan-bred quintet Greensky
Bluegrass, the only bluegrass band on the bill, fit in
nicely and impressed the crowd with their
improvisational style and down-home vibe, reflecting the
fact that they play 175+ shows a year and have been
constantly touring for the past 11 years. Kung Fu came
up next before EOTO took the stage. String Cheese
Incident drummers Jason Hann and Michael Travis make up
this duo, combining the party vibe of a DJ set with
thudding bass and drumbeats that reverberate through
your body, all done on the fly without a script to the
background of an amazing lighting show. The Twin Cats
came up after EOTO, a difficult spot sandwiched in
between them and the WERKS, and delivered a tight set.
Night two of the Werks weekend would be another one for
the memory bank, with a number of guest performances and
special guests. They came out to a funky and effective
“Onslaught>Cruel Stone Blues” and debuted a new song,
“Music”, with Tim Palmieri on guitar and Rob Somerville
on Sax, both of the band KUNG FU. Former member Aaron
Armstrong, from the Boogie Matrix band, would join the
Werks on percussion for a driving “Hard to
Find>Drums>Hard to Find” jam session. But many would
argue that the highlight of Friday evening was when
drummer Rob Chafin came out dressed as an 80’s rocker
for the Europe cover “The Final Countdown” and
absolutely NAILED it, with SCI’s Jason Hann taking his
place on drums and Todd Stoops of Kung Fu Panda joining
Dimitrouleas on keys. The energy running through the
place was absolutely electric, and everywhere you looked
there was a smile. Ending the night was Matt Butler
conducting the Werks with all their special guests as
“The Everyone Orchestra”, a set of completely
improvisational music with the conductor writing
directions to the band and crowd on a dry erase board.
“Everyone” seemed to enjoy being part of this special
night. And for those not ready (or able) to sleep, there
were three other stages keeping the crowd raging till
dawn.
Saturday would be the most challenging for the crew,
organizers, patrons, and vendors at the festival. A
windstorm and period showers came through Legends Valley
and toppled some tents. At one point, a large storm
cell heading straight for the venue threatened to delay
or cancel some of the performances; but somehow it
turned north at the last minute, just misting the crowd,
then barreled into Columbus, which is 20 miles west, and
took out power to almost half the residences. “This is
how good of people the Werks are,” proclaimed Todd
Stoops, keyboardist for the band Kung Fu. “I was in the
production trailer with the stage manager and there was
a storm cell heading straight for the site. It turned
right before it got to us, went 20 miles north, and then
turned and just missed us. Now that’s KARMA.”
The lineup and venue did not go unscathed, though, with
power going out during Rusted Root’s performance, so
they went acoustic and used the stage as an instrument,
banging on the scaffolding; and Elemental Groove Theory
had their performance cut short due to issues with power
and the stage. However, it could have been much
worse. Saturday included Maryland funkmasters Pigeons
Playing Ping Pong, whose bass player Ben Carrey stated
in an interview with Jams Plus Media, “if anyone can
stand still for the whole set, I have 20 bucks for
them.” And those that caught this early afternoon set
were definitely not standing in one place with their
arms crossed. The Heavy Pets and Glowstick Willy led
into Rusted Root, who have now been together for over 20
years and played a number of favorites including hits
“Send me on my Way”, “Ecstasy” and “Back to the Earth”
and brought a young girl with an “I Love Rusted Root”
sign on stage to play the tambourine and sing backup.
As stated earlier, the Elemental Groove Theory set did
not happen, and they promised to put on a show that
night at their tent. The electricians got the
generator in place and running and the Ekoostik Hookah
set was delayed a little, but these veterans didn’t let
that bother them, putting on a romping set with
keyboardist/vocalist Dave Katz delivering sweet vocals
and guitarist Steve Sweeney shredding on his axe. 20
years and they’re still holding it down in the state of
Ohio. Livetronica newcomers ZOOGMA hit us with a
beat-driven dance party, followed by instrumental
dance-rock quartet Lotus, who had the crowd in a frenzy
with hard beats, soaring guitars and electronic textures
and a fantastic light show.
The third and final performance of the Werks was
described as being “epic” by festival-goer Cris Gonzalez
of State College, PA. Starting off with
crowd-favorite “OG”, they jumped into a marathon jam
session of “Cloudhopper>Rollin>Duck Farm>Rollin” with
Space Panda joining them on keys for the first
“Rollin”. Watching the band interact with Space Panda
was comical, but if you paid attention, you noticed that
Space Panda can really rip on the keys! Up next was an
amazing “Better Half > Beatles tune We Can Werk It Out >
Better Half”, which had the crowd calling for the band
to play all night. Danny Sauers of Subterranean House
Band came out on sax for a jovial “Fall”, another
highlight of this memorable evening, and the encores
were very fitting – covering Grand Funk Railroad’s
“American Band” and “Heading South”, in a nod to the
band heading out for their first large-scale tour the
following week.
The staff of volunteer “farmhands”, artists, vendors and
performers transformed the site into a smorgasbord of
art, food, culture, music, with a bit of shopping. The
entire production was both eclectic and interesting, and
although it was a little cold and wet, the word MAGICAL
came up numerous time when discussing the weekend.
“This was a perfect way for Ohio to send the Werks out
into the country on their first major tour across the
US,” festival patron by the name of ‘Tour Bus’ stated,
“Plus they killed it this weekend.” I couldn’t agree
more and believe that maybe, just maybe, the vibe and
good feelings of the thousands of fans, artists,
performers and workers who congregated at Legend Valley
this weekend veered the thunderstorm off course,
creating a little “magic” of our own, just like the good
ol’ Grateful Dead did there 20 years before.
