Fifty-five bands will congregate this weekend in Thornville, Ohio for a weekend music festival featuring four up-and-coming Athens bands.
“People are camping, partying all day and staying out late,” said Mark Meredith, guitarist for Elemental Groove Theory. “It’s going to be a fun festival; it gets better each year and more people keep coming.”
The Werk Out Music & Arts Festival starts Thursday at the Legend Valley Music Center in Thornville, and continues through Sunday, jam-packed with Ohio artists.
Papadosio is the first to represent Athens at 8:30 Thursday night on the Technaflora Stage. This stop is part of their CD release tour promoting their new album, To End the Illusion of Separation (T.E.T.I.O.S), available Oct. 16 for digital download off their website.
“We’ve been playing music off of that album for the whole tour,” said Anthony Thogmartin, guitarist for Papadosio. “It’s a double-disc release with two hours worth of music, so it’s taken a long time to get together.”
Papadosio isn’t the only Athens band with a new album slated to drop this semester. Two other bands, Elemental Groove Theory and Sassafraz, are both in the midst of putting the final touches on their albums as well as preparing for The Werk Out Festival.
This festival is very special for Elemental Groove Theory because it will likely be the last performance with all the original band members together for a show.
“We’re excited to hang out with all of our friends, it will be a good going-away for EGT,” Meredith said. “It’ll be EGT at its finest.”
Elemental Groove Theory is planning to break up after their album Metamorphosis is released due to several members moving away, including lead vocalist Rachel Maxann, who is taking a job singing on a cruise ship.
Meredith said that they are all still really close friends, but they are ready to do different things. They are also in talks with Sassafraz about doing a dual CD release party in Athens.
Sassafraz was able to secure a slot on the festival lineup thanks to a competition promoted by the festival in which six bands tried to get the most Facebook likes.
Sassafraz won, allowing them to get on the schedule for the festival as well as expand their reach.
“The contest was really good for us in general, getting 100 more Facebook likes (for our page),” said Jack Gould, saxophonist for the band. “We ended up reaching over 20,000 people through reposts and trending … it allowed us to get our name out their more.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
