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

In association of Hovercraft Amplifiers, the first-annual Hoverfest, a festival of friends of and music created with Hovercraft amps, will take place on August 23rd, 2014 in the blocked-off alleyway by Type Foundry Studios at 611 N. Tillamook St. in Portland, Oregon. Pre-sales will be available in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, here is some info on this incredible event.

The Festival 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. Pre-sales 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.

http://www.facebook.com/hoverfestpdx
http://www.facebook.com/events/1508809612663911
http://www.hovercraftamps.com
http://www.cravedog.com

Source: Southern Cross PR
Photo Credit: Foto Phortress Photography