It’s that time again, festival freaks. Aug. 7 marks the start of the 5th annual Werk Out Music & Arts Festival, a three-day event hosted by The Werks, a multi-genre band from Dayton.
This will be the festival’s third year at the Legend Valley venue in Thornville, Ohio. The highlight of the event will be Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon performed live in its entirety by members of The Werks, Dopapod, and the Athens band Papadosio.
The Werk Out also features an appearance by Ken Kesey and the Merry Prankster’s iconic bus of Electric Kool-Aid fame, as well as a prodigious musical lineup.
Rob Chafin, Werks drummer and main organizer of the festival, says that this year is the biggest yet, and will include more than music, ensuring it as an exercise in self-expression for all involved.
“We want to bring out everybody’s talents and encourage people to feel comfortable being themselves,” Chafin said. “At a lot of festivals, sometimes the music can take over and other art forms get lost. We want the crowd to express themselves as much as the performers.”
This year will feature a plethora of live painters and performers as well as an art installation “Werkin’ Man” contest in the campgrounds with a panel of judges and VIP prize tickets. There will also be 8 hours of lectures per day with topics ranging from workshops on dreadlock maintenance to a panel on string theory.
Originally from Athens, Papadosio is another multi-genre band playing the event. The group uses predominantly live instrumentation with occasional electronic samples to achieve its sound. The industrious group is currently touring, and releasing its filmed recording sessions “Day and Night,” out on Aug. 5 on YouTube, featuring live, previously unreleased songs.
“It was a fun experiment,” drummer Mike Healy said. “We basically set up our equipment in a cabin in Asheville, North Carolina and hired a film crew. We have definite plans to release a new album in the upcoming year. We’re going to really start wrapping our brains around that after these next few months of heavy touring.”
Another performer to watch is the enigmatic Space Panda, a rare intergalactic breed of bear sent to raise the funk higher than even the most delicious cosmic-bamboo stalks.
Space Panda is Jeremy McDonough, a Pittsburgh native who applies a jazz mentality to the EDM genre, focusing on improvisation. He stays true to his name, donning the distinctive panda mask and space suit for every performance.
“Aside from my own set, my plan is to just run across every stage in the full get-up, and hope security doesn’t get alarmed,” McDonough said. “Musically, I like to have spontaneity. A lot of DJs have very precise set lists that they adhere to, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I try to pull out as much improv as I can and have fun with it. Plus, I’ll have a keytar.”
McDonough has a long history with The Werks, personally and musically, and lived with Papadosio briefly in Athens.
“I’m glad this scene has expanded so much in recent years. I’m very proud to be a part, especially because many of my friends are involved,” McDonough said. “It’s awesome to enjoy other people’s success and watch how this cohesive unit of like-minded people has formed. But it’s about the fans as much as the performers, it’s about connecting with people and sharing something you’re excited about having created yourself.”
