Carsten Rodin started performing at Anacortes’ annual fete What the Heck Fest when he was in 15. Or as he remembers, when he was “just a kid.” “I’ve really grown up with it,” Rodin says. “It’s corny to say, but it’s like the greatest thing ever.”
It’s not as banal as he leads us to believe. And the seven-year-old summer festival that has encouraged a small-town music community suited for a big city is hardly cliché. Piggy-backing on the city-wide rummage swap Shipwreck Day July 19, Heck Fest unifies local and out-of-town artists July 18-20 since Bret Lunsford founded the first with fellow musicians in 2002.
Although robust with art festivals, Anacortes’ already-healthy music community was lacking a summer staple: cobbled concerts, nosh and hoppy beer, in one fell swoop. Lunsford says the cross pollination between local and visiting musicians and fans heartens everybody. “People from town say, ‘I guess what’s happening here is more important than I thought,’ ” the Anacortes native says. “Or as important.” For people coming from out of town, it’s refreshing to find a festival that can “happen at the edge of nowhere.”
Rodin says the town is transformed. Back from his first year at Vassar College in New York, Rodin will perform as Photosynthesis, which he started as a solo recording project at school. By the time Heck Fest rolls around, the electronic pop outfit will debut as a full-fledged five-piece.
The performance will be Rodin’s fourth time playing at the festival, since he and his friends were first invited to play at the third annual. Then, Rodin belonged to Squid Vs. Shark, which developed into more recent ventures, the poppy “girl group” My Friends Call Me Sweet Pea and Well Done Dragon.
Rodin isn’t alone in his homecoming; a chunk of the same artists that performed at the festival’s conception return regularly, and the minority of new acts diversifies the traditional gathering. The first festival “had a really fun feeling, like a class reunion or revival meeting — in the best sense of those things,” Lunsford says.
Khaela Maricich of The Blow hasn’t missed a year, says Lunsford, her cousin, and singer/songwriter Mirah will play with the Spectratrone International. Lunsford performs with his band D+ on the tail of their new record debut, among almost 40 other performers, including Your Heart Breaks, Karl Blau, and Kimya Dawson.
“There’s a lot of people I know that will talk to me about the ‘Juno’ soundtrack, and how much they love that music, without knowing that Kimya’s been playing the festival here for past four to five years,” Lunsford says.
The showcase exposes music new crowds might not hear on the radio, or at least before they hear it on the radio, and has “cultivated this cool music culture” in Anacortes, Rodin says. For more information and a detailed schedule, visit whattheheckfest.com.
SIDEBAR PROFILE
Karl Blau
Standing apart: “What the Heck Fest is very relaxed, and it's extremely people powered,” Blau says.”There’s no money involved. There's no commercial advertisers. It's just people getting together and putting their energy into an event for the love of it, as well as the heck.”
What’s in a name: What the Heck Fest plays on the performer’s passion for the music that happens at the festival, “and that it's actually dying to happen,” Blau says.
Anacortes on the road: As both a touring and recording artist, Blau tours “just like the fisher folk head to Alaska in season.”
Staying home: “When I'm home just after tour I don't want to look at my car. And I don't have to — I live in old town just blocks from the library and post office and thrift stores.”
Making music: “I spend most of my time home with my family and recording new songs,” Blau says. “Since it’s been raining so much this June, I've written three albums.”
Redefining ‘local’: To Blau, the local music community extends from Portland to British Columbia “Heck Fest represents a very diverse and open-minded musical community,” he says. “Rap groups, black metal, new age, as well as straight up Rock-n-Roll.”
Local influence: Bird calls, lingering skunk cabbage smells, salty air and sandy toes are a few experiences that “make their way into the art I produce.”
First string: ”I started playing music with friends as early as sixth grade,” Blau says. “It was rock music and it was because it felt powerful. I've always been the nerdy type — to wield a cranked-up electric guitar with ample distortion, just playing power chords feels really good. My uncle gave me and brothers one pink electric guitar when I was 12. I played that thing to pieces.”
The craft: “I discovered the art of recording music, not just playing music,” Blau says. “That has become my obsession. The thing I've been striving for over the years is to create music that has never been made before.”
Anacortes’ What the Heck Fest a musical gem
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