AMPLITALKS

AMPLIFIED MINDS: We’ve come a long way since Robert Johnson stood at the crossroads, since Jimi Hendrix set his Stratocaster on fire, since a 20-something Brummie wondered what was this that stood before him. Heavy, alternative, outsider, weird – define it how you will –, essentially the wide spectrum of music that is at the heart of Amplifest, has always been an ever-shapeshifting beast, and even now, in the complicated age of streaming, short attention spans and AI, it continues to do so, evolving into a future that remains, fortunately, unknown and unpredictable. Graced by the enlightened company of Ashenspire’s Alasdair Dunn, Big|Brave’s Robin Wattie and Candura’s Pedro Coragem, we will ask the big questions – how did we get here, where/what exactly is “here”, and where can we still go, in this wild world of unconventional music we so love to inhabit. /// O))): A band named after an amplifier brand, whose music consisted mostly of feedback generated by two guitars and a stack of amps, with no discernible rhythm or melody? Sure sounds like a recipe for success. And yet, after a few empty – or worse, emptied – rooms in their first few excursions, the world seemed to slowly realise that those two hooded figures were on to something. Yes, of course noise and drone and ambient genres existed before them, and their chief inspiration Earth also helped clear out their path, but through sheer genius and creativity, expanding the original concept in every way, often through collaborations with several crucial guests, Sunn O))) really have gotten louder and louder over the last 25 years – both literally and figuratively. Along the way, they changed the way so many of us perceive and relate to music itself. Now, finally at Amplifest, it will be a pleasure to go through the best memories of their career with the two robed gentlemen themselves, Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley. /// Amplitalks moderated by José Carlos Santos.