Inside Amplifest: Walter Hoeijmakers

Roadburn is as important for music lovers as Meca is to muslims, Rome to Christians and the Pyramids to the ancient alien coconut crazy people. And there’s a reason why it works like this: the festival is the avant-garde of riff oriented music, and a home to frontier and genre bending artists, presenting an amazing line-up every year. There’s a bunch of people we should be thankful to for Roadburn, and one of them is Walter Hoeijmakers, artistic director and promoter of the festival. He’ll be spinning some records and showing off his wits on Iommi’s heirs music on Amplifest 2013. Also, Walter will be our guest in the saturday’s Amplitalk. We’ll be so glad to have him among us, but first here’s a chat we just had:

What do you expect of the Amplifest audience?
I’m told that audiences in countries like Portugal are very passionate during shows, and hope to experience this myself first hand.

We like surprises, but what can we expect from your talk and djset?
The dj-set will be a surprise for me as well, as it can go into different directions. I’ll wait and see whether Amplifest is up for some good old school metal and hard rock, the heavy 70s or some fine psychedelica or blackened sludge! I’m up for it.
I’m extremely happy that Jose Carlos Santos will be the moderator of the talk, as I happen to know him for a while. I will go in-depth about the personal sacrifices and the insanity as well that goes along with organizing Roadburn. It will be a talk about the art of dedication and losing yourself along the way.

Which band do you really want to see at Amplifest?
I’m really excited about Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. I missed them at Roadburn, as I was way too busy handling some production affairs at the time. Now I have the chance to finally see them! Can’t wait! I’m also looking forward to see Chelsea Wolfe as well – same story, missed her at Roadburn. Her latest album, Pain is Beauty, is simply stunning.

If you were a musician and if you had to pick a band or a musician of this Amplifest edition to play with who would it be?
I’d love to collaborate with Shazzula, who made Black Mass Rising, on some very dark, psychedelic video art.

What records have you been listening lately?
I have been listening to The Allman Brothers a lot lately. I love their ability to jam so much. Plus, I’m a huge fan of Duane and Gregg Allman. Just finished Gregg Allman’s biography – it’s such a good read.

Enough about music, Amplifest is also about other arts. What books have you been reading and what movies have you been watching lately that you want to recommend?
I love watching TV-series like The Wire, Sons of Anarchy, Entourage etc etc. I’m currently watching the 3rd series of Treme – only 3 more episodes to go! Simultaneously, I’m watching the first season of The Killing. Don’t know why I waited so long, but this series is a real thrill seeker, and keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire duration of each episode. As far as books go, I love to read biographies, and tons of music mags. Do yourself a favor and check out Lemmy’s White Line Fever!