Schoharie County Arts hosts first-ever progressive music festival at Iroquois Museum

SCHOHARIE - Calling all progressive rock, metal and experimental jazz-fusion aficionados – Schoharie County Arts has an event for you.

The Out of Bounds Music Fest will be held from 2 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, on the grounds of the Iroquois Museum, located at 324 Caverns Road in Howes Cave.

Featuring prog rock, prog metal and experimental jazz-fusion bands, as well as arts vendors, food and beverages, the event is sponsored by the nonprofit Schoharie County Arts. Tickets are $10 for adults, and free for children younger than 18. 

“This is Schoharie County’s first prog festival, and it’s going to be an exhilarating, spellbinding musical experience,” said Jennie Mosher, Schoharie County Arts board member and festival organizer. “Prepare to be blown away by this incredible lineup of musicians.”

Out of Bounds will feature bands Haishen, Ampevene, Segundo Chino, Involute, Pocket Merchant, and The Undominated. Each band will take the stage for about an hour starting at 2 p.m., offering their audience a unique blend of high-energy improvisation, jazz-fusion, ethereal soundscapes, psychedelic rock, hypnotic rhythms, crushing metal and out-of-this-world fun. 

Haishen combines crushing metal, heady prog, and Chinese mythological and musical influences for a sound that resonates far beyond the band’s home city of Rochester.

Ampevene blends freeform frenzy, jagged riffs and hypnotic rhythms into a tight, psychedelic, sonic landscape, designed to trip up and trip out any listener. 

Segundo Chino is an instrumental/psychedelic/hard rock power trio formed in Syracuse, and the current lineup includes indigenous tribal members of the Morongo Nation of California and the Onondaga Nation of New York. 

Involute is a progressive metal band founded in New Paltz, blending heavy, syncopated rhythms with ethereal soundscapes, topped with curious and catchy vocal melodies.

Schooled in the latest trends in the jazz-fusion genre, Pocket Merchant is an experimental and improvisational musical powerhouse from the Hudson Valley and New York City. 

And The Undominated offers original, nuanced, experimental and prog compositions. 

Food will be available for purchase at the festival from At First Bite and The Creative Connoisseur, along with beer from Serious Brewing. 

Schoharie County Arts received a $10,000 Audience Building Project grant from Lake Placid Center for the Arts, part of a regrant program supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with support from the Governor and New York State Legislature, which was used to host the festival, along with a series of workshops throughout Schoharie County and a performance earlier this summer by West African musician Zorkie Nelson and his group of drummers and dancers, Gballoi.

“We’re so excited to offer this unique festival to music lovers in Schoharie County and beyond,” said Schoharie County Arts President Lisa Ovitt. “That’s part of our mission at Schoharie County Arts – to provide people in the area with new and exciting experiences.” 

Schoharie County Arts seeks to broaden and enrich the quality of life in Schoharie County by developing and strengthening the arts through promoting cultural and arts-related activities.

For information and tickets, go to https://www.schohariecountyarts.org or https://www.facebook.com/SchoharieCountyArtsNow.