Q&A with Mike Adams

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Moogfest, Oct. 28-30, 2011 Asheville

Moog Music’s No.1 shares a few words on Moogfest

Interview with Mike Adams by Melissa C. Smith

Moog Music in Asheville, otherwise known as the Moog Factory, provides instruments to electronic musicians and synth geeks the world over. I caught up with Moog Music President Mike Adams a while back to hear, in his words, the company’s involvement in Moogfest and his excitement for the weekend and future of the festival.

As a partner of the festival, to what extent is Moog Music’s involvement in the event?

Moog Music Inc. started Moogfest in 2004 in New York City. We worked for five years with a promoter up north and put on a number of excellent shows with artists like Bernie Worrell, Rick Wakeman, and Keith Emerson. When the contract ran out with the last promoter and we knew that we were opening the factory in downtown Asheville, we realized it was the perfect opportunity to move the festival to our home city. We have been very fortunate to work with the largest independent concert promoter in the business, AC Entertainment. They’ve helped us realize our vision for Moogfest. We always wanted it to be a celebration of the innovative spirit of Bob Moog, and Asheville is a big part of that spirit. We work closely with AC on pretty much every aspect of the event to ensure that Moogfest stays true to the heart and soul of what Moog Music is. Moogfest is much more than just a concert event, and AC Entertainment is very attuned to the unique culture of Moog and our fans.
 

What do you think it means for Asheville to be hosting this festival?

I grew up in Asheville and have always cherished our dynamic and innovative arts scene. Now, with Moogfest we can share the creative nature of Asheville with the rest of the world. It’s important that the international fans of Moog have an opportunity to experience the great city that supported Bob and continues to nourish our company. Fans of the arts everywhere will know that Asheville is a haven for innovative music.
 

Is there anything in particular that you’re excited about for this year’s event?

I’m really excited to see Tangerine Dream perform. They’re planning a very special set for Moogfest that is going to be outstanding. They requested we build them six Minimoog Voyager Rack Mounts (that’s more than even Daft Punk uses), two Minimoog Voyagers with white backlights, and two Moogerfooger MF-104Z Analog Delay effects pedals for their show. That’s a whole lot of analog synthesis! I’m also really impressed with the new Battles album, so I’m looking forward to that show, especially if Gary Numan drops in to perform “My Machines” with them. I’m always excited to see Umphrey’s McGee because Jake Cinninger is amazing on the Moog Guitar.
 

What are your thoughts or hopes for the future of Moogfest?

I see Moogfest being here in Asheville for a long, long time. Asheville was Bob Moog’s home, and it’s the home of Moog Music, as well as a home for innovative arts. We have a huge list of artists that we’d like to see come to Asheville for the festival in the future. The sky is really the limit when it comes to this event. As long as there are still amazing musicians pushing the envelope that we can showcase, we’ll keep celebrating them through Moogfest.

www.moogmusic.com