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Werk Out Music and Arts Festival Getting Huge

Years of “Werking Out” at the Werk Out Music and Arts Festival are paying off, because the annual summer extravaganza is flexing its muscles in 2016 and strutting back to eastern Ohio bigger than ever.

Hosted by Ohio’s hardest working jam band The Werks, this year’s Werk Out Music and Arts Festival will take place Thursday through late night Saturday, Aug. 4-6, at the legendary Legend Valley music and camping venue, located just off Interstate 70 near exit 132 near Thornville, Ohio.

This year’s festival features some of the best musical acts in the nation, including many of the hottest up-and-coming regional acts and a wide variety of the nation’s top touring bands specializing in funk, bluegrass, electronic dance music, rock and more.

Among the bands performing on four stages for live music nearly around the clock will be funk masters Lettuce, bluegrass juggernaut Greensky Bluegrass, the electronic jam band sounds and eye-popping sights of Sound Tribe Sector 9, plus festival favorites Dopapod, Twiddle, The Motet, Everyone Orchestra, Kung Fu, Tropidelic, and many more.

Host band The Werks will anchor the show by performing all three nights, returning to its home state of Ohio after another whirlwind year of nationwide touring and grassroots growth. The Werks has managed to forge ahead despite a tragic loss in the band’s tight-knit family with the sudden death in January of longtime keyboardist Norman Dimitrouleas – brother of the band’s current bassist Dino Dimitrouleas.

The band had just performed its set on Jam Cruise – a landmark gig on the path of the Werks’ ever climbing career – when they learned the news of Norman’s passing. Since then, Dino has taken a hiatus from touring with the band, which has been playing live with bassist Jake Goldberg of the band SassafraZ.

“Dino has been very strong considering the tragedy that’s taken place,” Chris Houser, guitarist for The Werks, said. “I don’t want to speak too much for a man who is so well spoken himself, but I feel like he’s become stronger through the whole thing, and I see a certain sparkle in his smile since he’s had time off, and that is comforting to see, being a longtime friend.

“Jake is filling in Dino’s ‘larger-than-life’ shoes quite well, I would say. He’s becoming more comfortable with leading a groove in the heat of the moment, and he has learned how to properly compliment the other voices in the music with superb precision. We’re proud to have him with us.”

Houser said the touring this year has been “pretty crazy already” in the wake of the band’s 10-year anniversary and the release of its latest album “Inside a Dream” late last year.

“We are beyond excited about our debut at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado,” Houser said. “We also have some pretty cool and different New Years Eve plans in the making.”

Fresh off a bucket-list mini-tour of Alaska, The Werks has big things in the works for the Werk Out.

“Every year seems to top the previous, and we feel like we’re on course for achieving that yet again this year,” Houser said. “The main reason this festival has been able to keep going is because of the fine people who attend. Once you come here, you are family. We’re proud to claim that and try to prove it throughout the weekend.”

Houser revealed new additions to this year’s festival include a much larger late night tent, a larger art area with more interactive art installations, an even more impressive lighting system and some surprises, as well.

“Personally, I’m excited for the ‘Twerkapod — a Tribute to the ’90s’ set on Friday in the late night tent,” Houser said, noting that members of Vermont-based band Twiddle, The Werks and Boston-area’s own Dopapod will join forces to recreate some of the best sounds of the ’90s. “It could be funny, it could be sad, it could be epic. We’re preparing for the latter.”

In addition to a smorgasbord of musical acts, on-site camping, art installations, workshops and a unique assortment of merchandise and food vendors, the festival will also feature live paint-to-canvass and performance artists, including stilt-walking crowd favorites The Amazing Giants, professional fire spinning troupes and more.

Fans this year also are invited to participate by dressing in accordance to theme nights: Track Suit Night Thursday, Outer Space Night Friday and Black & White Night Saturday.

“We may throw the event, but the people that populate it are the ones who create the family vibe,” Houser said. “Good people sharing one of the best times of their lives together — that’s what makes this event really special.”

For more information on the Werk Out Music and Arts Festival, visit www.thewerkoutfestival.com.

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