Wes from Knorrwood - BTE Concert 8/21 & 8/22

Wes from the band Knorrwood gave a us call to chat about their show at Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble on 8/21 & 8/22.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Go Rox PA, the greatest of all time. I'm on the phone with Wes from Norwood. Norwood has a show coming up at the Bloomsburg Theater ensemble this weekend. Wes, how you doing? Great. How about yourself? Not too bad. So uh Norwood, uh it's a band, right? People that don't know who who Norwood is.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah. Uh Norwood is an original music band out of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. And um we started this project with all instrumental music, and when we released the album last year, it actually started at uh BTE in Bloomsburg, and we had a really cool opportunity to do a big theater show, but we were still kind of new with the name and the music. So we put together the whole theme of doing uh Lord of the Rings and Led Zeppelin tribute, realizing that those were two of our largest inspirations, and uh full circle, here we are, back to do it again.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

So Lord of the Rings uh and Led Zeppelin.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

That that is correct, yeah, yeah. Um yeah, we we find a lot of inspiration through the music of Led Zeppelin and then uh the cinematic epicness of Lord of the Rings through storytelling, and of course the uh the score is not something to overlook. And uh it's a well-known thing. There's a lot of crossover there. Led Zeppelin, uh, or Robert Plant in particular had a lot of inspiration uh from Lord of the Rings and featured uh many references through his lyrics over the years. So once we started like looking at the whole thing closer, we're like, you know what, there's a lot of really amazing crossover here. I wonder what we could do with this.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

I did not know that. So uh I mean Zeppelin is way up my alley. I always tell the story. My mom uh had tickets to see Zeppelin. It would have been in Philadelphia, I think, in 77, right before Robert Plant's son passed away. And uh and ended up canceling the show, and she never got a chance to see him because John Bonham then passed away right after that. So I've always been fascinated with Led Zeppelin. Of course, we play a lot of Zeppelin here on the Goat. What are some Zeppelin songs you guys play?

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Uh, we hit some of the staple classics that do tie in some of the lyrics from Lord of the Rings, um, which include Ramble On, Battle of Evermore, uh, you'll get some uh W when the Levy Breaks. Uh I don't want to give away too many, but we do also feature a really cool mashup uh that actually crosses over some Zeppelin with Black Sabbath. That's uh often a very big crowd favorite, and it hits uh one of the high notes during the storytelling aspect of the show.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

So Norwood, uh where is Norwood playing at?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Uh we'll be at the Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble this weekend, uh Friday and Saturday, the 21st and 22nd. And uh the the entire experience is very much so a theatrical rock show. Um you can expect a full design inspired by Lord of the Rings. Uh there's a live narrator that literally tells a story inspired by Lord of the Rings throughout the entire show. Um basically between every single song, there's a little bit of narration that kind of like continues the storyline, and then we use the music to kind of connect the dots. Uh there might be fun, a few fun little theatrics uh sprinkled throughout the show. We're not actors by any means, but we do what we can. Uh but full costumes, uh of course, uh patrons are invited to come in costume as well. Uh it's a really, really unique experience all around.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

So kind of immersive, uh, as he would say.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yeah, yeah. No, that's that's a great way to put it. In fact, one thing I forgot to mention is we also have custom uh visual projections that uh display behind us, and again, with every single song, there's a unique set of uh projections that again help uh piece the whole story together.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

What are the times this weekend?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Uh doors open at 6 p.m. on Friday, and uh show starts at 7 30 p.m. And again, same times for Saturday. However, Saturday there's a fun little pre-party event that starts at 5 p.m. and goes until 7 p.m. It's a free beer garden. Uh basically they're gonna close down the street in front of the theater there. Uh there'll be a huge tent uh that's gonna be totally Tolkien themed. Uh they'll have a bunch of uh food and craft vendors out there, and uh what it'll actually also feature uh Norwood Lager. Uh we're really grateful for a rock brewing company in Danville. Uh they've done this now two years in a row, brewed our own special beer that um just kind of adds an extra level of magic to the whole weekend.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

And uh do you have to get tickets for this uh ahead of time? Do they sell them at the door? How does that work?

SPEAKER_00 4:21

There will be tick there may be tickets at the door. Um last year there was a few. This year pre-sales are definitely up from last year. I think there's a lot more buzz this time around. I was actually just looking before our call, and uh I think Friday there's maybe about a hundred tickets left. Uh Saturday even less, I think it was around fifty. And uh pre-sales are definitely picking up, so I would highly recommend getting them in advance. Um you do get to select your seats, so that's part of the luxury of uh doing that pre sale. And you can do that by going to norwoodmusic dot com or also BTE dot org.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Awesome Wes. Well, uh I hope to see you this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you uh for the your time and uh hope you have a great rest of your day.