Furthermind Fest brings an eclectic lineup of musicians

By John Benson

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Trevor Quillan (formerly of Pittsburgh-based bands Salvoiure Volley and Patchwork Blue) is now focusing his mind on the Furthermind Festival, which makes its Youngstown debut Saturday at the B O Station.

“I’d say there’s a little bit for everybody,” said Quillan, who grew up in Hermitage, Pa. “There’s everything from reggae to pop rock and jam bands. I also have hip-hop and country rock acts.

“There are two stages. The main stage is outside for electric guitars and the louder bands. So I have 10 acts on that stage and then I have an acoustic stage inside that will also feature 10 solo acts. That’s basically for singer-songwriter performers.”

Acoustic stage performers include Quillan, Matt Palka and The Bedspins. The main stage performers include Fourth River, Winslow, The Kellys, DaboonDox and The Devotees.

If you’re confusing the Furthermind Festival with the popular national touring Further Festival, Quillan said, “Further Fest is a [Grateful] Dead thing and this is not associated with that. I’m not worried about people getting confused because it’s kind of in the same family or genre of Further Fest, but I’m kind of taking it away from the jam band and adding different things like hip-hop and rock ‘n’ roll.

“I’m adding a bridge basically of everything you could possibly listen to in one festival.”

After the 1999 staging of the first Furthermind Music Festival in Mercer, Pa., Quillan helped create the two-day camping Freedom Festival in Burgettstown, Pa, which still exists. Now he is bringing the Furthermind Festival to Youngstown.

As for making it a free event, the passing of Quillan’s father, David Murphy, spurred the promoter into making the festival an inclusive affair.

“Basically, the reason why it’s free is it’s in memory of my father, who passed away back in December,” Quillan said. “We don’t want to turn away people. We want people to come and celebrate my dad and his love for independent music and also to breathe in and know more music and what’s going on in your region.

“So I want these bands to get a ton of exposure and come back to Youngstown.”

Quillan said his attention is squarely focused on promoting this year’s Furthermind Festival, as well as working on his own ruKusRadio.net project, which aims to introduce music fans to independent acts. It’s for this reason that the promoter said he’s going to step away from the spotlight as a musician later this summer. In fact, his Furthermind Festival date will be his last Youngstown gig.

“I am retiring as an acoustic artist, and I’m just going to stay on with doing my promotion,” Quillan said. “There’s talk of [joining] a band that may come up, but we’ll have to see. With everything I’m doing promotion-wise, it’s really eating up a lot of my time. I don’t have time to promote myself because I’m putting all of this energy into other independent bands.”

This explains why Quillan is so gung ho regarding what he feels is the unlimited potential of the Furthermind Festival.

“Basically, it’s a good festival filled with bands that nobody has heard of, coming from Pittsburgh and other cities,” he said. “It’s going to bring an essence of oneness to Youngstown.”