Purdue University Fort Wayne’s GoldTop Records are excited to present their third annual Goldstock Music Festival.

As a way to introduce local bands, with some even getting signed to the school’s record label, the show returns to the Performance Theatre at Sweetwater Sound on Thursday, on Nov. 30. 

Mix local talent

Goldstock is an opportunity to check out some incredibly talented local artists and listen to a wide variety of music. 

GoldTop Records fall under PFW’s Gold Top Music Group, described as a place where “you can gain professional, hands-on music-industry experience with the guidance of expert faculty.” 

Goldstock will feature 10 musical artists that will showcase a mix of their own music and some crowd favorites. This festival is completely free and open for all ages. 

Featured this year will be Natalie & Crew, Augmentasia, Man of the Flood, Loud Division, Veo, Jujubee, Punching Lucky, Calixandra, Antihero, and Never Neptune.

As a venue to discover local talent, GoldTop has four signed artists. Along with bands, there are also opportunities for student management and practicums. 

Learning Experience

Hunter Heckaman, a PFW student on the team working to promote Goldstock, says he’s gaining real-world experience through the project.

“Goldstock is an opportunity,” Heckaman said. “It is an opportunity for the musicians of Fort Wayne to perform and be discovered by a wider audience. 

“It is also an opportunity for the greater Fort Wayne community, both musician and non-musician, to be a part of the ever-growing music scene in the area. In this sense Goldstock represents something greater than one person or even one musical act. It is with this in mind that the music program at Purdue Fort Wayne, along with Gold Top Music Group, hopes to continue to expand Goldstock and make it more widely accessible for the community.”

Heckaman also explained how excited he is to see the work he and his classmates come closer to fruition. 

“My class has been hard at work putting this year’s Goldstock together,” he said. “I’m excited to see that hard work pay off for all of them, as well as getting to see all of the bands perform in front of what will hopefully be the biggest audience Goldstock has had as of yet.”

Goldstock staples

When it comes to the bands, there will be plenty of new faces as well as returnees.

Among the returnees are Man of the Flood, Loud Division, and Natalie & Crew. Loud Division and Man of the Flood are among GoldTop’s artists, with Man of Flood being the second band signed to the label. 

This will be Man of the Flood’s third time performing at Goldstock, but they are far from the band that appeared in 2021.

Along with bassist Easton Good and guitarist Dominique Strunk  joining vocalist/guitarist Quinn Heiking, saxophonist/guitarist/vocalist Saber Agnew, keyboardist/vocalist Jess Grant, and drummer Clayton Beehler, the band’s sound has evolved.

“We’ve come a long way since the first one,” Heiking said. “It’s crazy to believe that it was two years ago — we have since released a full-length album and have begun writing even more material. Excited to try out one of the new ones at this year’s Goldstock.”

Man of the Flood released Crystal Bawl in August 2022, and they continue to play shows in Fort Wayne and around the region.

And even though Grant is the only member still attending PFW, they continue to put their support behind the festival.

“We keep coming back to Goldstock because it is a great opportunity to play alongside a bunch of our peers and classmates from PFW and showcase the program that they are building,” Heiking said. “Having each group play such a short set allows us to showcase a ton of acts without exhausting the audience.”

Something new

Among the new faces are the six-piece Augmentasia, which has hit the ground running since forming in July.

They’ve played only a couple of times around town with many referring to the Nov. 4 show at The Ruin as their official first show.

Featuring a collection of artists that merge their tastes into one, they’ve established a mix of R&B, soul, and neo-soul with some hip-hop. 

“The music we are playing right now, we all enjoy playing,” vocalist Dave Ealy said. “Even if we didn’t really listen to it before, it’s kind of in the same vein of what we all enjoy.”

So what is their sound? 

“A very tame N.E.R.D.,” said Chris Rebellion, a rapper you might have seen performing as a solo artist around town. “We don’t get too crazy with chants and whatnot. But we do have a calming melody that will play. Dave will swoon any and every human being in the room. It just jams.”

The band is rounded out by Tommy McLaughlin on guitar, Henry Jordan on keyboard, Darest Williams on drums, and Alex Cottrell on bass.

Along with a similar taste in music, four of the six members also share an employer … which, no surprise, is Sweetwater Sound.

It was actually during orientation and Ealy and Cottrell met. After noticing an affinity for the same type of music, a friendship developed. As they met more people, a band then came along.

“All of us wanted to be a part of something bigger,” Cottrell said. “We all do our own music, but you want other outlets. The best outlets are the ones where you get to collaborate with people.”

For such a new band, they’ve been busy at work and promise a fun set at Goldstock.

“We have some originals, we have some covers,” Ealy said. “We do D’Angelo, Samm Henshaw, N.E.R.D., The Internet, and Free Nationals. Then, the rest is us.”

Anthony Gadson contributed to this article.