May 24th is International Drone Day – the unofficial holiday in honor of prolonged monotonous sound; or sustained sound, to put it in elegant English. Two years ago, we celebrated it in VERA with the first edition of Dronestage, where four local acts produced non-stop sound for three hours. This year, we’re joining the Canadian initiative again and inviting these Dutch ambient/noise/doom artists to deliver a drone of at least three hours in our small Main Hall, starting at 9:30 PM.

Tonight’s lineup features local, regional, and national droners. From Amsterdam comes Orphax – the drone and minimal project of musician Sietse van Erve, active since 1998(!), and founder of the excellent Moving Furniture Records. If you’ve ever listened to a Dutch ambient record, chances are you’ve heard Orphax’s touch, either as an artist or a label head. From Friesland, Maurice de Jong joins us – best known for the blacknoise project Gnaw Their Tongues, which has been going strong for nearly twenty years and will soon play at the EP release show of Meditation in our basement bar. Tonight, he’s appearing at Dronestage as Dragon Mastery, a relatively new alias for his dungeon synth output. Quite a mix of genres you don’t often see at VERA, right? We’ll open the drone tonight with Groningen-based All Are to Return, normally known as the doom metal offshoot of bands like Ortega and Farer, but tonight they’re here with a heavy electronic drone set. Lighting technician extraordinaire Laurens Dijkstra is designing a special light installation for the evening, right in the middle of the Main Hall.

Orphax | Official Website

Dragon Mastery | Bandcamp

All Are to Return | Bandcamp