Hopscotch Music Festival 2025 Preview
The organizers of the Hopscotch Music Festival typically excel at featuring top Asheville talent — not necessarily household names but ones that should be.
Those rubrics are again in play for the 2025 edition, which runs Thursday, Sept. 4-Saturday, Sept. 6, in downtown Raleigh. This year, four local bands are on the bill and members from each group spoke with Asheville Stages about their mindsets heading into the weekend.
Designer — Taryn Vankerkhove (vocals) — Thursday, Sept. 4, 9 p.m. at Neptunes
Prior Hopscotch experience: So, this will be a first timer for Designer at Hopscotch. We are playing three additional Day Party shows affiliated with the fest throughout the weekend, so we will be busy.
Nick Kirkland, who plays rhythm guitar/vocals in Designer, is originally from Raleigh, has played this fest before with previous bands, and raves about it. I think the general layout with the participating venues near the bigger stages seems appealing, too. We are stoked.
Plans for the festival set: I would say it’s all gas, no breaks at all of our shows — we’re usually collectively drenched in sweat. We are adding two brand new songs to our set, though, and that is extra exciting.
Lineup recommendations: We’re all hyped on seeing Sparks; they are just legendary weirdo geniuses. Pyrex is a newish hardcore band from NYC we definitely don’t wanna miss. We play Night One of the fest at Neptunes and we’re delighted to share the stage again with our pals Miranda and the Beat. A super sexy performance from them is guaranteed.
Pink Beds — Aaron Aiken (guitar/vocals) — Thursday, Sept. 4, 10:30 p.m. at The Wicked Witch
(Photo by Sandlin Gaither)
Prior Hopscotch experience: This is our first time at Hopscotch. Never attended or performed but I've been excited about the lineup for years and am super happy to be a part this time.
Plans for the festival set: We only get 40 minutes, so we'll be packing in as much energy as possible. It'll include our favorite songs to perform.
Lineup recommendations: Geese. I caught them in Asheville opening for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and caught the bug. Then [frontman] Cameron Winter dropped his solo project [late 2024’s Heavy Metal] and I've been listening to them a lot. Excited to see them again — also good timing since they have a new album [Getting Killed] coming out [Friday, Sept. 26]. Also, we're all fans of My Morning Jacket — it'll be good to see them again.
Honestly, I need to form my plan so I don't miss a show on Thursday or Friday. We'll definitely squeeze in as much music as possible while we are in town — then we have to hit the road to perform at The Grey Eagle back in Asheville on Saturday night or else we'd be at Nilufer Yanya.
MANAS — Thom Nguyen (drums) — Friday, Sept. 5, 3:45 p.m. at Moore Square
(Photo by Mike White)
Prior Hopscotch experience: One of my favorite series to play was the Resonancy percussion series that Kate VanVorst and Devon Tuttle put on for some years. Tashi [Dorji, guitar] and I have played day parties together as MANAS and separately at Kings/Neptunes/Slims/Ruby Deluxe amongst others, and my old band Nest Egg opened for THE Brian Jonestown Massacre, Thee O Sees, and All The Saints in 2017.
The most memorable artist I’ve seen as an attendee was Milford Grave’s last performance before he passed on. It was such an honor to be in his presence and experience his inimitable playing. Kate and Devon also screened his documentary “Full Mantis” at Neptunes.
Plans for the festival set: MANAS is an improvising duo at its core. We may talk beforehand with a general idea of how to start — like, should we go full tilt or bring our sounds in slowly — but mostly we just set up and start playing and wind up wherever the music takes us, and so far it’s worked the past 10-plus years. We’ve collaborated with a few folks from Godspeed! You Black Emperor when we’ve toured with them over the years, so it’s possible we may have a special guest join us but you’ll just have to come see for yourselves. We’re looking forward to Hopscotch — it’s been over four years or so since I’ve been or played the fest so glad to be back at it.
Lineup recommendations: I’m looking forward to seeing the legendary Unwound, Swamp Dogg, and GY!BE. Our buds from Asheville, Harsh Realm and Designer, are not to be missed. Also hoping to catch Pyrex and The Gobs. Jeremiah Chu, Ora Cogan, and Claire Rousay are all playing Saturday, which we’ll miss but definitely go see them. I’m not familiar with a lot of the bands, so it’s always a pleasant surprise to stumble into a venue and get hit with some new music I’ve never seen before.
We’ll be there Thursday and Friday but not Saturday, unfortunately. [MANAS is opening for GY!BE at Pisgah Brewing Co.] On Thursday, Tashi is playing in a new duo with Efrim Menuck (GY!BE) called Bloom And Ruin at the Transfer Co. Ballroom’s day show and I’ll be joining Atomrec Bob’s Fluctus Priori.
Harsh Realm — Nathan (guitar/vocals) — Friday, Sept. 5, midnight at Slims
(Photo by Matt Darcy)
Prior Hopscotch experience: i’ve been playing Hopscotch for about the last four years with my post-punk band Secret Shame. It's always been a great time, and it's an honor to be invited back with Harsh Realm this year.
Last year, I was able to see The Jesus Lizard and that was absolutely mind-blowing — such incredible performers and still at the top of their craft.
Plans for the festival set: For all of 2025, we have been focusing on playing our new record, Death Carries On, so we will be playing it at Hopscotch as well. It'll be our first time playing it in Raleigh, so we’re excited to see the reaction of fans old and new.
Lineup recommendations: I’m really excited to catch Earl Sweatshirt, Wombo, MANAS, Scarlet House, and Unwound.
A project that I've been wanting to see and will hopefully catch is Girl Brutal. It's super sick, digital hardcore — and I'm here for it.
(Designer photo by by Hanna Sommer)
