What the hell is Heepvention????

 

The first official Heepvention was in 1997 in St. Louis and also featured the first Heepjam.  It was just
a gathering of Heep lovers and music lovers that met mostly via the Internet and has continued like that almost every year since.  Further information and history of past Heepventions can be found at www.travellersintime.com.

 

 

Will Uriah Heep be attending this year?

 

Very doubtful right now. They've only been to one US Heepvention and that was in 2002 in 
Trenton NJ. They were playing the Classic Rock Festival there then and that's where Heepvention
was held that year. Rumors abound that Heep will be touring the US this summer but nothing is finalized yet. Given they've only played the US very sporadically in the last 2 decades, don't get
your hopes up. They are however very aware of our efforts and support and appreciate what we 
do. If anything changes on that, it will be MAJOR news and will be announced. We'd love to 
have them!

Special guests have been a part of Heepventions as well; John Lawton in 1999 / Ken Hensley, John Lawton and Paul Newton in 2000 in London / not to mention the entire band in 2001, but these
appearances are based upon logistics, travel and other details.  We are trying to get an official
representative of the past to attend now and if we work it out it will be announced as we know it.
But remember that this is a fans event, controlled by us, supported by us and we are the ones
who retain the memories.

 

Why Knoxville for HV05?

 

For the most part the US Heepventions has been a grass roots event every year with someone on
the local level taking the lead. The Carolina Heepsters Association takes a big part in helping plan
the event each year as well.  We've been in large cities and not so large cities. One of the members
of the CHA lives in Knoxville and offered to be the host this year.

 

Is this is a for-profit event?

 

Absolutely not!  We're just a bunch of regular Heep and music fans with regular lives and regular jobs. Some of us are musicians and some are not. And from all that we enjoy getting together and make some music and have fun. That's the basis of it. We're usually fortunate to break even on these events.  Every attempt is made to keep the costs of attending Heepvention as low as possible 
without losing money on the event.

 

I'm a musician - can I play at Heepvention?

 

Sure!  We seem to have new folks every year. Music planning is already underway. Submit a survey form if you haven't already noting you're a musician and what you do, then check the site for updates on the Jam.

 

Is there only Uriah Heep music played?

 

It was until 2004 when we branched out and did a Classic rock set celebrating some of our favorite non-Heep tunes. Plans are to do the same in 2005.