TROLLFEST
May 24, 2025
Centennial Hall, Juneau
Join us for a sockeyedelic multi-media celebration of the art and music of Ray Troll. This one-night mini-festival features the original music of three Alaskan Troll family bands: The Heists (bluegrass), Whiskey Class (indie rock), and Ray Troll and the Ratfish Wranglers (psychedelic fish rock). Put on your favorite iconic Ray Troll tee shirt with your shiniest fishy duds to come boogie down with your friends and family at Centennial Hall on Saturday, May 24th. Save the date!
Our Sponsors:
King Salmon Sponsor:
Coho Salmon Sponsors:
Pink Salmon Sponsors:
The Bands:
Ray Troll and the Ratfish Wranglers are a wily bunch of artist-musicians hailing from the coastal town of Ketchikan that play what has been described as “sub-aquatic neo-folk, fish-punk-funk rock.” One never knows who’s going to be ‘wrangled’ into this band of pranksters, but at its core are well-known Alaskan fish artist Ray Troll and his partners in slime Russell Wodehouse, Shauna Lee, Patrick Troll, and Chazz Gist. They put on a fun and uniquely Alaskan show, complete with a “sockeyedelic” light show and a healthy dose of surrealistic humor. They also like to “throw the science in for free,” regaling audiences with tunes about weird and wonderful creatures both living and extinct.
Ray Troll & the Ratfish Wranglers
Whiskey Class
Masterfully balancing beckoning vocals, cascading guitar riffs, hypnotic drum breaks, and evocative bass lines, Whiskey Class (Liz Snyder, Patrick Troll, Alex Nelson) captivates with echoing melodies, rippling and crashing upon the souls of our dear listeners. The result is yearning, but not begging. Spirited, but not naive. Other-worldly yet firmly grounded as the listener is guided through a musical hero's journey that feels both familiar and novel.
The Heists
Combine one of the state’s premier mandolin players and tenor bluegrass harmony singers with a rising songwriter, with lyrics that get at the heart of what it means to be raised in Alaska, and you’ve got The Heists. Known for their toe-curling country and bluegrass harmonies, The Heists are currently co-writing their first album. Erin and Andrew Heist share songs and stories from decades of experience playing the bars and backrooms of Alaska’s communities, from Bethel to McCarthy to Salmonfest to Fairbanks, and all along the Milk Run.
Meet the Production Team
Mike Inwood is an Emmy Award-winning artist working across many different genres of lighting design. In Juneau, Mike has designed the lighting for Wearable Art since 2014, as well as the Aak'w Rock music festival, SEAGLA's annual Glitz Drag Show, and several past productions with Perseverance Theatre. In the Lower 48, Mike’s designs have been seen on stage at Playwrights Horizons, Portland Opera, Signature Theatre, The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Guggenheim Museum, and BAM. Mike is honored to be working alongside this exceptional team to celebrate the music of Ray Troll. www.mikeinwood.com
Greg Mitchell (Immersive Scenery and Video Design) is thrilled get to work with Ray Troll and the family on this unique project. Although visiting from California Greg has been working in the Arts in Juneau for more than two decades involving lighting, projection, and scenery projects for Juneau Jazz and Classics, Perseverance Theatre, Opera to Go, Orpheus Project and the JACC. In Alaska, Greg has also designed a couple of projects for Anchorage Opera. His work outside of Juneau takes him around the world doing weird and interesting live performance and installation projects in places like Ireland, Nepal, Albania, Panama, Burning Man and elsewhere across the US, too. Greg is a professor of design for live performance at the University of California Santa Barbara. He got an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with his friend, the lighting designer for this event Mike Inwood.
Siddharth Chattoraj (Assistant Video Design) is thrilled to be working on TrollFest in Juneau. He is currently a third-year at the University of California, Santa Barbara pursuing a B.S. in Statistics and Data Science, B.A. in Theater (Design), and a minor in Language and Speech Technologies. Siddharth's work bridges technology, art, and design, and he has worked as a projection designer, lighting designer, stage manager, and lead technician for sixteen theater and dance productions at UCSB. He has previously exhibited interactive generative visuals at The Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science and Technology and the transLAB. Siddharth most recently served as the technical director and projection designer for the UCSB Dance Company’s European Tour, supporting performances in Santa Barbara and across Spain, Poland, North Macedonia, and Bulgaria.
Mikko Wilson (Production Manager, KTOO) has 28 years of experience working in both public and commercial television and video production. Specializing in live event capture & news, his award-winning work has been broadcast around the globe, from local small stations across Alaska, to worldwide on networks such as NBC, MSNBC, BBC, and more. Respectfully residing on Lingít Aaní, Mikko has been managing the production department at KTOO for 11 years, continuing KTOO's rich legacy of documenting and telling the stories of Juneau and the people who live here. With a preference to cultural and artistic programming including plays, operas, concerts and entertainment shows, to events like SHI's bi-annual Celebration festival; Mikko also directs and oversees academic lecture series, conferences, and KTOO's flagship Gavel Alaska legislative coverage, totaling in excess of a thousand hours of television produced annually by the team.