My NCS comrades and I follow a large number of bands and labels on Facebook and through other news outlets. Not a week goes by without seeing a report of some new misfortune befalling one or more of them. During some weeks it’s a daily occurrence. Many of the misfortunes involve van break-downs or vehicular accidents while on tour. Others involve theft of gear or money. Sometimes, as you’ll see below, even the weather gods get involved.
The past week saw a string of calamities affecting bands we like quite a lot around here. They’ve all reached out to fans for financial support. This is not exactly a sure-fire means of getting back on your feet, because the average metal fan isn’t exactly swimming in free cash, but what else are you going to do?
We could easily make this a weekly feature: bands who’ve been fucked by human scum or fisted by the fickle hand of fate and who need help. I’m not saying we’re going to do that, but we’re doing it today. Here are stories and appeals for help from A Hill To Die Upon (Illinois), Jeff Loomis (Washington), and Eyeconoclast (Italy).
A HILL TO DIE UPON
On the night of April 17, the basement of AHTDU’s guitarist, bassist, and lead vocalist Adam Cook — a basement that also serves as the band’s practice space and studio — was flooded as a result of a torrential rainfall. Thousands of dollars worth of gear was ruined and insurance isn’t going to cover the loss.
Based on a Facebook update that appeared yesterday, the loss isn’t quite as bad as it first appeared; some of the gear appears to be functional or repairable. But it was still a pretty solid fucking by the weather gods and is going to create problems for the band’s touring and recording plans (they’re at work on a third album).
The band have appealed to fans to buy AHTDU merch from metalhelm.com or to send a donation through PayPal to: ahilltodieupon@hotmail.com
In case you don’t know about this band, here’s one reason we care about them — their latest single, “Manden Med Leen” (amazing song):
JEFF LOOMIS
On the night of April 14 in St. Louis, after Jeff Loomis and his band had finished playing a show, they drove their van to a restaurant to grab dinner before hitting the road for their next stop in Dallas. They parked in a well-lit area in front of the restaurant. They didn’t spend much time ordering and eating. When they returned to the van they found that someone had popped out the lock on the van’s driver side door and stolen all of the band’s personal items, including laptops, cameras, musical equipment, cell phones, passports, and money.
Loomis wasted no time in getting the word out to fans and appealing for help so that they could continue on with the tour. (I saw Loomis on the current tour when he played Seattle, and he’s just amazingly good). The latest news is that the band have now started a crowd-funding effort to replace what they lost:. From an April 19 Facebook status:
“We really appreciate everyone’s support so far and cannot thank you enough. We have launched an Indiegogo campaign to support our recovery fund in conjunction with the PayPal account. This campaign will go on for the next 15 days. Any amount helps during this time, thank you in advance.
I doubt we need to explain why we care about Jeff Loomis, but just in case, give this a listen:
EYECONOCLAST
This morning, Italy’s Eyeconoclast reported on Facebook that all of their drummer’s cymbals were stolen last night before a show in Pistoia. Their drummer, by the way, is the wizard-like Mauro Mercurio (ex-Hour of Penance) and he uses many cymbals. This misfortune screwed up that show in Pistoia and it threatens to screw up a bunch of other gigs that the band have lined up for the next month unless they can find the money needed to replace the gear.
The band aren’t asking for donations (though I suspect they wouldn’t turn them down), but they are encouraging fans of the music to buy their new album (Drones of the Awakening — which was just released by Prosthetic), new shirts, and other merch via the web store below:
http://eyeconoclast.bigcartel.com/
And why do we care about this band? Well, by coincidence, the report of this theft coincided today with the debut of a full-album stream of their new release at Terrorizer, so you can find out exactly why we do by going HERE and listening. The album kills, and buying it will help these guys out.
4 Responses to “MISFORTUNE”
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An alternative if you like “things” (and don’t we all?): A Hill to Die Upon have their album “Omens” on bandcamp:
http://ahilltodieupon.bandcamp.com/album/omens
And the new track:
http://ahilltodieupon.bandcamp.com/album/manden-med-leen
Both are “Pay $x or more,” so you could do worse for the band than buying the music, and kicking in a couple of extra bucks if you have it.
That’s an outstanding idea — thanks.
While I’m busying pimping BC, you can also listen and buy Eyeconoclast on Prostehtic’s new-ish Bandcamp site:
http://eyeconoclast.bandcamp.com/releases
It’s too bad I don’t have any spare coin. I would buy a shirt, a hoodie, and a cd from AHTDU’s web store to help them out. I really like what they are doing, and have huge respect for them. Maybe in a couple weeks I can do it. Thanks for letting us know Islander!