Benefit Show | DCHeavyMetal.com

Darkest Hour benefit for the Black Cat

When the COVID-19 pandemic came to town in March it shut down all of the area’s live shows, including metal shows. However at 7pm this Saturday, September 26th, Darkest Hour will be streaming a performance that was just recorded at the Black Cat! The show itself won’t be live because there are many guest performers involved who had to be recorded playing from their own locations since it isn’t safe to fly them in right now. However there will be a live chat during the stream where fans can interact with the band and guest musicians in real time as everyone watches the stream. The audio has also been professionally mixed and mastered so the sound quality will be closer in quality to a live album than a regular livestream. On top of all that, everyone that buys a ticket will get an invite to the virtual afterparty on Zoom with Darkest Hour members and some of special guests after the performance ends!

Tickets to watch the stream (which includes access to the Zoom afterparty) are available from Veeps.com (here) for $10 or at the same link you can buy a bundle that comes with an exclusive shirt (shown below) made just for this performance for $35.

I spoke with Darkest Hour guitarist and founding member Mike Schleibaum and he told me that this event ties in with the band’s 25th anniversary (which was on Wednesday, 9/23). Along with some of the band’s most popular songs, the setlist will include some of their oldest songs performed with guest appearances by former band members. Other performing guests include Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves, God Forbid), Mark Heylmun (Suicide Silence), Buz McGrath (Unearth), Fella Di Cicco (Dreamshade) and more! Mike Schleibaum went on to say, “all of the Darkest Hour parts were shot on the Black Cat stage with multiple cameras.” When pressed about exactly how much of the ticket price went to the venue, Mike said, “100% of ticket sales go to the Black Cat. So when you buy a $10 ticket they get all of the $10. There’s also going to be a donation feature while the performance is streaming so people watching can also donate that way.”

This isn’t a live stream but it sounds like they’ve really upped the production value for this using multiple cameras, top notch sound quality and out of area guest musicians to make this closer to something you’d see on a band’s live DVD release. And while I’ve watch several band live streams they do kind of all seem like you’re just watching a rehearsal with poor sound quality. This event sounds like a great way to do something bigger for the fans, celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary, and donate to one of Washington DC’s live music institutions. If you can’t watch it when it starts or you just want to replay the show, a ticket purchase will grant you access to it for 24 hours. You can check the event’s Facebook page here for info and once again you can get tickets here.

The Veeps stream layout with the chat shown on the right

Here’s some videos Darkest Hour put out that you can get even more info from:

September 25, 2020
Categories: Black Cat, Coronavirus Quarantine Days, Local Band Info, Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Shameless Promotion, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: Benefit Show, Black Cat, Buz McGrath, Darkest Hour, Doc Coyle, Fella Di Cicco, Livestream, Mark Heylmun . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment

Battlecross to headline benefit show at Atlas Brew Works

Bring A Guitar To The Bar Fundraiser

In September 2016 our area’s metal scene was shocked to find out about the sudden passing of Witt Black, guitarist for local metal band Yesterday’s Saints. The Witt Black Music Foundation was formed in August 2017 by his bandmates and siblings in memory of Witt, and this show is a fundraiser for his namesake’s charity. You’re encouraged to bring a gently used guitar to donate, or donate money as well, to the third annual Bring A Guitar To The Bar fundraiser at Atlas Brew Works this Saturday, October 12th. All ticket proceeds will go to the charity as well, which gives guitar lessons to at-risk kids who might not otherwise be able to afford lessons or an instrument. Students that complete the first round of lessons get to keep their guitar. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization so you can get a tax credit for your donation as well. If you can’t make the event you can still donate a guitar to the foundation here or you can simply make a monetary donation here.

This isn’t just a charity event though, it’s also a metal show! Battlecross is a melodic death metal band from Detroit and they’re coming down to play this benefit show. Not only that but they’ll be auctioning off guitarist Hiran Deraniyagala’s Jeff Hanneman ESP JH-600 Eclipse guitar with proceeds going to the foundation! You can see Deraniyagala playing it in the band’s video for “Never Coming Back” at the end of this post, he’s the guitarist on the right. Also performing at the benefit will be Eyes Of The Nile, a local Iron Maiden tribute band fronted by Iris Divine vocalist Navid Rashid. Local metal band Gloom will be returning to Atlas for the benefit as well. They are one of the bands that played the first metal show ever at Atlas Brew Works back in December of 2016! Virginia based metal band No Tomorrow will be kicking things off for this show as well. All in all, this is a great line up at a great event at a great brewery for a great cause! More details about the event can be found on the Facebook event page here.