#cancersmash

This year’s CancerSmash was intended to be a blowout, I wanted to go big, as the cliche goes, and  move away from just doing a simple bar fundraiser and make it more of an event. This year was also an experiment. Over the last 20-plus years as a musician Ive heard many a complaint from friends and family in the ‘burbs. City shows are too far.  Parking. The shows are so late. We can’t go out because the kids. We need food. I don’t like _____ genre of music. I decided to partner with dear friend and fellow local music supporter Gail Peters from Galeforce Productions to put together something more along the lines of a festival, err to go big, so to speak, and also to try to solve all of these problems. Gail books at Cairo Alehouse in West Chicago. They have great food, the venue is fairly easy to get to, and they could accommodate multiple performance areas so we could book a variety of styles of music. The idea was to have something for everyone.

Photos by Gail Peters

We booked 12 bands ranging from indie rock, to punk, to doom metal, to industrial, and different generations of musicians. I wanted to play a show with some of my oldest friends who I haven’t seen in years, due to life happening, kids, careers, a number of barriers. We wanted to really have something that an all-ages show should have, and thats something for kids interact with while the parents are enjoying the music. My friend’s wife volunteered to do face-painting and henna tattoos. My wife and daughter chipped in to help create an area for kids activities. We also wanted to keep the show earlier, scheduling the last band to go on at 11pm.  We also wanted to showcase some of the area’s best visual art talent with live art and a gallery showcase.

So we pulled it off, there were a few glitches with scheduling, we didn’t quite get the turnout we were expecting, but the show was a success for me. 

Check out the highlghts from some of the bands performances.

How did we do it? 

The bands and artists all came together for it, the spirit of the show was there through the music and art. And when you have 12 bands and their fans hanging out for over 8 hours of music, it’s a great experience. When the bands go beyond their genres to check out and support the other bands on the bill, its building a community. Everyone involved gave something of value -  be it their time. material donations, or money. Most of those that were involved, I chatted with at the show, mentioned to me at one point during the evening, that they knew someone who was going through treatment, or had lost to cancer. It’s the big C, and it has touched all of us.

Photos by Christian Contreras.

So what good did all this do? Its a fundraising benefit, right?

This year, the CancerSmash campaign raised over $1000 for the American Cancer Society. We raised $400 the night of the show between the door money and drawing ticket purchases. The rest came in directly from online donations, mostly from my musician friends that couldn’t make the show. The scene supported itself in this show.

So who were these people that did all this supporting and donating?

Gail Peters, Galeforce Productions Andrew Massih and the Massih Family, Cairo Alehouse Geoff Teach of Teach’s Criterion of Metal, Morgan and Luco from The Metal Experience, Kimmi Rudolph of the Metal Deli, Ron Lindeman from Chaos Punk Radio, Jake and Conor from Brown Bear Records, Jacek Leja from The Doc Metal Show, Flabby Hoffman, The Flabby Hoffman Radio Extravagonzo, Vanessa Davis Ruble Annmarie and Teresa Vecchione, Rob Such of Mortal Music, Tracy Shen of Stone Cove Jewelry Nero Rothschild and the Art Cult Collective ,The Instrument Exchange of Batavia, Christian Contreras, Quentin Dover, Aerie Dover, Jenna Scifres, Petra Sith, Melissa DeGott, Jeff Iverson, Art Rento, Brendan English, Mark Burd, Ben Bowman, Chris Shen, Ian and Tara Palmer, Brad Motl, Andrew Tate, Sandi Wimmer, Deborah Noncz, The Maul family, the Behary family, the Svach family.

The aforementioned bands that all played the show and you, if you showed up, and enjoyed the music!

I couldn’t have made such a great show without ALL of the above. Thank you all!

This year’s CancerSmash was intended to be a blowout, I wanted to go big, as the cliche goes, and  move away from just doing a simple bar fundraiser and make it more of an event. This year was also an experiment. Over the last 20-plus years as a musician Ive heard many a complaint from friends and family in the ‘burbs. City shows are too far.  Parking. The shows are so late. We can’t go out because the kids. We need food. I don’t like _____ genre of music. I decided to partner with dear friend and fellow local music supporter Gail Peters from Galeforce Productions to put together something more along the lines of a festival, err to go big, so to speak, and also to try to solve all of these problems. Gail books at Cairo Alehouse in West Chicago. They have great food, the venue is fairly easy to get to, and they could accommodate multiple performance areas so we could book a variety of styles of music. The idea was to have something for everyone.

Photos by Gail Peters

We booked 12 bands ranging from indie rock, to punk, to doom metal, to industrial, and different generations of musicians. I wanted to play a show with some of my oldest friends who I haven’t seen in years, due to life happening, kids, careers, a number of barriers. We wanted to really have something that an all-ages show should have, and thats something for kids interact with while the parents are enjoying the music. My friend’s wife volunteered to do face-painting and henna tattoos. My wife and daughter chipped in to help create an area for kids activities. We also wanted to keep the show earlier, scheduling the last band to go on at 11pm.  We also wanted to showcase some of the area’s best visual art talent with live art and a gallery showcase.

So we pulled it off, there were a few glitches with scheduling, we didn’t quite get the turnout we were expecting, but the show was a success for me. 

Check out the highlghts from some of the bands performances

How did we do it? 

The bands and artists all came together for it, the spirit of the show was there through the music and art. And when you have 12 bands and their fans hanging out for over 8 hours of music, it’s a great experience. When the bands go beyond their genres to check out and support the other bands on the bill, its building a community. Everyone involved gave something of value -  be it their time. material donations, or money. Most of those that were involved, I chatted with at the show, mentioned to me at one point during the evening, that they knew someone who was going through treatment, or had lost to cancer. It’s the big C, and it has touched all of us.

Photos by Christian Contreras

So what good did all this do? Its a fundraising benefit, right?

This year, the CancerSmash campaign raised over $1000 for the American Cancer Society. We raised $400 the night of the show between the door money and drawing ticket purchases. The rest came in directly from online donations, mostly from my musician friends that couldn’t make the show. The scene supported itself in this show.

So who were these people that did all this supporting and donating?

Gail Peters, Galeforce Productions Andrew Massih and the Massih Family, Cairo Alehouse Geoff Teach of Teach's Criterion of Metal Morgan and Luco from The Metal Experience Kimmi Rudolph of the Metal Experience Ron Lindeman from Chaos Punk Radio Jake and Conor from Brown Bear Records Jacek Leja from The Doc Metal Show Flabby Hoffman, The Flabby Hoffman Radio Extravagonzo Vanessa Davis Ruble Annmarie and Teresa Vecchione Rob Such of Mortal Music Tracy Shen of Stone Cove Jewelry Nero Rothschild and the Art Cult Collective The Instrument Exchange of Batavia Christian Contreras, Quentin Dover, Aerie Dover, Jenna Scifres, Petra Sith, Melissa DeGott, Jeff Iverson, Art Rento, Brendan English, Mark Burd, Ben Bowman, Chris Shen, Ian and Tara Palmer, Brad Motl, Andrew Tate, Sandi Wimmer, Deborah Noncz, The Maul family, the Behary family, the Svach family.

The aforementioned bands that all played the show and you, if you showed up, and enjoyed the music!

I couldn’t have made such a great show without ALL of the above. Thank you all!

By Katie Schräpler Photography courtesy of Magyk Photography

Last Saturday was the second night of Rock in Chicago’s all ages CancerSmash event at Bada Brew in Crest Hill. In case you missed it, CancerSmash was a two-night metal (night one) and punk (night two) event organized by Rock in Chicago to raise funds for cancer research and patient assistance. It also marked a milestone for Erik Oldman as he celebrated fifteen years cancer free! Congrats Erik! When The Kreutzer Sonata was asked to play, we were stoked for multiple reasons. Benefits are important to us and we will always play (or attend) those that we can. Playing all ages shows is equally as important to us and we also knew that we would be playing a show with great bands. Needless to say, we weren’t disappointed.

Working with Rock in Chicago and playing this benefit was definitely rewarding. I have family and friends (and now new friends) who are cancer survivors or have been affected by cancer in some way; anything I can do to help ease that stress is worth my time and effort. Though, it really doesn’t get much better than being on stage, playing music that I love with my best friends, and simultaneously helping raise funds for those who need it most. And of course watching other punks rock the stage for the same reason is a ton of fun!

That said, I was super excited to play with the bands that were on the bill. Last year, before I was physically playing in The Kreutzer Sonata (I was more or less managing them, aside from booking shows), they played another benefit that Rock in Chicago made possible, with an awesome bill. This is something that is seriously important to me and it shows that Rock in Chicago knows their stuff. CancerSmash ran as smoothly as possible, one set into the next with Foreign Policy starting things off followed by The Kreutzer Sonata, 80 Proof Preacher, and Voice of Addiction- Solution Unsatisfactory played last and brought the show home. All of the bands played great sets and, despite Adam’s strap breaking in the middle of our set and my amp being incredibly too loud for half of our set, I think we played well for or new line up! Thanks to those of you that braved my five month old bass playing!

CancerSmash was organized with two distinct nights for two DIFFERENT genres of music. We’ve all played and attended way too many shows where no one pays any attention to a band because the show organizer didn’t listen to the bands prior to booking them; or didn’t realize “that one band” didn’t quite fit the bill. Being in a melodic hardcore punk band is difficult because people reeeeally like to throw us on metal shows.. Fortunately, that was not the case with CancerSmash we were booked where we belong, on the punk night! This shows Rock in Chicago’s understanding of music and that they have a handle on booking great shows!

Rock in Chicago shows bring an awesome group of people that are there to actually support the bands rather than talk through their entire set. I was so pleased to see almost everyone that played stay the entire time, with the exception of a few. That is rarity, for sure. It’s hard enough getting people out to shows, but getting them to stay and be present is the real hard part. Between the two nights a decent amount of people came out. I see this happen more and more when organizers and promoters book all ages shows. No one else is going to be as into you as the younger crowd is. They’re the ones who are going to hitchhike to your shows if they have to and you are going to see them in the pit during every song. I know, because I’m only twenty-two. I can tell you that a few years ago, when I was underage, I was pissed when I couldn’t go to a show because I was young. And I can also tell you that if I didn’t come home with bruises from the pit, I didn’t do my job! I still feel this way and my underage buds do too! Seeing that kind of support from Rock in Chicago for the punk scene is one of the many reasons why they are successful. It is because of their support for the scene and respect for others that I cannot wait to work with them again! Editor's Note:

https://www.facebook.com/events/695451630476914/