Coffin fit will headline the Morinville Music Mayhem May 11 – Photo by Megan Wood of Metal Forest Photography
By Stephen Dafoe
Morinville – Friday night will see the doors blasted off the Morinville Community Cultural Centre as Morinville Music Mayhem hits the stage with a number of Edmonton-based metal acts taking to the stage. The all-ages concert, set to run May 11 from 7 p.m. until midnight, is a fundraiser for Morinville’s Youth in Action Committee and youth programming in the community.
Morinville’s youth worker A. D. Richardson said the show is the first of what she hopes will be a long series of music shows for area youth. After pulling some strings and calling in some favours, Richardson was able to get Edmonton-based bands Coffin Fit, Attention to the Wounded, and Bring Us Your Dead. Added to the mix is local drummer and Georges H. Primeau student Jean Luc Coupal and Questions for the Sniper, a local metal band made up of of MCHS students.
Richardson said she envisioned the concert and those that will hopefully follow as an opportunity to give local youth the chance to see music shows on a regular basis. “I went to concerts as a kid growing up; my parents were really good about driving me there,” Richardson said. “But I know a lot of kids don’t get the opportunity to go see live music, and to really experience any music that’s not on the radio. A lot of kids nowadays only hear what’s on the top 40 radio stations, things that make me want to puke.”
Richardson said she wanted to be able to bring youth music that was more than the derivative stuff found on radio. “I see at least three concerts a week and that’s what keeps me going,” she said. “Music is my religion. Going to concerts is like going to church for me.”
Each of the bands taking to the stage Friday night are performing free of charge, allowing all proceeds from the event to flow into youth programing in the community. Richardson is hoping to raise at least $1,000 from the event.
“All the money that we’ve been raising over the last few months is going into one place,” she said. “We’re hoping to use that money to build or reopen a new youth centre. That is the goal, especially after what’s been going on lately. With all the vandalism going on in the youth centre, it’s obviously not a safe place to have that building.”
The recently-reopened Morinville Youth Centre has been broken into once and had two subsequent attempted break-ins in the past two months.
While she plans for a spot for youth to gather, Richardson is hoping the cultural centre will become somewhat of a home away from home as well. “I just think it is a great opportunity for these kids to see live music in such a place close to home,” she said of the venue, adding she has plenty more bands from other musical genres eager to come to town to do a benefit show. “When you say it is for youth, and it is supporting youth, and it’s not for profit, people will open up.”
Tickets for Friday night’s Morinville Music Mayhem are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Advance tickets can be purchased at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre.
