Oliver Drake, 42, lives in Ramsbottom, plays lead guitar and sings in thrash metal band Evile, and has just set up a GoFundMe to clear the last of his debts. If you’ve not heard of Evile, formed in Huddersfield in 2004, signed to Earache Records, six studio albums, tours across Japan, the USA and Canada. One of their songs even features in the film Final Destination: Bloodlines. Not bad going.
But here’s the thing about being in a touring band that a lot of people don’t realise: it’s really, really hard to make it pay.
Oliver has spoken to the Bury Times about how years of funding the band, selling possessions, and being unable to hold down a steady job while disappearing on months-long tours gradually built up into a serious debt problem. Add in the cost-of-living crisis, and chipping away at that debt has become incredibly difficult.
He put it plainly: “Metal music is not the most lucrative genre to be a part of, and pretty much since we started, I was doing most things like writing music, logistics and everything behind the scenes. No one will give you three months off to go touring, and then you come back for two weeks and then leave again.”
Evile still exist and still play the occasional festival when something good comes up, but regular touring is off the table. Oliver now works full-time as a service engineer, which means long stretches away from his wife and two daughters, aged five and eight. Both girls have autism, and his wife, who works at a nursery, manages things at home whilst also dealing with her own mental health. The debt hanging over the household makes all of that harder.
That’s really why he set the fundraiser up. As he says himself: “It’s all for them, really.”
Alongside his day job he runs an online guitar school, streams on Twitch, and makes guitar and comedy content online. He’s done 24-hour charity streams before to raise money towards the debt, and this GoFundMe is described as “the last hump to get over.” The goal is £8,000, and it’s already raised around £3,000 in the early days.
The response from Evile fans has been something else. Oliver told the Bury Times: “A lot of Evile fans have come forward and said, ‘You helped me through tough times, so this is me repaying it’. It’s very humbling.”
Running a band for two decades, funding it largely from your own pocket, and then having to ask for help publicly takes some guts. Worth giving the campaign a look if this resonates with you.
You can find the full story over at the Bury Times.
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