“For the second year in a row, Troopers will organize a team to raise money to benefit the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats, and defeats childhood cancers and other life-threatening diseases.

Since opening their doors more than 50 years ago, St. Jude has more than quadrupled the survival rate for childhood cancers to more than 80 percent, but there is more work to be done.

That’s where you come in. Donations from fundraising events like the St. Jude Walk & Run allow families to not worry about receiving a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food. In times where a child falls ill, all a family should be concerned about is getting better.

The MSP Team, through donations and team members, raised over $2500 for St. Jude in 2020. We were in the top 10 fundraisers for new teams in 2020. We hope to do even better this year!

People can register for the in-person walk on Boston Common on September 25th, register for the virtual walk option, or switch options after signing up any time prior to September 25th. Anyone interested can contact team captain Trooper John Denapoli at John.Denapoli@pol.state.ma.us –

Sign-up online, or donate here.

St. Jude won’t stop until no child dies from cancer, and neither will we. Will you join us by registering for our team or making a donation today?

Your support makes a powerful, lifesaving impact. Let’s inspire kindness and find hope, because together, nothing is impossible.”

If you grew up listening to Napalm Death, Skinless, Putrid Pile, or Mortician, then go to XS on Union Street this Friday, April 25th for a live local treat. Four metal local greats are hitting the stage: Lower the Casket, Necris, Possessed Entity and Goreality. I missed out on interviewing Lower the Casket for this article. For more info on each of the bands, we’ve made their names hyperlinks.

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Goreality’s practice space at Wamsutta Mills and hang out with the guys in the band: Steve “Fishcakes” Diaz, Aaron Suprenant, Mark Gomes, and Josh Drolet. Dan Pevide, the singer, wasn’t present. Despite their name, Goreality is a group of down-to-Earth guys that get along well enough to throw digs at each other and nobody gets offended. This old school death metal band formed in 2004, and was finalized by adding Josh Drolet.

“We heard him yelling and screaming at the band he was in and said ‘Hey you might be happy playing with us’ and the rest is history,” Fishcakes said.

Goreality has not had the opportunity to play a show in New Bedford since October 2012 at Black Watch Pub. They previously played at the New Wave Café and moved their show to the Bullpen and Marshall’s Pub when business went sour for the New Wave.

“We booked our own shows at the Bullpen and were able to make them all metal (Abnormality, Embalmer, and Beyond the Flesh) whereas when we had to play a show at New Wave, he would throw us on with a band that wasn’t death metal like we are,” Fishcakes said. They played at Bullpen right up until the venue was sold.

“XS has potential,” says Josh. “XS is huge; there is plenty of room for a lot of people.”

I asked what the best part is about being in a band and without missing a beat Fishcakes said, “The money, totally. All the money and chicks.” After a moment he said, “It’s stress relief. This is my release”

“It’s a good time,” said Mark. “I enjoy playing. When I was younger in my teens, the sky was the limit, but now it’s a hobby for me so I go as far as I can with it.”

“Plus all the money we make,” said Fishcakes.

~~~~

My husband was in a band rented a room in Wamsutta Mills that shared a wall with Necris Josh Murdock, Tom Brock, Jon Bernier, Tim Cabral and Joe Amaral) and the two bands practiced on the same night. We used to pause to listen to Necris play from our room and were impressed with their extremely heavy and creative sound.

“Transient announced he would start booking metal shows again in New Bedford, so I immediately contacted him to let him know that Necris MUST be on that show,” vocalist Josh Murdock said. “The metal scene back in the New Wave days was awesome, as there were tons of good bands and fun shows, plus after parties, but since its closing, we’ve been ‘homeless’. Thankfully, that all changed, thanks to Transient Authority. We hope that people realize just how good our local bands are around here and come on out and appreciate the talent at a great price.”

When asked where his singing style comes from, Josh said, “I pretty much delve into most styles of death/black metal, vocally: anything from Deicide to Dying Fetus, from Rotting Christ to Pantera. I dabble in some regular singing, but I’m no American Idol, so I don’t do too much,” he joked.

I asked how he felt their first show at XS went. “The people who came out had a good time, heads were banging, good mood, and were excited to see metal back in New Bedford, as we all are. Now that word is spreading of the return of local music here, we can only expect the crowds to be larger and more receptive. XS is the only venue to adequately do these shows in the area, as they have a large bar, sound system, good size floor, and a stage. Prior to this, no venue had all of those things to be able to put on local shows, so it’s a great thing and we’re pumped to help with the revival.”

I also made my way to Possessed Entity’s band space to sit and chat with Joey, current front man and guitar player for the band. Possessed Entity (Joey Vieira, Sean Kelly, Danny Dimond and Master) began humbly in Joey’s basement in 1998, and like Goreality, are old school death metal. This is also their second time playing at XS; they debuted during the Valentine’s Day Massacre in February. They were invited by Necris and are excited to be playing again onstage with these other local giants. Possessed Entity began as Convulsion Sickness and featured Fishcakes as the guitar player, but he left the band and eventually formed Goreality, so Joey and Master (Possessed Entity’s drummer) renamed the band, found Danny Dimond to play bass, and finally Josh Casmiro on vocals. Josh died unexpectedly in the fall of 2012 and it was an emotional shock for the band. The band took a break to mourn and eventually regrouped. Joey is currently singing in addition to playing lead guitar.

“I like death metal because it is more challenging to me,” Joey said. “I was into Anthrax and Ozzy when I first started playing guitar, who wasn’t? But after playing it for a while, it became too easy and I got bored with it so I started listening to death metal. That was fun, brutal with the heavy parts.”

“I really don’t want to be the singer, but I have to be,” said Joey. “If I can find somebody by playing these shows that wants to sing for me, they’re going to take my spot. I don’t want to be the main singer forever. I like doing back-ups and adding on heavy parts but I like to step back.”

If you’re interested in singing old school death metal style, contact Possessed Entity on Facebook. Possessed Entity is finishing their first recording with Triad Records and will have CDs available this summer. For booking information, contact Transient Authority on Facebook or transientauthority@gmail.com.

It appears that the metal scene is FINALLY coming back to New Bedford, thanks to Transient Authority and Club XS.

The first metal show was advertised as St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and was held on Valentine’s Day. I figured since we hadn’t been to a local show in over a year, my husband Shannon and I should go to it and support our friends in Possessed Entity, Necris and We Woke the Bears.

Club XS is located on Union Street It is a spacious venue with a VIP area, a nice long bar, and a stage for the bands. Behind the stage is a 13-foot screen on which Transient Authority projects movies.

I asked T.A. how he chooses what film goes onto the screen. “There is a condition called Synesthesia where people ‘see’ sounds as visual. I hear music and sometimes right away I get a film idea. It’s never random.”

T.A. has been projecting at shows for nine years and recently took a year to learn film editing which has helped him create what he calls a “fourth world” (Performance+Music+Film). When I saw this at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, I thought it was interesting. You’re there watching the band, but suddenly something happens on film behind them and your head says “What? What was that I just saw?”

Craig Fleming of the band Dead Skies said what T.A. does with film reminds him of Club Babyhead in Providence when that club had TV screens all around the stage.

T.A. has full booking freedom from the owner of X.S. and bands get paid by the door charge. T.A. does his own booking, promotion, fliers, hosting, projection, and sound to keep overhead costs low. He is interested in helping the music scene come back to life in New Bedford and it will happen as long as these bands get support from their fan base.

This Friday April 18, Club XS is having a show with three bands: Mothor, Dead Skies and Teazer. The show is a benefit for the Donovan House, which is a sober transitional housing program for women and their children in New Bedford. Donations of clothes and comfort items are welcome, and prizes will be given to the first 20 people that bring donations. The Southcoast Beard and Mustache Guild will also be there doing a beard and mustache contest, and Maureen Mullaley will have a booth set up selling her recycled guitar string bracelets. All of the guitar strings are donated by these bands that play on stage.

The bracelets are unique and beautiful works of art.

I was able to sit with two of the bands this week: Mothor and Dead Skies. Mothor is Kriss Bliss on guitar, Mario Costa on bass, Mike Cummiskey on drums, and Sonic Nova on vocals. They say their influences include Pentagram, Black Sabbath, Dio, early Judas Priest and early Scorpions. They describe their sound as 70s metal.

Dead Skies is a hardcore band made up of Chris Helme on drums, Shannon Chase on bass, Jeff Scissors on vocals, and Craig Fleming on guitar. Craig and Shannon were present for the discussion.

We talked about how the metal scene has nearly vanished from New Bedford due to venues closing Bands are forced to travel to Worcester and Providence to play, and the New Bedford fans normally just don’t follow.

“There’s no one single place in New Bedford that can take over what New Wave did. New Wave was all original, all the time and they didn’t care how heavy it was, whereas all these clubs in New Bedford that are taking up the music scene will not cater to a death metal or hardcore.” Mario said.

“New Wave had a good following but it took a good three years before they started making a name for themselves and started having those really big nights that we all remember,” Craig said.

“And making a name for themselves as original music, because in the beginning they were letting cover bands play and that was their crowd,” Mario added.

“A definite big part of it is the bands that are playing,” Nova said. “There was more of a scene when Gaskill had a show going on. When there is something worth seeing on stage, people come out. People came out for Beyond the Embrace, Iron Oak, Hidden…”

“It comes in waves,” Craig said. “You’ll have it and it’ll be great. I remember when Gaskill first came out we played the United Fisherman’s Club and had about 300 kids there because there were no metal shows anywhere to be had. Over time, the numbers started to dwindle and once the New Wave opened up and they started having theirs, all those kids that had been going to those shows were old enough to get into the New Wave so they started going to those shows again.”

“I’ve been trying to set up hardcore shows in New Bedford, but venues just don’t want it,” Craig said. “No Problemo is staffed by hardcore people and skateboarders, but the last hardcore show we had ended up in an ambulance call.”

I asked Shannon what he liked most about being in a band.

“The energy and realization that your hard work and your imagination is finally coming fruition to the masses. It is a break from the daily grind of life.”

Chris Helme agreed. “The crowd. If they’re into it, it makes playing worthwhile.”

The hope is that word will get out that these shows at XS are well worth the $5 cover charge because you see more than a band play, you get a true performance!