PORT ANGELES — Dying to Bleed, a Port Angeles-based heavy metal band, will take the stage one last time in honor of late frontman Robert “BJ” Annette when it performs at 6 p.m. Saturday (July 20).
The all-ages Robert “BJ” Annette “farewell for now” concert and Dying to Bleed reunion will be at the Dry Creek Grange, 3130 W. Edgewood Drive.
Annette — a well-known vocalist, concert promoter and children’s advocate — died at the age of 40 in April after suffering a heart attack at his Spanaway home.
One of his kidneys went to his friend Randy Kastner, 41, a fellow New York Death Militia music club regional president from Watertown, Wis., who is doing well about 2½ months after the operation.
Jason Gorss of Port Angeles, Dying to Bleed bassist and co-founder, said the band, which had a cult following on the North Olympic Peninsula until it disbanded in October 2010, will headline the five-act heavy metal show.
Suggested donation
The suggested donation is $5, with proceeds going to Annette’s wife, Michelle, and son, Gavin, who have a six-figure medical bill.
Other bands scheduled to perform are Decapitate the Disciples, Northern Bastard, Jack Havoc and Inside Defiance, the latter of which Gorss also plays in.
Gorss, who for many years was a distribution manager for the Peninsula Daily News, said Annette put new bands in touch with venue owners and promoted concerts with a weekly spot on KISW, a Seattle rock station.
Kastner, who oversees the Midwest region of the New York Death Militia, a nationwide death metal club, said he plans to travel to the Pacific Northwest in September to visit with Michelle and meet Annette’s parents.
“I’d like to meet them and extend my regard and thanks,” Kastner said.
In its heyday, Dying to Bleed featured Annette, Gorss, Robb Hoffman of Port Angeles on drums and co-founder James Long on guitar.
Long’s move to work in the oil fields of Wyoming prompted the band to break up.
The lineup for Saturday’s concert will be Gorss, Long, drummer Jesse Hernandez and guest vocalist Keith Dulin of the band Northern Bastard, another close friend of Annette’s.
