Metal band Orange Goblin have announced a benefit show for Team Rock staff as a fundraising campaign for employees nears £70,000.
The band's frontman Ben Ward and partner Sandie Soriano launched the campaign on Monday after 73 Team Rock staff members were laid off with no severance pay, six days before Christmas. With an initial target of £20,000, the JustGiving campaign stands at £66,482 in just two days - 334% of its target. People can donate here.
Orange Goblin have now confirmed an intimate fundraising gig at The Black Heart in Camden on Thursday January 5, with support coming from Steak.
“A few days ago when I heard the news that my good friends at Team Rock were being made redundant with no pay during Christmas week I just felt that I had to do something," said Ward. "That night my girlfriend and I set up the Just Giving page and within 2 days we had raised almost £60,000 and we were blown away by the response and generosity of people all over the world. To help raise even more, Orange Goblin will play a very special show at the Black Heart in Camden on January 5.
"This will be a minimum £10 donation to get in and admission will be on a first come, first served basis as the venue only holds 120 people. All proceeds for the night will go to the Just Giving page in hope that we can give something back to the journalists that have supported our band and our scene for many, many years.”
The campaign has received donations from rock fans around the world, including high profile names like Avenged Sevenfold, Black Stone Cherry, Asking Alexandra, Tesseract and Earache Records. Singer/songwriter Frank Turner has also set up an auction in the hope of raising money for the 73 affected.
Founded in 2012, Team Rock was responsible for a stable of music titles including Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Classic Rock Presents Prog. It also ran TeamRock Radio and teamrock.com, which received an average of three million visits per month. It bought Classic Rock, Classic Rock Presents Prog and Metal Hammer from Future Publishing in 2013. Administrators FRP Advisory are now seeking buyers for the business's magazine titles and other assets.
