Local music venues and artists donate proceeds to Hurricane Helene relief

Local independent music venues and artists in the Triangle are coming together to raise money and donate items for western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. 

Helene has wreaked havoc in communities across western North Carolina, uprooting entire towns and cities. The impact included independent music venues that have had to cancel upcoming shows, such as The Orange Peel and Salvage Station in Asheville.

Alongside Cat's Cradle in Carrboro and Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, Motorco Music Hall in Durham is donating a dollar for each ticket sold in October towards western North Carolina relief charities, as well as collecting goods and donations.

Part of these donations will go towards the National Independent Venue Association. NIVA has a foundation that provides temporary funding for independent venues as they recover through hardships like natural disasters. 

“We know that those folks would do it for us, and we want to make sure we can do it for them,” Josh Wittman, co-owner of Motorco Music Hall said. 

Other donations will go straight to organizations in the Asheville area, such as Asheville Music Professionals. Wittman said that AMP will be able to financially help out-of-work venue employees.

These venues will be closed until they can safely operate, and even when they do re-open, people will not be spending money on shows at the same rate they once were. 

“If you lose your house, you're not thinking about going out to a show,” Whittman said. “You're thinking about how the hell you're going to live your life.”

Wiittman said that he is worried for the future of some of these venues, especially because the height of western North Carolina's tourism season is in the fall. 

Without the influx of tourists, these venues will face significant revenue losses, facing risk of closure and extreme financial setbacks that will have lasting effects. 

“This is not a short-term cleanup, this is not a short-term devastation,” Wittman said. “It's a long-term issue that we are all going to need to deal with.”

Not only are the venues themselves aiding western North Carolina, smaller artists who perform at these venues are hosting benefit nights and donating all proceeds to relief. 

Dugout Entertainment, a management group that coordinates events for local bands, recently hosted a benefit night at The Portal in Raleigh. 

Local bands Zamloch, Satellite Dog and Bell Tower Blues each played sets, performing to help western North Carolina. 

Zamloch is a band based out of Raleigh, including frontman Chandler Martin, lead guitarist Russell Barron, bassist Adam Roberts and drummer Tyler King. Martin said that the experience of playing with bands he admired as well as helping western North Carolina was amazing.

“In literally two days we were able to put together a huge show. We sold over 250 tickets,” Martin said. 

At the benefit concert, the bands raised over $5,000 for western North Carolina. They donated it to the North Carolina Community Foundation, an organization focused on long-term recovery for those impacted by Helene.

“We really took a lot of time figuring out where we were going to be donating this,” bassist Adam Roberts said. “So that way it would have the best effect for western North Carolina.” 

New benefit shows and other ways to donate to western North Carolina will continue to be announced on venues and artists' social media platforms. Though there is still much to be done, these venues and artists are doing what they can to support one another.