Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: ARTS & LIFE

Fourteen heavy metal bands will take the stage in Dallas this weekend. For this show, the hard-rock anthem will not be, "stick it to the man," but instead, they aim to "stick it" to multiple sclerosis.

"People think that heavy metal rocker guys are scary and worship the devil, but that's just not true," SiK drummer Keith Wishon said. "They can be some of the most big-hearted people you could ever find."

These "rocker guys" are baring their big hearts with the first annual Rockers for MS at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Vampire Lounge to raise awareness and money for MS. The concert will feature SiK and Subourne as well as 12 other bands.

The idea for a benefit concert came about in October when the wife of Suborne's guitarist was diagnosed with MS.

"We thought he might quit the band because we didn't know what her needs were going to be," Suborne bass guitarist Mike Gomez said. "But she told him to stick it out, and so I approached him to put together a show to raise money for MS."

Gomez went to his friend, Wishon, with the task of putting together a small show.

"Mike came to me and asked if my band would be interested in doing the benefit show," Wishon said. "It really hit home for me because I have a cousin with MS, so as soon as he said it, it was at a personal level. But also since I was such good friends with him and his band, I was willing to do whatever I could to jump in there and help his band out."

The two contacted a couple of other bands, but Wishon said the longer they promoted it, the more the news of the concert started to spread.

"What started out as my band and his band putting on a show and donating whatever couple hundred dollars," Wishon said, "was blown into a big, two-day festival with 14 bands and major sponsors like Wal-Mart, WWE [World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.], Texas Rangers and some smaller name sponsors that have jumped on as well."

Wishon said that even up until the week before the concert, Dallas Rockers for MS "still has bands knocking down our door to get on the bill" because of the sweeping effect MS has had on people's lives.

"One hundred percent of the bands on the bill have been touched by MS in some form or fashion," Wishon said. "We just kept hearing story after story from the bands about how they had been affected."

Likewise, when Gomez and Wishon approached the Vampire Lounge, at 11311 Harry Hines Blvd. in Dallas, as a venue, the owner had a similar response.

Continued...

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