GORGUTS Added To 'Death To All Tour 2012'

Canadian technical death metallers GORGUTS have been confirmed as the support act for the "Death To All Tour 2012" in benefit of Sweet Relief. This five-city tour will feature a majority of DEATH's amazing musicians, as well as special guests. This tour is to celebrate the life and music of Chuck Schuldiner, as well as to raise awareness of Sweet Relief Musicians Fund — a charity that provides financial assistance to career musicians faced with illness, disability or age-related problems.

This tour will kick off in San Francisco, California and work its way to Orlando, Florida — stopping in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York along the way. GORGUTS will open all shows up to, but not including, Orlando.

Commented GORGUTS mainman Luc Lemay: “If I owe one person regarding the fact that I chose to become a death metal musician in life, I totally owe this to Chuck Schuldiner.

"Back in '86-'87, I was already a fan of the genre with POSSESSED's 'Seven Churches', CELTIC FROST's 'Morbid Tales' and HELLHAMMER's 'Apocalyptic Raids'. But the day I put my hand on DEATH's 'Scream Bloody Gore' cassette tape, my life changed. All I wanted was to become a guitar player, playing death metal and singing with a raw, evil and brutal voice like Chuck.

"So here I am, twenty five years later, as passionate as day one. Being on stage paying homage to this amazingly visionary and creative artist, Chuck Schuldiner. In my heart I see him as important as any composer of the 20th and 21st centuries. He created a language and a musical esthetic that will never be forgotten."

The drums on the "Death To All Tour 2012" will be handled by Gene Hoglan ("Individual Thought Patterns", "Symbolic") and Sean Reinert ("Human"). On bass will be Steve DiGiorgio ("Human", "Individual Thought Patterns") and Scott Clendenin ("The Sound Of Perseverance"). Guitar duties will be shared by Paul Masvidal ("Human"),Shannon Hamm ("The Sound of Perseverance") and Bobby Koelble ("Symbolic"). The vocals will be taken care of by Steffen Kummerer of OBSCURA and Charles Elliott of ABYSMAL DAWN and BEREFT.

The dates are as follows:

June 22 - The Regency Ballroom - San Francisco, CA
June 23 - House of Blues – West Hollywood, CA
June 26 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL
June 28 - Irving Plaza – New York, NY
June 30 - The Beacham - Orlando, FL

For more information, go to this location.

Chuck died on December 13, 2001 after a battle with pontine glioma, a rare type of brain tumor.