Huntington Music Collective hosting Feb 22 all-ages metal show downtown
By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
Nate Holley grew up in Huntington, where he fell in love with live music.
“We had an all-ages live venue called HYAMP,” Nate remembers. “The first show I went to was in 2001 when I was just a kid. That show changed my life and set it on a trajectory. It was a special thing.”
But over the years, that underground music scene in Huntington faded. Between the opioid epidemic, the pandemic, and other local issues, young people lacked a creative outlet for expressing themselves musically.
“I have teenagers now,” he says. “One is into metal. She was looking for shows she can go to. She’s never been to one, because the only music venue in town is a bar, so kids under 18 can’t go.”
He said she was looking at shows in Ohio and Kentucky, because there was nothing going on around Huntington.
“We have to do something about this,” he said to some other musicians his age who also have kids. “Adults put on those shows for us when we were kids to show us the power of live music, and now it’s our turn.”
So Nate and a dedicated group of volunteers formed the Huntington Music Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to creating an inclusive music outlet for creative kids in the region.
“I’m in recovery,” Nate shares. “Twelve years sober. I had to get my shit together. I have and have been involved in that community for a long time. We are an impoverished area and the opioid epidemic is still going on. We want to divert people from risky behaviors while they live here.”
Nate and company believe music is one important way to do that, so they’ve used their first round of donations to the Huntington Music Collective to schedule three live music shows–February 22, March 7, and April 12. All three shows will be held at The Event Horizon, 404 Washington Ave. Doors open at 5pm. Tickets are $5 at the door, but Nate says no one will be turned away if they want to attend.
The February 22 show includes performers Nearly Mine, Don’t Look Back, Ghost Home, Golden and Rat Ship.
“None of us know how to do this,” he jokes. “We just dig in and figure it out. We’ve had a lot of help from community people and volunteers–lawyers, accounts, contractors, Marshall University, and an army of people ready to take care of business.”
Nate is excited for the first live show this weekend. He says they will see how it goes and make adjustments from there.
“We’re nickel and diming around to keep putting on shows, so we can incubate this scene and grow it from the ground up. It’s important for people to come together in real life and connect to other humans on a personal basis. We need that right now.”
For more information, visit The Huntington Music Collective on Facebook.
