EVILE's Ol Drake to play set with DESTRUCTION dedicated to Mike Alexander

German thrash titans DESTRUCTION will dedicate their set at Damnation Festival in Leeds, UK to EVILE bassist Mike Alexander, who tragically passed away on October 5th, 2009 while on tour in Sweden. The festival will take place at Leeds University Union this Saturday, 24th October. EVILE lead guitarist Ol Drake will make a guest appearance on guitar with DESTRUCTION, to play some of Mike's favourite DESTRUCTION tracks with the band. Ol Drake also recently filled in on guitar for DESTRUCTION at Portugal's Caos Emergente festival.

Ol Drake comments:

“Mike was a huge Destruction fan. It'll be a great way to pay tribute to him by jamming some of his favourite Destruction songs with Schmier, Marc and Mike. Throughout playing with Evile, Mike was always cautiously calm about exciting things. “Mike, we're touring with Megadeth!” – “Oh, cool”. “Mike, we're touring with Exodus!” – “Oh, cool”. I just knew he jumped around like a child when he got home, but when I called him to say I'm playing a show with Destruction in Portugal he went “OH MY GOD!!!!!!! WHOAAAA, you bastard! Wow!”

“I got to pass on one of Schmier's picks from him to Mike before the last tour and it made his day. Thank you to Destruction for wanting to dedicate their next set to Mike and for letting me jam some songs in his honour.”

DESTRUCTION bassist and vocalist Schmier comments:

“Ol Drake became a very close friend to the band since he helped us out after the broken finger affair. When I heard that Mike Alexander died I was speechless and shocked. I had to sit down. The world never was a fair place. This again was a situation that shows how fast everything can be over and out. Mike Alexander was such a positive and funny guy, his band on the way to the top, a fucking shame and a tragedy.

“Evile and Destruction thought it would be a cool thing to dedicate the Destruction gig in Leeds this weekend at the Damnation festival to Mike Alexander. We will jam his fave Destruction tunes with Ol on the second guitar. We are sure Mike would have loved this – a memorable way for us to remember a lost friend! Rock in peace brother!”

DESTRUCTION will play on the Jagermeister stage at 7:30pm this Saturday, 24th October at Damnation festival, Leeds. For more info go to http://www.damnationfestival.co.uk or http://www.destruction.de

EVILE will be unveiling a tribute site to Mike Alexander shortly and will welcome comments, memories and photos. Donations are welcome for Mike's children and family via http://www.ukthrash.co.uk courtesy of UKthrash.co.uk and Wiseblood Management.