Selim Lemouchi Live In Spirit At Roadburn Fringe Day

It was a month ago that news reached everybody of the death of Selim Lemouchi, founder of The Devil’s Blood and Selim Lemouchi & His Enemies. You might’ve spent that day in a black hole of awful vibes, bummed about his sudden passing (I had already made notes for our next interview) and considering the parameters of your connection to his music and — because his interviews made really potent copy — to him. It sucked. Still, you probably weren’t among those tasked that morning with deleting his band’s name from the roster of your upcoming extreme metal festival; that sounds horrible.

But organizers at the Roadburn Festival (starts Thursday) in the Netherlands have announced that their SL&HE show will go on. According to their announcement, Selim’s sister and collaborator Farida Lemouchi and “other musical collaborators involved in [SL&HE]” will perform on the extreme metal festival’s closing day. That’s Roadburn Afterburner, a mini-fest of mostly weird, spaced out, and/or doom bands (so, great name). As Selim Lemouchi’s Enemies, they’ll play the first slot on the main stage at 3:45 pm, which gives them a cold audience — yet you feel worse for the band that’s tasked to play after a public mourning for an awesome musician who had only begun to find himself.

What we’re all aiming for — fans, family, festival promotors — is closure and celebration. There are few details so far, but Selim’s people are brilliant, so we could predict that they’ll open the set with a video of highlights and testimonials (guys, call me!) to set the vibe, then play a bunch from the Enemies’ EP and debut album, then a Devil’s Blood jam, and maybe a cover of, say, Fleetwood Mac’s “I’m So Afraid.” Whatever they do, it’ll be thrilling, so all his admirers who don’t attend the fest will be there in spirit, too.

Roadburn Festival and Afterburner day are sold out.