BRENDON SMALL's GALAKTIKON, the side-project of Brendon Small – the creative mastermind behind the smash-hit animated TV show Metalocalypse and the band DETHKLOK – will become the first metal act to headline an all-star lineup for WesFest 8: A Concert To Benefit The Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship At Berklee College Of Music, at The Roxy in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 3rd

The show marks the live debut of the project, and the event is sponsored by Gallien-Krueger Amplification, Mike Lull Custom Guitars, D’Addario Strings, Epiphone Guitars, and Studio Instument Rentals (S.I.R.).

The scholarship fund honors Wes Wehmiller (1971 - 2005), a Berklee graduate (’92) and highly accomplished bassist, athlete and photographer who died of thyroid cancer in January 2005.

Established by his family and friends, the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship is awarded annually to a continuing student at Berklee who best exemplifies the excellence and grace Wehmiller showed as a bassist and as a human being.

The WesFest concert series and related fundraising drive has raised more than $150,000 over the past seven years. This year, the goal is to raise $25,000.

Before Metalocalypse and Dethklok’s runaway success, Brendon Small, a Berklee alum (‘97), began his career in animation as the co-creator, writer, voice actor, composer and musician for the TV show Home Movies. Small has also lent his voice to a number of other shows including The Venture Bros., Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies, Reno 911!, and Frisky Dingo. He then reprised his co-creator/writer/voice actor/director/producer/music-composer role for Metalocalypse, which premiered in August 2006 and just completed its fourth season on Adult Swim.

The live band required to pull off the multi-layered music of Brendon Small’s Galaktikon will contain four guitarists, including L.A.-based guitarist and former Musicians Institute Guitar Program Director Jude Gold (JEFFERSON STARSHIP, BILLY SHEEHAN), Mike Keneally (Dethklok, FRANK ZAPPA, JOE SATRIANI), Rick Musallam (BEN TAYLOR, CARLY SIMON), and Small himself. Additional band members include keyboardist/guitarist Walter Ino; bassist Bryan Beller (Dethklok, Steve Vai, THE ARISTOCRATS); drummer Tim Yeung (MORBID ANGEL); and vocalists Ben Thomas (ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA), Kira Small (PETER FRAMPTON, MARTINA MCBRIDE), Ali Handal (NEIL YOUNG, PAUL WILLIAMS) and Jude Crossen.

From 1997 through 2001, Wes Wehmiller toured worldwide with the multi-platinum pop band DURAN DURAN, and appeared on many TV shows with them as well, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Today Show, VH-1’s Storytellers, and Hard Rock Live. He performed with MISSING PERSONS and several other L.A. based bands, and his work appears on numerous recordings produced in the L.A. area and in Vancouver. He gained endorsement deals with SWR bass amplification systems and La Bella Strings.