By Carl Begai

David Gold was WOODS OF YPRES, but there’s no discounting the long list of musicians that helped him bring the music to life during the band’s 10 year career. One of the last names on that list is twentysomething-on-the-younger-side drummer Rae Amitay, and it wasn’t until the tribute shows held in David’s honour back in April – in Toronto and his home town of Sault Ste Marie respectively – that fans were truly aware of her connection to the band. Conscripted for a European tour planned for early 2012 in support of Woods 5: Grey Skies And Electric Light, she had yet to be tested as a full card-carrying band member, but those plans and expectations were tragically derailed when David passed away on December 21st, 2011.

It was a small but necessary consolation for Rae to be able to attend the tribute shows and pay her respects both as a performer and a fan.

“Unfortunately, with everything that happened we didn’t have time to make a proper announcement about the new line-up,” says Rae. “I thought I was going to get completely lost in the shuffle when the tribute shows happened, so it was so nice of Joel (Violette/guitars) when he brought me and Brendan Hayter (bass) up because we were really looking forward to being in the band. I started hearing rumours about tribute shows and I wanted to be a part of them, but there was no way unless I could do something with Joel, and I really wanted to. So, I approached him and asked him if he’d be interested, and he was like ‘Wait, there are tribute shows?’ People just assumed Joel was going to know about them, but he didn’t. We got some basic information and started planning a tentative set, and it all came together from there.”
“I think Joel had to be there, because he played such a massive role in the writing and recording of Woods 5. I felt that if he hadn’t been a part of those shows it would have detracted from the whole thing because there needed to be some semblance of Woods Of Ypres present. It was very important that Joel got to take part in it.”

Rae posted an overview of the tribute show experience on Metal Review (found here) back in April, and months later it still holds a lasting impact for her. It’s a safe bet that any future tributes to David – such as the planned annual Ypres Metal Fest – will be at the top of her to-do list.

“It was great. I got into Toronto and met Joel for the first time, he grabbed his guitar and we just sat in this little park at the foot of the CN Tower and we practiced our set. It was a lot of fun. I actually did more singing than drumming during our set, which was kind of nerve-wracking, but people were really receptive. My whole time in Canada was memorable. If I had to namedrop, GYPSY CHEIF GOLIATH's cover of ‘Suicide Cargoload’ was the heaviest fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my life, and the fact I got to hear them do it twice… man, it was so awesome (laughs). And KITTIE’s cover of ‘Everything I Touch Turns To Gold (Then To Coal)’ was incredible.”

For those that are wondering how she managed to score the post as Woods Of Ypres’ intended new drummer, chalk it up to the convenient magic of social media.

“We were friends on Facebook and I had been a fan of Woods Of Ypres for a long time. David posted an open announcement about needing a drummer and I didn’t even flinch; I just said ‘Yeah, I’ll do it’ (laughs). I was in the middle of school and everything but I didn’t really care. I messaged him and said that I wanted the job, so David watched some video clips of me playing and we got to talking. He told me that I had to be prepared to pretty much drop everything and come to Sault Ste Marie, and I had no problem with that.”
“Brendan and I are both from Massachusetts and we were going to road trip up there in January of this year, but we obviously never ended up doing that. I never got the chance to go to The Soo until the tribute shows. I never had the chance to even meet David. The one chance I would have had was when he did a show with Novembers Doom, but I wasn’t 21 yet and couldn’t get in. We chatted a lot online, there was Facebook and email and one phone call, but I didn’t get to know him as well as I wanted to. Getting to go to the tribute shows and hear all of these stories about him from his friends and his family – especially from his mom – it was staggering. All his siblings are so beautiful and blonde with those blue eyes; it was like looking at other versions of David (laughs).”

Click here for more. Check out the complete Toronto tribute show to David Gold below: