Rock band performs some heavy metal healing for hospital patient
Rock band performs some heavy metal healing for hospital patient
Debbie Day, Ryan ColemanMon, August 10, 2026 at 3:41 AM UTC
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Band the Scepter performs at Bruyère Health in Ottawa, Canada, in JulyCredit: CBC/YoutubeKey Points -
When a “fragile” patient said he wanted to attend a heavy metal concert, the hospital chaplain took action.
Bruyère Health Clinical Chaplain Roshene Lawson contacted a venue in Ottawa, Canada, to connect with a band.
Local rockers the Scepter stepped up.
A heavy metal band heeded the call after hearing about a hospital patient with unfulfilled headbanging dreams.
When a 27-year-old Tim Berry was deemed too “medically fragile” to actually attend a metal show, Roshene Lawson, the chaplain at the Ottawa specialized healthcare center Bruyère Health, took up his cause.
“It’s about exploring what kind of exceptional care we can offer him in the midst of all of this. And sometimes we have to think outside the box, and this time, I went to a heavy metal concert,” Lawson told CBC on July 31. So she struck up a partnership with local watering hole and music venue Dominion Tavern to bring rock band the Scepter straight to Berry.
“It was kind of an instant decision, like, we’re doing this,” the Scepter guitarist Josh Collins told CBC. Scott McClinton, who owns Dominion Tavern, told the outlet that the unconventional concert “was absolutely emotional. It was quite the thing. I never thought I’d cry during a metal show, but that definitely happened.”
McClinton, Lawson, and Bruyère worked to transform a fifth-floor boardroom at the hospital into a grungy dive, bringing in colorful lights, custom tickets, a booming sound system, and a fan machine to fully transport Berry and other patients at Bruyère.
“I reached out to Scotty at the Dominon Tavern and he didn’t hesitate. It was a quick yes. Then he reached out the Scepter and they gave a quick yes. And all of a sudden people in heavy metal outfits with guitars and stuff are asking where the chaplain is and people are looking confused, and there we are,” Lawson joked in an extended interview.
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“It was probably one of the best things I’ve ever experienced as a chaplain,” she reflected.
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Members of the Scepter, which have been rocking Ottawa since 2018, also reflected kindly on the experience.
“There are no half measures. If we do this, we’re giving him the full experience,” drummer John Crawford told CBC’s The National in a segment the band shared to their official Instagram. “We had all our lights and our amps and instruments set up,” Collins added.
“Tim had tears in his eyes,” Lawson told The National. “I asked him, were the tears because it was loud? And he laughed and said, ‘No, I’m happy.’”
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
