Three artists under the 100% Silk electronic record label were performing at the warehouse that caught fire and killed at least nine in Oakland late Friday night. Two of the artists remain unaccounted for, according to representatives for the record label.
"It's unbelievable. It's a nightmare." said Brian Foote, an electronic musician who works with the record label in LA, and is waiting for word from the Bay Area. "It feels awful, it feels so helpless and confusing and just so sudden."
"I don't know who was there, there's a chance there was a bunch of people whom I know who was there," a devastated Foote said.
A Facebook event page for Golden Donna 100% Silk West Coast Tour shows the group was scheduled to perform at a party at the warehouse on 1305 31st Ave. in Oakland from 9 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Saturday.
Golden Donna - one of the headliners - is an electronic outlet based out of Madison, and the stage name for Wisconsin-based producer Joel Shanahan, who was scheduled to perform along with the artists Cherushii (Chelsea Faith Dolan) and Nackt (Johnny Igaz).
Foote said Cherushii and Nackt were still missing as of late Saturday night.
“Joel is safe but like many people he is heartbroken and has several friends among the missing. Please refrain from messaging this page or Joel's personal channels unless you have information on the Oakland fire victims. Sending love to everyone affected by this horrific event,” the Golden Donna Facebook page posted Saturday.
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The three owners of the record label live in Los Angeles. [[404529556, C]]
Britt Brown, co-owner and founder of 100% Silk, said Shanahan told him how smoke quickly blocked the entrance, and the exit to the Oakland "Ghost Ship" warehouse.
"He just said instantly before his cigarette was done people started yelling fire and the corridor was so smokey," Brown said. "It was just kind of immediately the one place you needed to get through was already so much smoke it was hard to breath and that's what made it so extra frantic."
Brown said he had no involvement with the event in Oakland. Brown said 100% Silk is not a booking agency and never has been one. Brown said he heard about the event through friends and performers beforehand.
He added it's typical for small tours to come together like this. "It's not a rave, it's an electronic music event," he said. "It's typical of small events to be usually under 100 people."
"This is the saddest day Amanda and I have ever had in as long as we've worked in music," he said. "Several of the people were intimate friends of ours who we loved on a personal and creative level. this is beyond a nightmare, it's so unthinkable."
Amanda Brown is the other co-owner and founder of 100% Silk.
In a Facebook post, the couple said: "What happened in Oakland is an unbelievable tragedy, a nightmare scenario. Britt and I are beside ourselves, utterly devastated. We are a very tight community of artists and we are all praying, sending love and condolences to everyone involved and their families."
“Thank you for everyone who's been reaching out, we are hoping so hard for the best. We will be posting here on how you can help, and any information as it comes to us."
In an interview with the Red Bull Music Academy in 2012, Amanda talks about the underground music scene, the LA Times reported:
“The underground is obviously overlooked from a mainstream perspective,” she said. “But within the underground, dance is just now finally being given the floor, the opportunity to excite people who would normally mock it for not being ‘weird’ or ‘outsider’ enough. I wanted to help propel underground dance because I feel like we’re on the brink of another golden era.”
The label was also in the 2013 documentary Silk: The Film.
According to the 100% Silk website, Silk “chronicles the performances, environments, and scenes they passed through: congested underground Parisian clubs, motorcycle showrooms in Bristol, abandoned industrial lots in Moscow, afterhours Berlin compounds, re-purposed World War II gun towers in Hamburg, plus large international festivals” in cities such as Copenhagen and Barcelona.
For more information on those missing, call the official family support number at (510)-382-3000.
