Helping Out
Band had to cancel tour dates while singer-guitarist addresses illness
A day after Douglas Dulgarian, the vocalist-guitarist for the shoegaze group They Are Gutting a Body of Water, announced that doctors had diagnosed him with cancer, his friends have launched a GoFundMe to pay for his treatment and to cover lost wages from canceled tour dates. At the time of publication, the fundraiser had surpassed its $60,000 goal thanks to more than 1,300 donations.
“The hope is that Douglas will be recovered by their NYC and Philly shows in December, but everything is up in the air right now,” the posting says. “This has left Douglas and the band in a financially precarious spot. Douglas has already paid for thousands of dollars of medical bills out of pocket to get the cancer diagnosis, there are upfront tour related costs that can’t be reimbursed, and the profits from the tour was supposed to be the band’s income for the rest of the year. We are praying for a speedy recovery and asking for donations at this time to cover medical bills and living expenses while he navigates cancer treatment and recovery.”
On Tuesday, Dulgarian posted about his diagnosis on Instagram. “I was diagnosed with cancer last Friday, same day we put out Kool Faith,” he wrote, referring to a compilation mixtape. “Crazy day, every possible emotion lmao. We obviously can’t do the tour, as I need to get this figured out. I have treatment in a couple weeks.
“I have a feeling it will all work out,” he wrote. “Been thru a lot of things in my crazy and (atp) relatively long existence and I’m no stranger to putting my best foot forward and facing some difficult shit.”
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He added that his intention with sharing news of his diagnosis was not a ploy for pity but simply to inform friends and fans of his condition and explain why the band would be missing tour dates. “There are many people with much worse problems and my life has been so infinitely blessed and privileged and I never lose sight of that,” he wrote.
Rolling Stone awarded the band’s last album, Lotto, four out of five stars in a review. “Dulgarian, the son of a dirt-track racer, epitomizes the restlessly innovative spirit that keeps shoegaze so vital,” critic Rob Sheffield wrote.