A GoFundMe campaign has been launched for heavy metal journalist Dom Lawson after the Dom Lawson heart attack at Bloodstock Open Air left him hospitalised and awaiting surgery, with friends and readers rallying to cover lost income while he recovers.
Lawson announced the news on Wednesday 12 August via social media, characteristically refusing to wring too much drama out of it. ‘Unfortunately, I had a heart attack on Sunday and was rushed to hospital,’ he wrote. ‘Managed to avoid dying, so that was a good start. Looks like I will be having some kind of surgery in the near future. Close shave but you won’t get rid of me that easily.’ He followed that up with a second post: ‘Life’s a funny old cunt, isn’t it? Also, heart attacks fucking hurt. Would not recommend.’
Lawson writes for Metal Hammer, Prog, The Guardian, Blabbermouth and more. He was at Bloodstock Open Air in Derbyshire over the weekend when he suffered the attack and was rushed to hospital by festival staff.
GoFundMe Launched as Freelance Income Dries Up
With Lawson unable to take on any freelance work during his recovery, his friend Alex set up a fundraiser with the approval of Lawson’s partner, Charlotte, seeking £6,600 to help bridge the gap. As Alex puts it on the fundraiser’s webpage: ‘As with most freelancers, being unable to work for a while is financially ruinous and the silly bastard went and had a heart attack at the weekend.’
Alex’s appeal is warm, funny and clearly written by someone who genuinely rates the man. ‘Although in the early days I was someone who just read (and was a big fan of) Dom’s writing in various publications, he has had the misfortune to become a good friend of mine over the years,’ he writes. ‘I’m still a big fan of his writing for Metal Hammer, Prog magazine and Blabbermouth as well as his regular cluttering of the airwaves with his noise and very limited chat between songs on the always excellent Dompilation Tapes radio show.’ The closing pitch is delivered with appropriate levity: contribute, Alex urges, ‘otherwise he’s going to have to come and live with me and I don’t want that and nor does he’.
Alex also praised the Bloodstock medical team for their swift response, a detail worth underlining given that speed of treatment is everything in a cardiac event at a festival site. You can donate via GoFundMe.
Dom Lawson Heart Attack Bloodstock: Sets He Caught Before the Collapse
The grim irony is that, by all accounts, Lawson had been having a good one. According to Loudwire, before the attack he shouted out Nevermore, Castle Rat, Shining (Norway), Celestial Sanctuary and Municipal Waste as among his favourite sets from the festival weekend. That is a setlist of a person deeply embedded in what Bloodstock actually is, not someone turning up for the marquee names.
It is a reminder that Lawson is not a peripheral figure in this world. He has been covering heavy music with genuine expertise and affection for years, across print and online, and the speed with which his community has mobilised around the GoFundMe reflects that.
Beyond journalism, Lawson collaborated with Opeth on their 2016 book, The Book Of Opeth, and is the singer and bassist for UK punk band Oaf, who played Download festival in 2011 and Bloodstock in 2013. The Dom Lawson heart attack has shaken a scene that genuinely values him, and the fundraiser response makes that plain.
Surgery is pending. The GoFundMe remains open.
