As a concert promoter with Gather Booking & Management and administrator of the social media group Sonoma County Metal & Hardcore, Ernest Wuethrich has made it his mission to bring the North Bay’s diverse underground metal scene to a larger audience in the Bay Area and beyond.

This month, he unveils his most ambitious project yet, the double-disc

Sonoma County Metal & Hardcore 2018 Compilation, featuring 26 local bands showcasing mostly brand-new songs.

“The compilation is a way to try to grow a scene organically by reaching people that might be into heavy music without knowing that these bands actually exist,” says Wuethrich.

While the North Bay’s dedicated metalheads are already keenly aware of the array of talent that takes the stage at Wuethrich’s concerts, he knows there is a larger scene that would welcome these bands outside of Sonoma County.

“The idea came about because I work with other promoters in other markets and we like to do show trades, so I’ll give shows to bands based on friendly promoters recommending them,” says Wuethrich.

When he wanted to secure shows for local bands in other markets, Wuethrich found complications in promoting bands that had no recordings to show for their work.

“We had to get the bands as active as possible so they can grow past Sonoma County,” says Wuethrich. “It was a creative way to try to force bands to produce music.”

Wuethrich worked with engineer Kyle Rhine of Outer Heaven Recording in Santa Rosa to record a bulk of the band’s tracks. Rhine offered to give the group a discounted rate to make the endeavor affordable to the bands who self-financed their studio time.

Nearly 20 of the 26 bands on the album recorded new tracks specifically for the compilation, including speed metal band Trecelence, groovy progressive metal outfit Predation, death metal group Obelisk and thrash metal band Incredulous.

All 750 of the printed discs will be distributed for free at concerts and local spots like the Last Record Store in Santa Rosa. This week, the compilation is officially released in a massive concert that features many of the bands on the album, from Sonoma County’s longest running metal band, Skitzo, to hardcore act 4199, making their live debut.

“The fact that everyone was able to come together and pull it off was pretty cool,” says Wuethrich. “I hope everyone gets something out of it.”

‘Sonoma County Metal & Hardcore 2018 Compilation’ is released on Saturday, Jan. 27, at Arlene Francis Center, 99 Sixth St., Santa Rosa. 7pm. $10–$13. All ages. 707.528.3009.

In the eight years that vocalists, multi-instrumentalists and songwriters Erin Chapin, Caitlin Gowdey and Vanessa May have lived and played together as Rainbow Girls, their collective spirit has helped them grow as individuals, too.

“Playing as part of this collective has given me an opportunity to find harmony in my own life, in the most natural sense of the word,” says May. “To bring that to other people is really important, and has been a driving force for me.”

In November, Rainbow Girls unveiled their first album as a trio, American Dream, which touches on experiences of love, loss and what May calls the political storm going on. “There’s been a lot of dissonance around, people having a hard time finding where they fit in,” she says. “Rainbow Girls’ and my own journey with this is to help people find that harmony in their own lives.”

Named after the so-called Rainbow House where the three first met and hosted weekly open mics while attending school in Santa Barbara, Rainbow Girls moved to Bodega Bay after college, living in a cottage on Gowdey’s grandparents’ property when they’re not touring the U.S. or Europe.

There they continue to cultivate original, richly layered, three-part harmonic folk music and connect to the North Bay musical community through a new weekly open mic series at the house.

“We moved up to the North Bay, and at first felt like it wasn’t home because we were traveling so much and had such deep roots in Santa Barbara, but as soon as we started doing open mics again, we realized we do have friends here and we do have something to contribute to this community,” says May. “And in that, we’ve seen so much of our own growth.”

The 10-track American Dream is a culmination of that growth. The mostly acoustic album was recorded live in the band’s living room over the course of a month. “We were in such a place of deep comfort, and that comes through,” says May.

Though the women often write songs individually, May says the trio’s shared experiences of living and traveling together makes it easy to know where to go musically as a group.

“Sometimes you know exactly where you’re supposed to be, and other times we try to create something that is unexpected, and we like having both of those elements,” says May. “At this point, we can hear a song and know the feeling and essence of the song, and find harmonies accordingly.”