Last Wednesday, June 23, Canadian death-metal trio Obvurt performed for kids at Saint-Albert-Le-Grand elementary school in Quebec. The performance can be watched below.

They got the gig because frontman Philippe Drouin teaches music at the school. “The physical education teacher and school principal introduced me to this idea,” Drouin explained. “He was thinking about a party to celebrate the end of the school year by doing a show in the school backyard where [I teach music]. He knew about the release of [Obvurt album] The Beginning on March 31st and thought about the idea to bring The Beginning to life in the school backyard.”

In 2016, Drouin was in a serious car accident that left him unable to play guitar with his right arm. Instead of quitting, he taught himself how to play the instrument left-handed. It wasn’t until after he felt solid with left-handed guitar playing that Obvurt recorded their debut project The Beginning, which was released in March this year, as Drouin mentioned.

Drouin commented that he was a little apprehensive of the gig initially. It was a surprise show for the kids. “I wasn’t sure at first, it was strange to me,” he said. “But all the kids knew about the fact that I switched to left handed and released something before the pandemic started. That show became a big surprise when the kids recognized the musicians and the Obvurt logo on the amp. The kids really enjoyed the performance, which was very inspiring to us and we were pleased to release this unique performance video.”

The other two band members, bassist Alexandre Chouinard and drummer Samuel Santiago, were also willing to go through with the show, and also enjoyed seeing the elementary schoolers’ dancing and positive reception. The setlist was a full playthrough of The Beginning.