Music festival will raise funds and highlight case of missing Offaly man

FRIENDS and family of a missing Offaly man are organising a music festival in aid of a charity which supports people seeking their loved ones.

The one-day festival of heavy metal and rock at John Lee's Bar & Venue in Tullamore on May 31 will be hosted by War of Attrition, a band whose lead singer is Nathan Price, older brother of missing 27-year-old Luke Price.

Rahan native Ocean McCormack, guitarist with War of Attrition, says funds will be raised for the National Missing Persons Helpline and the event will also highlight the ongoing quest to find Luke who has been missing for more than three months.

Luke Price, whose family are from the Geashill area, had been living near Portlaoise and visiting his partner in Limerick most weekends.

He was last seen in the Dock Road area of Limerick after leaving O'Curry Street on January 14 last and despite several searches and extensive publicity there has still been no trace of him.

The latest development was a search of wetlands by gardai and civil defence near the Shannon river and the Condell Road in Limerick yesterday (Thursday, April 18) but his whereabouts remain unknown.

Ocean McCormack (31), who lives in Limerick, said he has known Luke since “he was a baba” along with the missing man's brother Nathan.

“He had been living in England for a few years working over there and things didn't work out so he had come home and was living in Geashill with his family for a while and then moved to just outside Portlaoise for work. He used to travel down to Limerick every weekend to see his partner Danny so he was always down in Limerick with us,” he said.

Ocean and Nathan have been to the forefront of efforts to find Luke, along with his mother Pauline, and through their search they discovered the value of the work the Missing Persons Helpline organisation does.

“They were a great help and they have continued to be a great help. They circulated the details and imagery and have offered counselling for the family and close friends such as myself. They were super helpful and super supportive,” said Ocean.

He says the charity is “insanely underfunded”, receiving only about €20,000 a year in subsidies from the government “despite the fact that on average about 1,500 people go missing in the republic every year”.

“We wanted to bring back attention to the Look for Luke campaign and at the same time raise a couple of quid for these guys who did help us out so much. We're doing that in the way we know best which is through heavy metal music and we figured, Joe Lee's was where myself, Nathan and Luke would have grown up playing music and drinking so we figured there was no better place to do this.

“Luke himself was never musical but he would have come to loads of our gigs and he actually met his partner Danny at one of War of Attrition's gigs in Dublin. He was a huge fan of the music and we were always going to concerts together.”

Eleven bands from all over the country will play in John Lee's Bar on Church Street on Saturday, May 31 (June bank holiday weekend) and Ocean said the acts on the bill have been carefully chosen and hand picked.

“All of them are good friends of ours and there'd be plenty of them who would have known Luke, and Dive, the Nirvana tribute band, the lead singer [David Swords] was actually a good friend of Luke's. We wanted people who had somewhat of an emotional stake in the whole thing as well rather than just putting out the open call.”

The full line-up is - War of Attrition, The Risen Dread, Vendetta Love, 12 Gauge Outrage, Unmaker, Praelium, Ritual Effect, Oíche Fuar, Toofarfetched, Tide7 and the Nirvana tribute act Dive.

The organisers have named the event the Tullamore Phoenix Metal Festival and entry, at €15, will be open to all ages until 7pm.

A gofundme page - Look for Luke charity fundraising festival Tullamore - has been set up by Ocean McCormack (log onto https://www.gofundme.com/f/look-for-luke-charity-fundraising-festival-tullamore).

The festival organisers also stressed the importance of raising awareness of mental health issues.

In a social media post on January 16 Luke Price's partner Danny said: “He's no risk to others. But he is a risk to himself and has been for a while, so we're all very worried! He was in a dissociative state before leaving. He'll often go off on a walk but he's never disappeared like this before and his phone is off. He's not originally from Limerick and doesn't know many areas well. We just want him home safe and sound.”

Nathan Price posted about the upcoming festival on social media this week and asked for donations and ticket purchases: “The music I make tends to not be to everyone's tastes, but it's what I enjoy. And it's what myself and Luke have enjoyed together throughout our lives. The last gig we went to together was Judas Priest, and that was a blast, there's nothing like a metal gig to bring people together!”

In a plea for help on social media in January Luke's mother Pauline said: “Luke is well known in scouting communities in Portlaoise, Tullamore, Clara, Mountmellick & Edenderry etc. He's a chef. He's himself, a lovely, kind & resourceful young man when he's well. He has survival skills but didn't go prepared, as far as we know. Please help us find him.”

Gardai said that Luke travelled from Portlaoise to Colbert train station, Limerick city via Limerick Junction and after socialising in Limerick he went to O’Curry Street with a friend.

He left O’Curry Street at approximately 9pm and went in the direction of Dock Road but it is unknown where he went afterwards.

The gardai circulated an image of Luke captured by CCTV (see below) on the day he was reported missing.

He was described as being about 5’ 10” in height, of slight build with brown shoulder length hair, the end of it bleached blonde, and with blue eyes.

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When last seen he was wearing a black jacket, pink t-shirt with a purple design on front of it, with a dark coloured knitted jumper and black boots.

Luke wears glasses and also answers to the name Gabriel.

Anyone with information on Luke’s whereabouts is asked to contact Henry Street Garda Station, Limerick on 061 212 400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.