Metal Anarchy

As previously reported, Josh Gilbert (Spiritbox, ex-As I Lay Dying) and his wife Stephanie recently lost their home amid the wildfires in California. As such, an Amazon registry has now been launched to help them get back on their feet.

Stephanie said the following:

“After our Altadena house burned down, friends & family immediately asked us what we needed… our response was “A HOME” We couldn’t think further past that. The search has been exhausting. A housing shortage + 6k homes gone overnight in our area made every application sent, every viewing with 15 fellow fire victims (who were just as qualified as us) feel like screaming into the void.

On Tuesday we were finally able to get back into our neighborhood & officially said goodbye to what was once a beautiful life on Wapello Street. A few hours later we got the incredible news that we’d been approved for a new place. WE HAVE A HOME! We even found out that a few of our neighbors are also prior Altadena residents. (Don’t worry, I’m already planning the trauma-bonding block party).

Josh & I are excited to finally start taking steps to rebuild our lives. We were encouraged to create a wish list to share some of the basic things we lost that we’ll need to get going again. That way, when folks ask, “what do you need?”, we actually have an answer & a productive way to allow people who love us to help us. Which we are eternally grateful for.

No longer in limbo, we’re finally feeling hopeful again.

Cheers to a fresh start, whether we wanted one or not…”

Josh previously commented earlier this month as well:

“The last 4 days have been a roller coaster of emotions. On one hand, Stephanie and I have had to process what we lost. Our entire neighborhood of Altadena. Our house on Wapello St. Our car. Family photos. All the keepsakes we’ve accumulated together since we got married in 2013. 18 years of my tour laminates. Our clothes. Our furniture. Pretty much anything we hadn’t packed into the small suitcases we brought to Grand Cayman with us.

Shortly after dinner that night we saw that the fire had started in Eaton Canyon, and over the next hour it grew exponentially. It was absolutely crushing to watch from 2000 miles away via FaceTime as our guardian angel cat sitter @camillelenore and her partner Nilsen arrived at our house to the glow of flames over the tree line. As we watched her pack up Pennie and Slime’s food and litter in the pitch dark with a phone flashlight, our neighbor showed up at the door in a panic making sure the cats were safe and that they knew to get out ASAP. Needless to say, we got little to no sleep that night as we watched the fire creep further and further west, with no specific updates for about 12 hours except vague twitter comments and Reddit posts. As we landed in Charlotte on our first connection en route back to LA, we got confirmation from a neighbor that the house had indeed been totally lost, as well as every other house in our neighborhood, and most of the town itself. At this point, we were obviously devastated, but also so incredibly thankful that Camille had the cats. Everything else can be replaced. We were very lucky. There are many, many more in Altadena and other areas of LA that were not.

On the other hand, we have been absolutely overwhelmed with the outpouring of kindness, generosity, and love from our family and friends as we begin to put the pieces together from our hotel in Orange County. We feel so loved and supported through all this, and it has made it infinitely easier to prepare for what’s next. We have been left truly speechless. I’ve struggled to keep up with messages, texts, etc these last few days as we navigate the insurance process. But please know that we can’t put into words how thankful we are.”