In recent years, the O’Keefe Music Foundation have made millions of metalheads grin with their students’ covers of classic hard rock and metal tracks. Today, though, O’Keefe kids might have outdone themselves via their cover of Sepultura’s infamous track “Roots Bloody Roots,” with an eight-year-old singer leading the charge.
The singer, listed as K8 (ha!), also has a pretty great band behind her, including Seb Braganza playing guitar solos at age 13 and Sebastian Stephens crushing the 55-gallon drums at age nine. But it’s K8’s vocals that really take the cake — the singer doesn’t try to sound guttural or scary, she just belts the song out at the top of her eight-year-old lungs, and it’s absolutely fucking precious.
Here’s the full line-up, courtesy of MetalSucks:
Vocals / K8 / Age 8 from Texas
55 Gallon Drum / Sebastian Stephens / Age 9 from Tennessee
Claves / Willa Hillard / Age 10 from Ohio
Rhythm Guitar / Ashton Hall / Age 12 from Tennessee
Shaker / Natalie Vinnage / Age 12 from Ohio
Lead Guitar / Seb Braganza / Age 13 from Pennsylvania
Lead Guitar 2 / Connor Meintel / Age 15
Drums / Jason Wehn / Age 16 from Pennsylvania
Bass / Jonas Miller / Age 17 from Ohio
Watch K8 and Co. rep Brazil right below:
Sepultura’s Arise celebrated its 30th birthday this year, cementing just how timeless a legacy the band have with fans.
“To this day, so many other albums pale in comparison to the anger on Arise,” wrote The Pit’s own Chris Krovatin in our anniversary tribute to the album. “Bands can load their music with all the blastbeats, tremolo picking, and electronic noise they want, but the frantic pace of ‘Murder,’ the apocalyptic scope of ‘Altered State,’ and the sadistic drive of ‘Infected Voice’ sound more merciless and energetic than any of that overkill. Crowning all of these songs is the title track, a war cry for all of those emerging from the neon cataclysm of the ‘80s into the wasteland of our current society. Extremity is always worth striving for, but on Arise, Sepultura sound like they’re nailing it without even trying.”
