“Most people in the D.C. area have no idea doom rock exists. To build a scene, you have to get support from all angles,” says Doug Römer, 32, who along with Heather Harris, 30, runs Doom Capital Productions. Through its Web site, and by organizing shows at venues including Jaxx in Springfield, Va., and the Velvet Lounge in the District, Doom Capital promotes heavy rock, metal, and doom—a dark, sludgy subgenre of metal—in the Washington area.

Römer, who handles Doom Capital’s promotions, is a magazine editor at a nonprofit downtown; Harris, Doom Capital’s Web and print designer, works in marketing in Fairfax. The two were music writers before they spawned Doom Capital; both wrote for Snap Pop! (Harris still does), a magazine that covers local music.

“I was always the only one at Snap Pop!

who wanted to write about the doom and stoner-rock bands,” says Römer, whose byline was Metaldude. “It became clear to me that something needed to be done to create a forum for these bands—a community where we could find information and form a more cohesive, united front. I wanted to provide a clearinghouse.” Though Doom Capital is still wet behind its heavily pierced ears (the production company was born in January of this year, and the Web site followed shortly thereafter), visitors to doomcapital.com can find extensive information about bands and shows, as well as a list of doom-related Web links.

Doom Capital’s efforts will culminate on Saturday, July 14, at the Recher Theatre in Towson, Md., with Doomsday 2001. Modeled in part after the Stoner Hands of Doom Stoner Rock Doom Festival, a similar music festival that took place two years ago in Centreville,Va., the first annual Doomsday took about five months to orchestrate. “We’re really excited to be a part of it,” says singer-guitarist Dan Kerzwick, whose band, Sixty Watt Shaman, will perform with 11 others. “There are so many amazing bands in the area, and this will be a chance for us all to get together and, hopefully, get more people introduced to this kind of music.”

Römer concurs. “Doomsday 2001 is a chance for me to give back to the music community I’ve always loved,” he says. “Being around this music and the people who create it is a reward in itself. It nourishes me.” —Arika Casebolt