Malaria No More has one goal: to stop malaria deaths in Africa by 2015.
RED Distribution and some of its artists are helping the organization reach that goal by donating the proceeds from the new digital-only benefit album Indie Rocks!, which features 14 exclusive tracks by Third Eye Blind, the Walkmen and Peter Bjorn and John, among others. It was exclusively released Nov. 17 on Amie Street and can be purchased on MalariaNoMore.org.
RED Distribution events coordinator/office manager Tamara Horton, who spearheaded the project with the company's Marissa Abrusia, says the album's $10 price tag goes a long way in helping defeat malaria. Each copy sold will buy a net treated with insecticide for an African home.
"The $10 includes paying for a person to physically go into the homes of people in need and install the net and show them how to use it," Horton said, noting that RED's goal is to raise enough money for 10,000 nets. "They last up to five years."
Horton, a longtime soccer fan, discovered Malaria No More through her favorite team FC Barcelona, which supports the organization. Since then, instead of sending her family and friends holiday and birthday cards, she'll visit Malaria No More's Web site and donate a net in their name.
Third Eye Blind frontman Stephen Jenkins became particularly interested in Indie Rocks! and donated his time to record a promotional video to raise awareness for malaria issues in Africa. Additionally, a live performance video of the band's song "Bonfire" will be used on the organization's Web site to promote the project, according to Horton.
"RED has agreed to give 100 percent to this, so what we sell it for, nothing stays with us," she said, adding that Amie Street and the artists also donated their services. "It all goes back to the charity."
New Zealand's Fat Freddy's Drop sure knows how to take its time. The seven-piece outfit has been together for nearly a decade, yet only recently released its second album of studio material and, up until last week, had played just one gig in North America.
"We are an indie group -- we have to crack the whip on ourselves," the band's trumpeter and unofficial spokesman Toby Laing said with a laugh. "It would have been good to be quicker, but we have to be really happy with the production side of it as much as the music."
The band's first studio album, Based on a True Story, was a phenomenon in its home country, becoming the first independently distributed album to debut at No. 1 on the New Zealand albums chart in May 2005. But constant touring throughout Europe and a rebuilding of the band's Wellington studio meant a four-year gap before its follow-up, Dr. Boondigga and the Big BW, saw the light of day. That album was just released stateside and brought the band to the States for a sold-out, three-stop West Coast tour.
But Laing promises that Fat Freddy's Drop will return early next year and that the wait for the third album won't be nearly as long. "The success of the band has relied very much on fans discovering the music and communicating it to their friends, and that gave us a lot of support here already," Laing said. "We're entering a new creative phase and improvising like we used to. Now we're keen to visit new places."
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