It’s fair to say we’ve had more than our fair share of charity singles over the years. Artists coming together to raise money for a common cause. For us though we believe it’s not only the money, but raising awareness of the campaign, spreading the word through music, and showing a togetherness for one cause.
What always helps with these worthwhile efforts is if the song is a good one, and in the case of the charity single from mega-group ARTISTS UNITED COLLECTIVE, they’ve got it absolutely bang on. A song we know and love, given a post-pandemic twist.
It was always music or football for street kids aiming high and now, as the fabric of music in the UK remains under threat, now ARTISTS UNITED COLLECTIVE, featuring performers such as Zuzu, Trampolene and The Crooks stamp their collective feet with a collaborative, fundraising cover of The Farm’s 1991 hit, All Together Now. Released this week, just a fortnight before Turkey and Italy kick off the delayed Euro 2021 competition in Rome, artists and organisers hope the emotive cover finds the passion of the terraces and raises vital funds for the UK’s suffering live venue community.
You may have noticed a South Wales addition to the group line-up, in fact we have three Welsh stars lending their talent to the project. Trampolene (Swansea), The Royston Club (Wrexham) and Megan Wyn (Anglesey), are amongst 18 artist collaborators from across the UK.
Taking their name from a song by Julian Cope, TRAMPOLENE are originally from Swansea. With Jack Jones on lead vocals and guitar, and bassist Wayne Thomas and drummer Mr. Williams on backing vocals. The guys have been around a while now, building a massive reputation for their live shows, in fact they were once the support act on the 2017 Liam Gallagher tour.
From schoolmates learning their way around a guitar, to over 15 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify, Wrexham-based Indie band THE ROYSTON CLUB are set to make their mark. The band are Ben Matthias on lead guitar, Dave Tute on bass, Tom Faithful as lead singer and Sam Jones on the drums. Living in Wrexham, the band formed in 2019, just weeks before releasing their debut single ‘Shawshank’.
MEGAN WYN is a 16 year old singer-songwriter from Anglesey, North Wales. Inspired by the likes of Stevie Nicks and Debbie Harry, Megan fuses her inspirations and multiple different genres to create her own unique style. Don’t let her age fool you, Megan is a multi talented musician/singer/songwriter with a huge sound way beyond her years.
The original version of All Together Now was released in November 1990, drawn from the Liverpool six-piece’s chart-topping album, Spartacus and reached No.4 in the UK Singles Chart. The new version, also featuring the first artist to hit the top of the UK Folk Chart and Liverpool storyteller, Jamie Webster was specially recorded at a time of rising optimism that the nation’s live music venues could be open and on their way to recovery by autumn 2021. Each artist has pledged their time and energies to raise money for the survival of an industry that has given them their voices.
Stating that there are 556 venues at risk of closure, the Music Venues Trustlaunched the #saveourvenues campaign to draw together fundraising initiatives undertaken by artists and music fans who heard the call of grassroots venues closed by the Covid pandemic. UNITED ARTISTS COLLECTIVE is the latest gathering of musical minds to raise money for venues and venue staff and maintain public awareness that the UK’s bright summer will likely see most of the nation’s vital music venues stay dark.
Pulling together the artists, managers, labels and more of the 18 featured artists, also including The Lathums and rising stars Lottery Winners, Rianne Downey and Nikki & The Waves, the ARTISTS UNITED COLLECTIVE PROJECT has been initiated and produced by a partnership of fashion brand and music event sponsors, Scott’s Menswear, promoters This Feeling, Liverpool-based label and management company, Modern Sky UK and Rich Turvey of Parr Street Studios, Liverpool who took up duties behind the mixing desk.
Paul Ramsdale of Scott’s Menswear told us……
“Our iconic small venues not only provide the path for artists on their way to greatness, but provide a sense of pride, community and celebration of both the local and national music scenes. ‘All Together Now’ being sung by exciting, new talent at a time when we’re emerging from a long period of lockdown should inspire us all to dig deep to make sure those venues are still around, whilst celebrating a long summer of festivals, football and renewed togetherness.”
Dave Pichilingi is CEO of Modern Sky UK, he said…..
“We’ve so much music talent around the UK and, simply, they will have nowhere to grow if we lose live venues. It’s a battle that we’re very much in together, so recording a new version of ‘All Together Now’ with some of the artists that have come through, and still love playing our at-risk venues made perfect sense. This summer brings hope in music, football, vaccines, festivals and sunshine and this anthem fits that sense of optimism.”
Witnessing the latest version of his song go out into the world, The Farm’s Peter Hooton added his support, saying………
“Good luck with the release I hope it raises lots of money for the Music Venues Trust, which is the lifeblood of the music industry.”
But whilst the song has been used in numerous ways over the last 20 plus years, many people don’t know what it’s actually about.
Pete said he wrote the lyrics after watching the late Labour politician Michael Foot being criticised for wearing a “donkey jacket” at the cenotaph in London on Remembrance Sunday.
“It got me so angry. I thought, here’s someone representing the soldiers in the trenches who were full of lice, surrounded by vermin.
“They would have been proud that someone like Michael Foot was there to remember them, whatever he was wearing.”
He says even though the song is better associated with football than war nowadays, there’s no ambiguity about the meaning.
One of the lyrics – “A spirit stronger than war was at work that night, December 1914, cold, clear and bright.”
“It’s about the working classes being sent to war. People across a divide who probably had more in common with each other than the people who had sent them to war in the first place.”
The single is actually the fourth occasion on which All Together Now has been repurposed to coincide with a major football tournament, with the Everton FA Cup Final team recording a version ahead of their 1995 Wembley appearance, England’s official Euro 2004 song being a reworking with DJ Spoony and a lesser-heard rarity recorded with World Cup 2006 mascot Goleo VI and Atomic Kitten celebrating that tournament with a mainland Europe-only release.
Released digitally via Modern Sky UK, all profits from the digital downloads, streaming revenues and associated merchandise of the ARTISTS UNITED COLLECTIVE will go direct to the Music Venues Trust. For more information on the #saveourvenues campaign visit: SAVE OUR VENUES