Tag: Planned Parenthood

News/Announcements by William Ruben Helms

MerchFriends, a is new 501 (c) organization led by Hello Merch co-founder, The Format’s Sam Means, brings together some of the top names in the merch industry to produce content, events, and educational material aimed at influencing and supporting a healthy independent music merch ecosystem. Their mission is to unite independent merch makers to support and sustain both the industry and artists that they serve.

Interestingly, MerchFriends have teamed up with the folks at Spotify, the world’s most used streaming service for the inaugural Band Shirt Day today. Band Shirt Day is a celebration of merch and giving. It’s a global fundraising event that combines the love and nostalgia of the iconic band shirt with an opportunity for artists to raise money for worthy, charitable causes.

The artists participating in Band Shirt Day include Portugal. The Man, Sonic Youth, Best Coast, Matt Nathanson, Black Pumas, Parquet Courts, Indigo De Souza, Bush Tetras, Roar, SPELLING, Equal Vision Records, and Rude Records. The GoFundMe account for Band Shirt Day will collect donations on behalf of the participating artists. The funds’ recipients will include the ACLU, The Ally Coalition, Voices of Children, MusiCares, Planned Parenthood and more.

Similar to Record Store Day or the Australia Music T-Shirt Day, Band Shirt Day invites artists to create and sell unique limited edition merch items while encouraging them to use their platform to create change. Artists can participate by listing their specially designed merchandise on HelloMerch.com, or existing sales channels with proceeds going directly to their selected charity. They can also use their Spotify profile to offer a special tee or merch deal and leverage Spotify’s Fan Support tool to encourage their listeners and fans to donate to Band Shirt Day’s official GoFundMe or to raise money for another cause directly from their artist profile.

“We at Rude Records believe that everyone has the opportunity and responsibility to make the world a better place,” the folks at Rude Records say in a statement. “That is why, through our charity branch Rude Cares, we support several projects to end inequality, social injustice and to make the world more sustainable for future generations. We are honored to take part in Band Shirt Day and thankful for having the chance to be part of this great initiative with our artists!”

“Glad to see Band Shirt Day raising the profile for the good work that bands do. It means a lot to us to get the extra exposure for our Foundation”  Portugal. The Man say of the decision to participate in Band Shirt Day.

For my fellow New Yorkers, Band Shirt Day will be Band Shirt Weekend. MerchFriends is patterning with Rough Trade to curate the Indieplaza’s Artist Merch Market at the inaugural Indieplaza at Rockefeller Center — and to establish a Band Shirt Day presence at the festival that takes place this weekend.

The Artist Merch Market will feature limited-edition merchandise from Hello Merch, Low Level, Favorite Vegetable, plus Rough Trade vinyl bins, live screen printing from Upstate Merch, live art demonstrations from the legendary Steve Keene, Jose Berrio, artist signings and festival merch, DIY family fun, interactive games and more!

A full list of participating Band Shirt Day artists, merch, and causes
can be found here: https://bandshirtday.com/directory

Artists can register to participate in Band Shirt Day here: https://bandshirtday.com

Info on Indieplaza can be found here: https://www.rockefellercenter.com/events/indieplaza-at-rockefeller-center/

Band Shirt Day’s GoFundMe can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bandshirtday

https://www.merchfriends.org/ 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

The acclaimed New York-based electronic duo and JOVM mainstays Sofi Tukker — comprised of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern — have been widely celebrated for an inclusive, global take on electronic music that thematically is centered around self-empower, unity and liberation. The debut single “Drinkee” received a Grammy Award-nomination for Best Dance Recording — and they continued an extraordinary run of success with their full-length debut, Treehouse receiving a Grammy Award-nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album.
Building upon a growing international profile, the duo’s releases have gone Gold or Platinum on every continent on this planet, excluding Antarctica. They’ve played sold out shows and festival stops across the planet, and they’ve performed on some of the world’s most beloved shows including Italy’s X-Factor, the UK’s Sunday Brunch, Russia’s Late Show and Japan’s BuzzRhythm, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and most recently Good Morning America.  Additionally, the duo have a long-held reputation for being passionate activists, who have raised funds an awarenesses for a number of different causes including Planned Parenthood, The Trevor Project, and March For Our Lives.
Slated for a September 20, 2019 release, DANCING ON THE PEOPLE EP is the duo’s much-anticipated follow-up to their highly-successful full-length debut. And the EP’s latest single “Purple Hat” is a joyous, club banger that stars with a breezy Brazilian Tropicalia intro before quickly turning into a thumping club banger centered around tweeter and woofer rocking low-end, a funky, strummed and looped guitar line, an enormous, crowd pleasing hook and Bhangra-like percussion while Hawley-Weld and Halpern trade vocal lines about a wild and joyous party, in which the attendees let go of pretense and facades and let their freak flags proudly flow. It’s a joyous song that says “come all, be yourself — and most important, shake that ass and show ’em what you working with!” Considering the hate and opposition we’ve been inundated with over the past few years, this song feels necessary.
“We wrote ‘Purple Hat’ the day after our first Animal Talk party,” the duo explains. “We started throwing these parties to bring back the wild and inclusive dancing vibe to the nightclub experience. Tuck was literally wearing a purple hat and a cheetah print shirt, people were climbing on top o people, it was over-sold and sweaty, our favorite people were packed in the booth, everyone was loose AF and feeling themselves. It was wild. Every Animal Talk party since then has been like that, and we wanted to capture that raw feeling in a song. If there was a song that included everything we are about, this would be the one.”
The duo will be embarking on a lengthy North American and European tour that they’ve dubbed The R.I.P. Shame World Tour to support the release of their new EP to close out the year. This tour, Hawley-Weld and Halpern are on “a mission to kill shame one loose dance party at at time.” Up-and-coming Aussie dance pop act Haiku Hands and DJ/producer LP Giobbi will be opening for the acclaimed JOVM mainstays for all of their North American tour dates, which includes an October 24, 2019 stop at Avant Gardner’s Great Hall. You can check out the tour dates below, along with a link to buy tickets. 
This tour finds the duo supporting the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), of the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization decided to building better lives for millions of Americans affected by mental illness and their local affiliates. $1 from each ticket sold during each US stop will go to support NAMI and heir programs and services through PLUS1. For the Vancouver show, $1 from each ticket sold will go to support Urban Native Youth Association (UNYA)’s Native Youth Health and Wellness Centre, providing culturally-relevant, welcoming, accessible health and wellness services to Indigenous youth. The centre is a safe, accessible health clinic, where Indigenous youth can feel comfortable seeking support for their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. And in Calgary, $1 from each ticket sold with go to a local organization that supports mental health initiatives, bringing dignity, equity, and access to communities who need it.
Tour Dates:
North American Headline Tour
10/2: Calgary, AB @ The Palace
10/4: Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
10/6: Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
10/7: Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
10/9: Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
10/10: Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Expo Hall
10/13: Tucson, AZ @ The Rialto Theatre
10/15: Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
10/16: Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
10/17: Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
10/19: New Orleans, LA @ The Joy Theater
10/21: Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
10/23: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/24: Brooklyn, NY @ Avant Gardner Great Hall
11/17: Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital
European Headline Tour
11/20: Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street
11/22: Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
11/23: London, UK @ Electric Brixton
11/25: Frankfurt, DE @ Gibson Club
11/26: Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
11/27: Rotterdam, NL @ Maassilo
111/28: Paris, FR @ Elysee Montmartre
12/1: Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle
12/2:  Cologne, DE @ Carlswerk
12/3: Munich, DE @ Technikum
12/5: Vienna, AT @ Arena Wien
12/6: Bern, Switzerland @ Bierhubeli
12/9: Zurich, CH @ Harterei Club
12/10: Brussels, BE @ Botanique Orangerie
​​​​​​​12/12: Berlin, DE @ Tempodrom