Members ofFoo Fighters,The Linda LindasandMinutemenare among those to team up on ‘We Are LA!’,a benefit single for the LA wildfires.
An extensive group of punk and punk-adjacent musicians are involved in the recording, which has been made to support theSweet Relief Musicians Fund, who provide assistance to musicians and music industry professionals affected by the devastating fires in the city early last year.
Rami Jaffee of Foo Fighters, Mike Watt of Minutemen, Eloise Wong of The Linda Lindas, JaneWeidlinof TheGo-Go’sand Jonny Two Bags ofSocial Distortionhave all played on the song andappearin its accompanying video.
There is also an auction of a signed guitar and signed T-shirt from most of the contributors to the song, with proceeds going to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Bids will be accepted until 10pm ET on January18and you can do sohere.
Other musicians involved in the project are Jim Lindberg ofPennywise,RonEmoryand Greg Kuehn of TSOL, Atom Willard ofAlkaline Trio, Tony Reflex of The Adolescents, Annette Zilinskas ofThe Bangles,TexacalaJones of Tex and The Horseheads, Teresa Stone of The Pony Tales and Paul Roessler of The Screamers.
The wildfires caused extensive destruction in the Los Angeles area in January last year, causing over 30 deaths and destroying over 16,000 structures.With the city home to such a large section of the entertainment industry,NMEspokeat the timeto a range of musicians and music professionals about the damage they had suffered –read the interviews here.
A series of major benefit concerts were held to raise funds, includingthe twoFireAidshows at the Intuit Dome and Kia Forumin the city.
Over50 million peopleviewed the live stream, which saw performances from the likes ofBillie Eilish,Lady Gaga,Rod Stewart,Katy Perry,Joni Mitchell,Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sting, Stevie Nicks,Gracie Abrams,Green Day,No Doubt,Olivia Rodrigo,Stevie Wonder,The Black Crowes,Anderson .PaakandAlanis Morissette.
According to theofficial FireAid organisation’s website, the concerts raisedaestimate of more than $100million through ticket and merchandise sales,sponsorshipsand donations from the public.
Nick Cave,PJ Harvey,Devoand more also contributed tothe ‘Los Angeles Rising’ benefit album, with proceeds also going to Sweet Relief, while last week,‘A ConcertForAltadena’ was held to mark the one-year anniversary of the catastrophe.