Underground Hum: British Sea Power out to save polar bears

Sun, 03/16/2008 3:42 PM  |  Entertainment

Welcome back to Underground Hum, children. It's indie-music storytime* Thank you for the lovely emails. Keep them coming. Let's get started with this week's Reverb.

Reverb

International
Body of War is an award winning documentary produced and directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro that focuses on the daily struggles of Tomas Young, a 26-year-old veteran of the Iraq War who was paralyzed from a gunshot suffered within his first week of service in Iraq. The film that won the National Board of Review's Best Documentary of 2007 will be released theatrically all over the US in the coming weeks.

Body of War's stern anti-war message is supported by a politically-charged double-disc soundtrack entitled Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran, due out March 18 on Sire Records. Pretty much every musician with a political penchant and poison pen appears on the album, including Tom Waits, Public Enemy, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Bright Eyes, Lupe Fiasco, Kimya Dawson, Rage Against the Machine, Bad Religion, Talib Kweli and John Lennon. All proceeds from the sale of the soundtrack go to Iraq Veterans Against the War, a charity chosen specifically by Tomas Young.

Following the release of their Do You Like Rock Music? album, UK Rockers British Sea Power now turn their gaze to the plight of the polar bear and a race to the North Pole. They have designed a special T-shirt and sew-on badge, with proceeds going to Gareth Ellis, a researcher, who will join a team of two other researchers/madmen in the Polar Challenge, a race across the Magnetic North Pole, in April and May.

While making the arduous journey across the North Pole, Ellis and crew will be researching the near-extinction of the polar bear due to the melting polar icecaps for Polar Bears International (www.polarbearsinternational.org). Ellis and company are looking to collect data in the high Arctic. Ellis, a hardcore fan of British Sea Power, approached the boys for help and BSP readily agreed. BSP will turn over proceeds from the shirt and badge to Ellis' team. BSP has a long-term fondness for bears: They tour around with a 10-foot bear named Ursine Ultra from time to time, and had a bear grace the cover of their 2005 LP Open Season.

National
Here's a list of a few yummy gigs going down:

Vision Eyes: Shattered Heaven Album Launch Party
Genre: Hardcore/Metal
Date: Sunday, March 16
Time: 1 p.m. - finish
Venue: Stardust Caf* Sarinah, Jl. MH Thamrin, Jakarta
Lineup: 13 Days Before Suicide, Lolita, Death Valley, Mayat, Bleeding Flesh, Siksa Kubur, and of course Vision Eyes
Tickets: pre-sale Rp15,000,-

at the door: Rp18,000,-
Free Vision Eyes T-shirts for the first 100 people to arrive*

LA Lights Indiefest
JAMREVOLUTION Album Launch
Genre: Various Date: Sunday, March 16 Time: 4pm - finish Venue: Lapangan Gasibu, Bandung Line up: Koil, Goodnight Electric, Alone At Last, Tunas Bangsa Symphony, The Morning After, and many many more Tickets: Rp10,000,-

Smiles Waterfall
Genre: Various
Date: Saturday, March 22
Time: 6pm-10pm
Venue: Monik House. Jl.Setiabudi No.56 Bandung, Indonesia
Line up: Europe In De Tropen, International Dateline, Lullaby For Michelle, Medical Superdrama, Whisper Desire
Free Admission
Smiles Waterfall is a regular independent music gig held by Monik distro in Bandung. This'll be the first installment of this series for this year. This event is always good for anyone interested in seeking out new quality talents.

That about does it for this week's Underground Hum. If you have any questions, suggestions, praises or curses just send me a note at undergroundhum*yahoo.com.

See you when I see you*

-- Paul F. Agusta

For all of you indie bands or artists out there, let us know if you have a gig coming up so we can include it in future editions of reverb. Be sure to include the name of the event you're playing, what other acts are billed, time, place, date, and entry fee if any.

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