Hiss Golden Messenger has released a new 7″ single titled ‘Passing Clouds’ with all proceeds going to the US charity Everytown For Gun Safety “a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities.” Passing Clouds is also our Song of the Day.
In early 2018, Hiss Golden Messenger came to Spacebomb to record a track. Cameron Ralston – Spacebomb’s in-house bass player – lead the charge as Producer. The goal was nothing more than to spend time together and make something cool, and that’s exactly what happened. The resulting track, “Passing Clouds,” accompanied by a dub remix of the same track, is Hiss Golden Messenger Meets Spacebomb.
When it came time to release, M.C. Taylor from Hiss Golden Messenger suggested a charity release, and that was perfect for Spacebomb. Spacebomb Records will be releasing the two-track single digitally and as a limited edition 7” vinyl on March 21st, in the week running up to the March For Our Lives in Washington DC, and all profits from the sale of the music will be donated to Everytown for Gun Safety.
The tracks will be available through all download and streaming services, on a 7” vinyl as well as through Bandcamp with a pay-what-you-want option available for those who want to give more.
M.C Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger:
I believe gun laws need to change. So I am now committed to performing whatever actions are within my power to push that stone forward. We’ve been told for so long that a change in gun laws is next to impossible. It is not. We’ve been told that the NRA, and the politicians whom they buy, are too powerful. They are not. The young people in Parkland, Florida, have proven that. I am on their side. I am on the side of peace, hope and love, on the side of grieving parents and spouses and co-workers in Parkland and Newtown, in Aurora and Las Vegas. As Sly Stone says, “My only weapon is my pen.” But it’s a mighty weapon indeed that works to bring light to dark places. Signs and wonders. Just a little bit of thunder now.
This song was recorded with the Spacebomb family—a collection of musicians with deep kinship and connection to Hiss Golden Messenger—in Richmond, Virginia, on February 7th, 2018. They love their families and friends in the same ways that I do mine. I was proud and honored to work with them on this song.
All proceeds from “Passing Clouds” and “Passing Clouds Dub” will benefit Everytown, a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities. I urge you to perform your own small actions of peace whenever and wherever you can. We can make the world we want to live in.
No spiritual surrender.
Ben Baldwin, CEO of Spacebomb Records & Group:
L-R Matthew E. White, Cameron Ralston, M.C. Taylor
At Spacebomb, we believe our children should be able to learn in safety. Our loved ones should be able to go to work and teach in safety. No one should have to face or fear gun violence.
We are lucky enough to have worked in, spent time in, and lived in countries where less access to guns, not more guns, has been the answer. With sensible gun laws, that is possible in the US too.
In the week leading up to the March For Our Lives, we are proud to be announcing a musical partnership with Hiss Golden Messenger to raise money for the organization Everytown for Gun Safety. Spacebomb strongly supports Everytown’s rational, evidence-based and active approach to making real change to gun policy.
Cameron Ralston, track producer & bass player at Spacebomb
“Music is the healing force of the universe” – Albert Ayler
I had been wanting to musically reconnect with Mike Taylor ever since coming off of a memorable one-off tour, zigzagging around Europe and playing bass with Hiss Golden Messenger in December of 2014. It took a little over 3 years, but we made it happen! I immediately felt an indelible kinship with Mike, even though I had only met him a few days before leaving for Europe. I’m proud yet deeply humbled that he jumped at the opportunity to drive three hours up the road to Richmond, VA, to hang with my Spacebomb family and I in the studio for a day. We didn’t exactly know what we would come up with at the time nor did we even have any agenda besides the old adage of making “art for art’s sake.” I simply felt it in my bones that Spacebomb and Hiss Golden Messenger would be a heavenly match. “Passing Clouds” (and “Passing Clouds Dub”) is the result of this pure-hearted collaboration. I love how it turned out, but more importantly, I love the purpose it has naturally assumed and what it has come to mean for Mike and I.
Not long after we had recorded “Passing Clouds,” news spread of the tragic events at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Mike immediately reached out to me and said we should put this song out to raise money as charity for Everytown For Gun Safety. I’m not sure there was even a decision to be made on my end. Absolutely, YES. The harsh reality that an event like the Stoneman Douglas shooting presents to us as humans is a reality I am just not willing to accept. The threat of a mass shooting at a school is not something we can tolerate as “part of our lives now.” What object holds more value than the gift of life? There are certain dangers and darknesses that at a certain point, I, as a father, cannot prevent my own children from seeing, experiencing or even seeking, but the horrific threat of a mass shooting in a public place ought not even be on the radar. A privilege of owning and brandishing an assault rifle cannot possibly be more important than our collective commitment to protecting our most valuable treasures: our children….or a promise to securing our most sacred spaces: our schools. Let’s pose the question this way: In a free and open society, is the right to possess a deadly weapon more inalienable than the right to feel at peace in our schools, churches, parks, nightclubs, movie theaters, restaurants, shopping malls, stadiums, on our streets? I say no way.
Mike Taylor, myself, and Spacebomb are honored to present “Passing Clouds” as a humble token of support to Everytown for Gun Safety and to all of the families and victims affected by the Stoneman Douglas shooting, the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, the Charleston church shooting, the Sutherland Springs church shooting, the Las Vegas shooting, the Orlando nightclub shooting, the San Bernardino shooting, the Virginia Tech shooting, the Aurora shooting, the Binghamton shooting, the Fort Hood shooting, the Washington Navy Yard shooting, the Geneva County shooting, the Columbine High School shooting and every other tragedy in recent times perpetuated by needless gun violence. We want this world to be more beautiful, more peaceful, more hopeful for our children when the time comes for us to leave it. We want to be lights ripping through this darkness. Won’t you join us?
Peacefully yours,
About Everytown: https://everytown.org/who-we-are/
About ‘Passing Clouds’: http://spacebombrecords.com/releases/sb014
Download/stream: http://smarturl.it/PassingClouds