Accessibility and Access Keys [0]
Brad Frenette
Not only is the environmental justice group Lake Ontario Waterkeepers advocating for clean lakes, but they’re also advocating for good music. The Toronto based group – a member of the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Waterkeepers Alliance – has been protesting tire fires and pushing for clean beaches for a decade now.
In 2009, LOW devised an online, subscription-based music club to spread the message, and to help raise some money. Dubbed Swim Drink Fish Music, the membership driven service has had some great Canadian acts on board, recording rare and exclusive tracks for LOW’s benefit.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper’s Vice President Krystyn Tully recently spoke to The Ampersand about the club.
Q: What inspired Swim Drink Fish Music?
A: The club evolved out of a benefit CD produced for Lake Ontario Waterkeeper by Canadian musician and producer Chris Brown (At the Barricades: Volume 1). We always intended that the project would run over a few years. After the first year, we realized that the CD format was too limited: it restricted the number of artists who could participate; it didn’t allow interaction with the public; and the manufacturing process creates waste. The website allows us to release new music several times a month, constantly expand our roster of supporting musicians, talk to our members, and do it all without creating any additional waste.
Chris had the first track on the Swim Drink Fish Music website and produced many of our early tracks, including Gord Downie and The Sadies and Justin Bird with Sarah Harmer.
Gord Downie, Sarah Harmer and Dave Bidini have all been champions of our cause since Lake Ontario Waterkeeper started back in 2001 and have gone above and beyond the call of duty supporting SDFM as well as our day-to-day water work.
Q: What have some of the musical highlights been so far?
A: So many to choose from! The track Chris produced with Justin and Sarah is one highlight. It was one of the first SDFM songs to get radio play (CBC Radio 3) and it was a special moment hearing it on air – plus the Roy Orbison vibe on the song is really cool.
Gord and The Sadies covering Randy Newman is great because you’ve got these iconic Canadian musicians covering an iconic US singer-songwriter.
Dave Bidini’s 25-Song Suite is amazing because he wrote each and every one of those songs for us, on a four track in his house. That’s such an honour.
More recently, the Great Lake Swimmers’ “Ballad of a Fisherman’s Wife” became my favourite [Ed: Listen to the song below]. They wrote and recorded that song for SDFM and in recognition of the Gulf oil disaster. It’s a beautiful and haunting song – it should be at the top of the charts right now, it’s that amazing.
Click Here to read more
© copyright © 2010 National Post Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited.