R.A.D Vinyl

Luz De Vida- A Compilation to Benefit the Victims of the Tucson Tragedy (Fort Lowell Records)

release date Oct 18th: http://fortlowell.blogspot.com/

Music has always been a powerful catalyst for change so it is great to see so many artists, activists, companies and a record label coming together for this benefit compilation. Rather than go straight to a digital download Fort Lowell stick to their strengths and put together a beautifully packaged yellow lp. They sweeten the pot with a 37 track digital download that features heavy hitters like Robyn Hitchcock, Meat Puppets, and DeVotchKa to name a few. I strongly recommend picking up this LP as all the proceeds go to the Tucson Together Fund to assist the victims of this tragedy. Here is to more labels backing projects like this.

R.A.D. Vinyl Blog interview with Music Against Violence:

- Thomas Beach, Studio Engineer at Loveland Studios
- Curtis McCrary, General Manager at Rialto Theatre
- Nathan Sabatino, Owner & Studio Engineer at Loveland Studios
- Stephen Seigel, Music Editor at Tucson Weekly
- Eric Swedlund, Music Writer at Tucson Weekly and Catfish Vegas Blog
- Ryan Trayte, Graphic Designer at Rialto Theatre and Saywells Design
- James Tritten, El Patron at Fort Lowell Records


What is the meaning behind Luz de Vida?
[Eric]:
Luz de Vida (Spanish for Light of Life) is an attempt to make a positive response to the horror of the Jan. 8 shooting. Not only do we hope to offer as much financial assistance as possible to the survivors and victims’ families through the sale of this record, but the music itself is presented as a force of healing, recovery and a statement that Tucson is a community that stands strongly together.  
We specifically chose the Oct. 18 release date to coincide with the YWCA-sponsored Week Without Violence. We hope that in doing so, listeners can take a moment to reflect on the positive effects that peace and togetherness can have in our own personal lives as well as in our communities. 


What inspired Fort Lowell to do this comp?[James]:
I’m going to rephrase your question to “What inspired Music Against Violence to do this comp?,” and ask one of these other gentlemen to answer this question.  It is very important to understand that this record is not just another Fort Lowell Records release.  Luz de Vida was a project started by the other six music professionals on the Music Against Violence team.  Fort Lowell Records was the last member to join the project.  Our inspiration to join Music Against Violence and help with Luz de Vida was simply our love for the people of Tucson, AZ, and our interest to continue supporting our community.  Many people were hurt on January 8th, more than those reported in the paper, and we believe that Luz de Vida is a step forward toward healing for many.

[Thomas]: 
Nathan and I were both working out of Loveland Studios when this happened (Nathan is now in Philadelphia working out of Loveland East). Gifford’s office was right down the street from where the studio is located in Tucson and we both would talk about the impact of the situation from seeing the  amount of people that gathered outside her office or at UMC. Another thing that impacted us were the memorials that people put together around Tucson that we would see daily driving to and from the studio.  We started talking about what we could do as a recording studio to contribute and came up with the idea with doing a benefit compilation. Nathan started reaching out to musicians (Howe Gelb, Mark Growden) to see if they would be interested in doing a song for the project. The impact of this tragedy was pretty heavy to all of us at MAV as we all have either met, worked or knew someone really close to the Gifford’s office along with her relation to the Tucson music community.
At that time I ran the idea By Eric knowing he worked for Gifford’s office. I wanted to get his input to see if this made sense to do and he was on board immediately. We both reached out to Stephen and Curtis to see what they thought as they both are heavily involved in the music community. We set up a meeting for feedback and it ended up being the kick off for the project. Ryan was there as the meeting was held at the Rialto office and he offered to do the design work. We started brainstorming ideas immediately.
We came up with the name Music Against Violence for the steering committee and Luz De Vida for the compilation release. I started recording bands that were interested in project as Loveland’s contribution and it started coming together. Curtis, Stephen, and Nathan started contacting national acts while I focused on the bands here in town. Tracks started coming in and we started compiling what we had for music. We started off slow but it built momentum after March as everyone had a lot going on (SXSW, etc.). Eric started reaching out to the benefit funds  that were started and Gifford’s office to let them know what we were working on. Ryan started working on some branding for MAV and Luz De Vida.
The initial release was going to be a digital download release only however we started talking about PR for the release and James came up in the conversation due to his label Fort Lowell Records. We figured he could help us out not knowing that we would end up to where we did. James was excited about the idea and came up with doing a vinyl 12 inch release which is the first one for Fort Lowell which is a HUGE contribution to the project. We started meeting with James and decided that we would do a vinyl release with Tucson specific bands and a digital with all the songs for the compilation. From there the project took off as James helped us get refocused. He helped us take on a new approach which allowed us to get the project to the next level. We started getting the majority of all the tracks together and started reviewing them for placement.
I think it is important to call out that this project would not have come together without everyone’s contribution. Nathan and I were experienced with the recording/production side of the project as Curtis managed contacting national acts as well as being the project manger. Stephen and Eric worked on the media side of the project for PR along with Ryan covering the design work.  James helped finish the project by the approach of a record label and additional project manager which really helped us get to where we are now. This project came together as we have all been friends for some time or have worked with each other in one capacity or another. The decision making was done by a team effort through meetings, email and Friday afternoon happy hours.
[Eric]:
Many of these bands felt a strong urgency to do what they could to help out after facing down the horror of Jan. 8. Even that night, the Rialto Theatre opened its doors to the community for a musical vigil. I was among the many who gathered there. The mood was somber as we hugged and cried and mourned and listened. The songs that night began the healing process for many. That’s the power of music and all of us are grateful for what these bands have offered up. 
Gabby Giffords is a strong friend to the arts community overall in Tucson, but especially so to the music community. Calexico was honored to have the song “Crystal Frontier” played in space, as a special wake-up gift from Gabby to her astronaut husband Mark. I don’t think you’d find another member of Congress at a rock show, let alone in the standing general admission section, but that was just something she’s been known to do. 
Among the musicians on this compilation are friends and supporters of Gabby, friends of her aid Gabe Zimmerman who was killed in the shooting, and even an ER nurse who was on duty at University Medical Center that day. We’re glad to provide them the opportunity to record and release music as a memorial for that day. 


How did you pick the bands?[Curtis]:
In terms of the nationally known artists, we sort of pooled our resources in determining who we had a sufficiently established relationship with to ask for a track. At the same time, we knew this needed to be pretty Tucson-centric in terms of its ultimate composition. When we started out and before James became involved, it was going to only be a download, and as such, the theoretical number of tracks we could offer was unlimited. Once it became a vinyl record and a download, our scope was clarified and we knew the way to go was to put Tucson artists on the vinyl (especially given the nature of Fort Lowell records as a local imprint) and everything else on the download. We really had an embarrassment of riches by the end, in terms of the number and quality of tracks we got from this wide array of artists. But I think the defining strategy was catch as catch can for the download, and a somewhat difficult but considered winnowing of the Tucson contributors to get under the vinyl’s time limits. It was separating wheat from wheat, there’s no chaff whatsoever. 

[Eric]:
We chose a host of the best musicians and bands that Tucson has to offer, as well as some prominent national bands that have cultivated and maintained strong ties to Tucson. 


Why chose vinyl for the comp?
[James]:
This where Fort Lowell Records comes into the picture.  When Music Against Violence originally asked us to be a part of the Luz de Vida project, it was going to exist as a digital download compilation only, mainly because of costs; there are none.  For us to release a digital download of a recording, it’s almost like sending a friend an email with a zip file attachment.  It is a little more complicated that that, but the gist of it is there would be no out of pocket expenses, making it an easy format to use for raising money for a charity.  The vinyl element came into play after I began to listen to the actual recordings from some of the bands.  Fort Lowell Records is a vinyl only label and was started because of how amazing bands from Tucson are.  I simply wanted to ensure their music was being documented on vinyl records, so I started a record label and began releasing them myself.  The first recordings of Luz de Vida I was given to review were all from Tucson artists, and once again I was moved, so I proposed the idea of a vinyl release in addition to the original digital only plan.
 
Immediately, the Music Against Violence team pulled together and designed a plan to release Luz de Vida, or at least part of it, on vinyl and (more importantly) at no additional costs.  We wanted to ensure that 100% of all money made from Luz de Vida would still be able to support the Tucson Together Fund charity, so we partnered with local and regional businesses for assistance: Arizona Public Media, Betts Printings, Brooklyn Pizza, Che’s Lounge, Cloud Microphones, Dorado Music Packaging, Golden Mastering, KXCI 91.3 Community Radio, Main Gate Square, Plush, Rainbo Records, Savaya Coffee, Sky Bar, Sticks N’ Strings, The Shanty, and Tucson Weekly.

The vinyl record highlights twelve artists from Tucson all with exclusive (or close to exclusive) tracks.  I was very happy to be able to include new tracks from three of our previous Fort Lowell Records artists: Dead Western Plains, Giant Sand (Howe Gelb), and Tracy Shedd.  In addition, I had already wanted to release future records for Kiss & The Tells, La Cerca, and Languas Largas.  When we had all heard the Holy Rolling Empire’s new song, everyone on the Music Against Violence team was so impressed, we knew that track had to be on the vinyl.  It is simply an honor to partner with artists and Tucson legends such as Rainer, Mariachi Luz de Luna, Calexico, and Salvador Duran.  Last but least, Chango Malo’s live rendition of the Sam Cooke classic “A Change Is Gonna Come” is so awesome, we’ve made it exclusive to the vinyl release only!

There are still so many other great bands from Tucson featured on the digital download: Taraf de Tucson, Reno del Mar, Sunday Afternoon, Al Perry, Brian Lopez, HAIRSPRAYFIREANDGIRLS, Seashell Radio, Sergio Mendoza y La Orkesta, Golden Boots, Silverbell, Rich Hopkins, Tom Walbank, and Silver Thread Trio.  It was just too many for one record!  Not to mention all of the national artists that wanted to be a part of Luz de Vida: Sweet Secrets, John Vanderslice, Rachel Flotard & Jon Rauhouse, El Depravos (feat. Chuck Prophet), Robyn Hitchcock, Ozomatli, Meat Puppets, Jimmy Eat World, Spoon, Neko Case, Mark Growden, and DeVotchKa!  It is simply an awesome list of talent!

The great thing about the vinyl record is it comes with the digital download of all of the other tracks, including the one vinyl exclusive track from Chango Malo, which will not be available if you buy Luz de Vida from an online music store like iTunes, Amazon, or eMusic.  The vinyl records are limited to only 1,500 copies, which we expect to sell most locally in the Arizona markets, but will have available through our distributor, StickFigure, as well as via our own website.