Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, Ben Folds, Damian Kulash and ‘The Problem With Saints’ and Zombies
Here’s a bit of an roundabout way to get the ZRC talking about Zombies.
Neil Gaiman and some very talented friends set out to make an album in 8 hours; 8 songs, hence the band name of ’8in8′. The project was surprisingly successful, though it was as frequently observed only 6 songs in 12 hours, and has become an album called ‘Nighty Night’ that you can download for 1 dollar or more, proceeds to benefit a music charity.
From Fandomania:
The members of 8in8 are no strangers to bucking the system. Amanda Palmer (from the Dresden Dolls) puts out her music online at Bandcamp (where it can be heard for free and then purchased for a small pittance, or whatever larger amount the listener decides) and believes in a new patronage system for creative arts. Neil Gaiman argues persuasively that allowing “pirating” of his work actually brings him more readers who then buy his books. Ben Folds, at least at one time (Ben Folds Five is listed on the Band that Allow Taping web site), appears to allow people to tape his live shows (thus getting music for free) as long as they do so unobtrusively (though he doesn’t seem to have an official policy). And Damian Kulash, with his band OK Go, last year left EMI and created a new music label in order to allow more musical creativity. All four are also heavy users of Twitter. So it makes a crazy sort of sense that they would collaborate on and record eight songs in eight hours (well, really six in twelve, but who’s counting), with input from their fans, bypassing the usual distribution and production methods while relying heavily on the Internet. They then put the music on Bandcamp and performed it live the next night (along with a few of their own tracks, including a “cover” of a recent mash-up of Gaiman reading from his introduction to Who Killed Amanda Palmer? with Ben Folds’s “You Don’t Know Me.”).
Fascinating. How does this relate to Zombies?
Well, at least one song, actually sung by Neil Gaiman, is kind of about one, the Zombie of Joan of Arc, coming back to life. What’s more, since the songs are released Creative Commons (under the exact same license as the ZRC actually), people can make videos:
Contains Death & Zombies. So sweet & funny. RT @carlygirlwriter: ‘The Problem with Saints’ video we turned in last night youtube.com/watch?v=sd05BQ…
So here, have a video about the Zombie of Joan of Arc coming back to teach the British what for. The song is called ‘The Problem with Saints’
We’re giving the song and the video an official Zombie Friendly rating because it creatively and sympathetically explores the plight a Zombie Saint like Joan would obviously face upon being resurrected so long after death into a world that has moved centuries past the concerns of her day.
We feel her pain, and so do the songsmiths. Plus it’s for a good cause:
Tomorrow’s supergroup today.
This project is Creative Commons BY-NC. For more info, please visit: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Initial proceeds from download-donations are going to berkleecitymusicnetwork.org – a charity which provides kids with every opportunity to see their musical potential.
You can download the album here. The site also has information on the songs and lyrics too, which is something I wish all bands with digital downloads would do; those online lyrics sites are really just parasites and often full of blaring pop-up ads. I get a tiny bit piqued that when I buy legal music I don’t get the liner notes; I’d gladly pay a bit more, people! hint hint.
Wow that’s getting me off track.
Download the album, help out a worthy cause, support Zombie Rights.
A progress update:
Just learned that the #8in8 Nighty Night album has already made over $21,000 for Berklee City Music. Download album at http://bit.ly/get8in8
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