Playing music to benefit charity isn’t completely new for the Deep Sea Gypsies.
The band, whose members all hail from the West Shore, took part in a concert once that had a food drive aspect to it. Accepting an offer to place an original song on a compilation CD in aid of the Mustard Seed Food Bank seemed like a good fit, says guitarist-vocalist Loke Webb.
Deep Sea Gypsies are one of 14 local bands who contributed a song to the recently released Fourteen for Fourteen: Indie Victoria 2014. The album, the sales of which will go entirely to the food bank, also features the music of Hush Pup, Mindil Beach, Electric Oak and others.
“Anytime you can tie the arts into any kind of positive change, it helps to progress it and propel it,” Webb says. “I think this is a perfect example of that. It’s really cool and we’re happy to be a part of it.”
The CD serves two purposes, he says. Not only does it provide a fundraising vehicle for a worthwhile cause, it gets the music of independent local bands into the public’s ears and eyes.
The project is the brainchild of View Royal-based music blogger Mark Brennan, whose Baffled Octopi Records is releasing the CD. The various local artists he approached with the fundraiser idea gave him nothing but positive responses.
“The minute I asked ‘are you guys in,’ they said ‘absolutely, for sure,’” he says.
The bands have donated their original songs to the project, while Brennan has donated his time to assemble the CD and distribute it to the bands, who will likely be selling the discs at their live shows. “It’s promoting local artists and they need it, but at the end of the day we’re helping the food bank,” Brennan says.
The musical compilation is also being distributed digitally via bandcamp.com, a sales and file-sharing website dedicated to the promotion of independent musicians and bands. So far, Brennan says, the hard copies are the ticket.
“The CDs have been more popular than the digital downloads. People like to have this physical thing in their hand.”
The cover art features a very Doctor Who-like scene of a police phone box and the iconic Daleks, a throw to one of Brennan’s favourite TV shows since he was a child.
The eco-packaged CD can be purchased for $8 – or more, given bandcamp.com’s pay-what-you-want format – while the digital version can be downloaded for just $5 (or more). Both options can be ordered online at https://thepurveyorsoffreewill.bandcamp.com/releases
editor@goldstreamgazette.com
Deep Sea showtime
• The band, all of whom grew up or lived on the West Shore, is in the process of finishing off its new home studio in Gordon Head, where they are recording their new EP, entitled Cedar Hill Cross Road.
• Hear Deep Sea Gypsies on Friday night (Dec. 5) at surfboard shop Anian, behind Phillip’s Brewery on Discovery Street. The outdoor party, complete with hot tubs, will cost you $10 for a ticket.