Today Sound Tribe Sector 9 releases Peaceblaster: The New Orleans Make It Right Remixes. All proceeds will go toward building a house in New Orleans through the Make It Right Foundation. The album features tracks from 30 artists, including Pretty Lights, the Glitch Mob, Count Bass D, Richard Devine, Eskmo, and Alex B., Ronald Jenkees.
HeadCount spoke recently with STS9 drummer Zach Velmer about the project:
What motivated you guys to do this?
We went to New Orleans about eight months after Katrina and it was truly crazy. Around Halloween, we were down there in the Ninth Ward working on a documentary and we met some people, which spawned this idea of gathering artists together to do something unique that meant something to us. We're from the South – Atlanta – and so it hit home. We're really excited about it, and so are the other artists. Thirty artists donated their time and their tracks for the record, which I think is just so cool. Hopefully we’re going to meet our goal.
Who’s on the album and how did you pull everybody together?
It's a “who’s who” of what’s going on right now. We couldn't believe it would be 30 artists. Once people found out about the project, they wanted to know how they could help out and be a part of this. It just kind of steamrolled into this “holy moly! We have 30 tracks!” kind of thing.
What is the Make It Right Foundation?
The Make It Right Foundation is an organization to kind of rebuild the Ninth Ward. We chose them because of what they've been doing down there. The houses they build are totally green, totally sustainable, and it was really cool to see them. We got to go into one of the houses and meet the family. They invited us in for dinner. It was just really cool.
How will the money raised by this record be put to use?
One hundred percent of the proceeds go toward building a house. The artists donated the tracks, the publicists have donated their time, Mike Wells donated his time to master the record, we donated our time to do the artwork for the record. Absolutely 100 percent of this is going toward this goal.
What sort of power do you feel the music community has when it comes to fostering positive change such as this?
Honestly, we just try to do our part by any means. I don’t know, man, we’re so blessed. Especially in our community, we have to thank our fans. Because our fans are the one who donate for this record, who buy tickets, and it’s their money. This is a bigger community than I could ever imagine. Honestly, we’re just blessed to do what we do and have these fans who've helped us to perpetuate change. It’s not something we feel we have to do, it’s just inherent in us. It’s kind of like a walking with one foot in front of the other type of thing.