Black Diamond Bay Added to the Swim Drink Fish Music Club

Followers of this blog will know that I think Lake Ontario Waterkeeper's Swim Drink Fish Music Club is an excellent way to support a great environmental group and get exposed to great Canadian Music. Check out my earlier posts here and here.

Now the Club has started a Friday Release series, and "It's all Been Said" by Black Diamond Bay is the first instalment. From the Club itself:

In August 2007 Patrick Krief (formerly of Montreal art-rock band The Dears) put out a seven song EP (Take It Or Leave) with Sunny Lane Records under the name ‘Krief’. To play these songs live he called upon his cousin Andre Bendahan (Bass), George Donoso III (Drums) and Roberto Piccioni (Keys). The shape the songs were taking live was so much bigger than that of the recordings that they couldn’t justify not having a name for that sound. So Black Diamond Bay was born. After over a hundred shows together they started to put together what is now their debut album “Calm Awaits”. Krief says, "there are laws to protect clean water, and they need to be respected and enforced". Check out Black Diamond Bay's exclusive track "It's All Been Said", now in the All Music section, only on the Swim Drink Fish Music Club today!

Now - although the Club says the track is only available on Friday - I was just able to download it - so join and see if you can get it too! And if you can't, join anyway for many new tracks every Friday, as well as plenty of other music. Membership is only $9.99 for a year:

All proceeds from memberships benefit Swim Drink Fish Music partners Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Ottawa Riverkeeper and Fraser Riverkeeper. So get your ears on some exclusive new music, and help Waterkeepers across Canada help continue the fight for swimmable, drinkable, fishable water.

Lake Ontario Waterkeeper's Swim Drink Fish Music Club Confirms More Bands

A short while ago I wrote about this awesome fundraising initiative (see the post here). Ryan over at Lake Ontario Waterkeeper tells me they have plenty of great Canadian acts signed up to provide you with exclusive content if you become a member of the Swim Drink Fish Music Club. Here's a list of the confirmed bands so far (and a great list it is):

Gord Downie and The Sadies, Ghost Bees, Sarah Harmer, Great Lake Swimmers, Emma Lee, Wintersleep, Land of Talk, Dave Bidini, Apostle of Hustle, Ohbijou, Chris Brown and Kate Fenner, Arkells, Marco Benevento, Shade, Collen and Paul, The Gertrudes, Billy the Kid, Zeroes, The Billie Hollies, The Violet Archers, Carmen Townsend, Black Diamond Bay, Provincial Parks, Jessie Dangerously, Immaculate Machine, Don Vail, The Abrams Brothers and - just announced - Clothes Make the Man.

The Club's website is up and live now, thought it will continue to be tweaked until the big launch occurs. For only $9.99 (what a deal!!!), you can get a one-year membership to the Club. Membership features include:

- access to monthly feature artists

- weekly indie artist releases

- each song features a "Story" - an audio clip from the artist explaining why they chose to get involved

- access to news and info from local waterkeepers

- access to Lake Ontario Waterkeeper's weekly radio show, Living at the Barricades

- access to an 18-20 weekly news segment by Waterkeeper Alliance President Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

- access to the entire back catalogue from their first compilation, At the Barricades Vol. 1

- of course, GREAT CANADIAN MUSIC!

Right now, the Club has one new feature song from Chris Brown and Kate Fenner, entitled The Waterkeeper. Kate's story: she and Chris believe that "access to clean water should be a basic human right". But the song also reflects the "magic of water...to inspire a sense of gratitude and wonder in the face of this great life-giving force". Join now to get access to this and many more great songs.

If you are an artist, there is no deadline for you to get involved. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper is still encouraging artists interested in contributing an exclusive track to contact Ryan at [email protected] with a link to their material.

This is a fantastic initiative to support a great cause: check it out when you can.

Lake Ontario Waterkeeper's New Canadian Music Fundraiser

Exclaim! reports on its website a great new initiative from environmental group Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. Those familiar with the group will know that, in 2007, it engaged some Canadian music royalty to donate tunes to a fundraising CD entitled At the Barricades: Volume 1. Produced by veteran Canadian singer/songwriter/producer Chris Brown, the disc included tracks from Bruce Cockburn, Broken Social Scene, Kate Fenner, Sarah Harmer, Stars and many more (including Pete Seeger). You can still get that CD here.

But the latest Waterkeeper fundraiser is awesome for Canadian music lovers: a year long online music project entitled the Swim Drink Fish Music Club. Starting in April, members of the club can get exclusive and rare tracks from participating artists, information on the Waterkeeper's attempts to promote swimmable, drinkable and fishable water, and news updates. No doubt Waterkeeper will call on past contributors for this innovative charitable musical endeavour. But it is also looking for new material from other artists. According to their website:

"Every month we feature a new artist, with a large image and audio story on the Club’s main page. New content is added weekly, and a notice is sent to all Club members to let them know you’ve joined the fight for clean water. Your track page includes photo, streaming audio, an audio story about your song, download options, and links to similar content.

When your song is released, you’ll get a chance to promote your music to our club members, a chance to do some media publicity with our marketing team. Because the online distribution process is more organic than a traditional CD, we can coordinate the timing so it works best for you! We’ll also encourage our members to visit your website, buy tickets to your shows, or order full albums if they like your stuff."

If you're interested, send an email to [email protected] and let them know what you’re thinking. You can also call Waterkeeper at (416) 861-1237.