Mumford & Sons Donate Proceeds From North Carolina Show to Charity
Move is the latest by entertainers straddling the line between performing in the state and protesting its anti-LGBT law
Joan E. Solsman | April 23, 2016 @ 2:08 PM
Last Updated: April 23, 2016 @ 4:38 PM
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Band Mumford & Sons have pledged to donate the proceeds from a recent show in Charlotte, N.C., to social justice charities, making them the latest entertainers to show a sign of protest against the state’s anti-gay legislation.
The rootsy British foursome performed in North Carolina last week.
Entertainers of all stripes have been weighing how to address performances in North Carolina, after the state passed a bill known as the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. The law prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms that fit their gender identity and eliminated local protections for gay and transgender people.
While some entertainers have cancelled performances in the state, like Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr, others have continued to play there but found other ways to speak out against the legislation.
We’re pleased to follow up on our announcement of last week regarding the proceeds from the (fantastic) Charlotte show. We have now set up the Gentlemen Of The Road Fund which will donate funds to charities fighting for social justice around the world.
We met with the Mayor of Charlotte and some other charities and action groups while we were in town and will be making donations to the following wonderfully worthy organisations: Equality NC, the oldest LGBT rights action group in the US (http://equalitync.org), Time Out Youth, which creates a safe place for young LGBT people in Charlotte (http://www.timeoutyouth.org) and the Equal Justice Initiative, a civil rights campaigning group based in Alabama (http://www.eji.org).
Thanks also go to Grayson and Tina at NC Needs You (http://www.ncneedsyou.com) for their sage advice. Stay tuned for future announcements relating to the Gentlemen Of The Road Fund.
Ahead of the group’s performance in Charlotte, its members posted an open letter to fans about the controversy on Facebook:
Dear friends,
We will be playing a show tomorrow in Charlotte, and recent events in North Carolina have got us talking a lot as a band the last few days, so we felt compelled to say something in advance to you.
As a band that relishes welcoming everyone to our shows and promoting tolerance, we do want to take a stand with the people of North Carolina who this week are shouting loudly against intolerance, fear and discrimination.
Over the years we’ve looked for ways to contribute to the vitality of local communities and, in that spirit, we’re now creating a charitable fund to support those who have made it their mission to pursue love and justice. We will be donating all of our profits from this show to this new fund. And we will start by making a donation from it to a local LGBTQ organisation.
As always, we will open the doors to our show to anyone who wants to come, and are excited to get down with the people of Charlotte.
M, B, W & T
'Game of Thrones' Rocks! 10 Songs Inspired by HBO's Hit Show (Videos)
Blind Guardian is a German metal band that has been making songs about fantasy novels for years. In 2010, they made "A Voice in the Dark," a song about the visions Bran sees when he opens his third eye.
Sample lyric: "They send a sign/When dead winter will come again/There from the ruins I will rise..."
Celtic punk band Irish Moutarde got their hands on the Westeros folk song "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" and turned it into a nutty rock song with pipes, banjos and chugging riffs.
Sample lyric: "She called for a knight but he's a bear/All black and brown and full of hair/She kicked and wailed, the maid so fair/He licked the honey from her hair!"
The Sword wrote a Black Sabbath-tinged rock song about the Night's Watch called "To Take The Black" in 2008.
Sample lyric: "Cast out from the lands of their births/Banished from hearth and home/All brothers must swear the oath/Forsaking all they've ever known."
Swedish metal band Hammerfall has an album named after the motto of House Martell: "Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken." Those words are invoked in "Fury of the Wild," a song told from the perspective of Oberyn Martell as he seeks the blood of Gregor Clegane.
Long before George R.R. Martin's books hit the mainstream, a prog band called Winterfell was writing songs about "A Song of Ice & Fire." One of their songs, "Winter Is Coming," tells of the hard times that await the Starks, especially Jon Snow.
Lyrics in black metal songs are already incomprehensible growls to begin with. How about when the lyrics are in Dothraki? That's what the band Nocternity did in the song "Valyrian Steel," which is inspired by Daenerys' rise to power among the Dothraki.
Sample lyrics: "I am the Blood of the Dragon"/
She told as she took the stallion's heart/In both hands, lifted it to her mouth/And plunged her teeth, into the tough stringy flesh"
YouTube musician Jonathan Young's "All Men Must Die" explores the inescapable reach of the war in Westeros and the different motives that the characters in the series bring to the battlefield.
Sample lyrics: "Fight to live or fight for power/Never fight a single hour/Fight for what you will, but you can't hide/'Cause all men must die!"
Indie power metal band "Seven Kingdoms" has made several cool songs about "Game of Thrones." Their debut album is based entirely around Westeros, including "Stormborn," an anthem for Daenerys Targaryen
Sample lyrics: "So my sun and stars/My hero from afar/Go give the king his crown of gold"
John Anealio's contribution to this playlist may not have brutal guitar solos, but it does have brutal lyrics. It's inspired by novelist Neil Gaiman's reply to a reader who wasn't happy waiting for George R.R. Martin to write the next book in the series, and it's called "George R.R. Martin Is Not Your Bitch"
Finally, we end with another Blind Guardian song. Released on the same album as "AVoice in the Dark," "War of the Thrones" is a ballad that laments the suffering brought by the warring kings and the impending doom coming from the White Walkers.
Sample lyrics: "Walls will fall when the march of the Others begins."
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Get ready for Season 6 of “Game of Thrones” with a Westeros-inspired playlist more facemelting than Drogon’s fire
Blind Guardian is a German metal band that has been making songs about fantasy novels for years. In 2010, they made "A Voice in the Dark," a song about the visions Bran sees when he opens his third eye.
Sample lyric: "They send a sign/When dead winter will come again/There from the ruins I will rise..."