Another week, another cover of Simple Minds’ ‘Don’t You {Forget About Me}’. This one, by Stoke, Leek, Sandbach and Sale’s Rock n Roll outfit SHADER, is being released to support The Music Venue Trust and the #WeMakeEvents campaigns with the aim of raising awareness of the campaigns and encouraging donations. All proceeds from the release will be donated to the campaigns.
In comparison to last week’s cover by crush (read our review) this is way straighter, It’s closer to the original, that big big sound, fantastic huge soaring vocals. But it’s not quite a straightforward cover – while there’s much that persons of my vintage might recognise, there are things that make it SHADER’s own. It’s rockier for a start, the guitar is way more upfront, it gets more raucous. And this is all good.
In fact, it has that strange thing, it sounds like you – perhaps I mean ‘I’ here – remember the song sounding rather than how it actually sounded. Or perhaps – having just taken a short break to actually listen to the original – how you might have wanted it to sound.
I’m not going to compare the two covers, they are completely different tracks, nor are you going to draw me into which I think is better. I really really like this one by SHADER; it has enough to remind me of back in the day AND it’s not a Stars In Your Eye’s cover it has SHADER’s stamp on it.
A track this good, and proceeds going to a great cause, who needs anything more to prompt you to get hitting the streaming sites, the download sites. Do it now.
Download/stream, more information about the campaigns and donation links: https://biglink.to/DONT
The info
SHADER released their ‘isolation cover’ of ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ to raise awareness of the #WEMAKE EVENTS and #SAVEOURVENUES (Music Venue Trust) campaigns and to encourage donations to the campaigns to support locked down grassroots music venues (particularly the #SaveThe30 venues that are most at risk after receiving no government grants), and to support live music & events crew who have been out of work since March. All proceeds will also be donated to the campaigns.
Stu Whiston: “After recording the track in isolation during the 1st COVID lockdown, we posted it on our social media and got a great response. We felt we should release it, but both the band and the label aren’t keen on releasing cover versions. Then 42’s Records suggested that, as a band that depends on grassroots music venues and events crew, the title would fit perfectly with supporting and raising awareness of the campaigns. Venues have been closed for 9 months; many have had no financial support. There’s an army of highly skilled crew; roadies, sound and light technicians, bar staff etc who have had no work and no real support for that period. They need support, anyone into music, bands and gigs should know this is critical and we can’t afford to lose these venues, which provide a starting point for new bands, or the skilled professionals that make gigs happen.”
