Sofathon Singalong
Sofathon Singalong has grown multiple arms and legs since Luke La Volpe launched the initiative from his parents living room on 18 March 2020 after a call with his manager Gordon Duncan earlier in the day.
The idea is that an artist will stream a ‘gig’ live from their home and then nominate three other artists to then take part and stream their own shows, Luke nominated Stephanie Cheape, Kitti and the band Black Dove.
The idea of the initiative is to support the #Fightback crowdfunder designed to help the Music Venue Trust, which is an advocacy set up to support grassroots venues during the unprecedented times of the coronavirus outbreak, this can be supported by making a donation at https://www.gofundme.com/f/2pt5g8k.
There have been fantastic performances so far, from so many up and coming musicians, including Liv Dawn, Cameron Barnes, Luke Friend, Ryan Keen, Alec Dalglish, Fraser McLean, Kerr James, Gary Burns, PG Ciarletta, Ewan Butler, Black Dove, Megan D, Katie O’Malley, Amy Lou, Clara Watt, Jen Ella, Cody Feechan, Connor Fyfe, Tamzene, Tom McGuire and The Brassholes, Erin Ferguson and Ethan Malcolm. Huge apologies to anyone I may have missed.
This is fantastic to see so many musicians who may be struggling themselves in the current environment pull together to save the venues that their careers will need once the uncertain times have passed and we resume to some form of normality.
But it doesn’t stop there, the plans are well in place to have a 24 hour Sofathon Festival, this weekend on April 4, it’s not full yet so any artists reading this who want to take part can register details of their Sofathon Singalong via the online form at bit.ly/SofathonSingalong.
For more info, please contact gordon@apb-pr.co.uk.
I’m going to leave the final words to the driving forces behind this and their reasons for pushing this forward.
Luke said:
Idle hands are the devil’s hands, I know a lot of people in music just now who had things planned and are feeling low. Rather than just sitting in your room worrying about everything you’ve not got coming, this gives you something to focus on, something to work towards, something to get up for.
Gordon said:
While a lot of big artists are doing their own streams, there’s also an opportunity here for grassroots bands and venues to help each other in what is a very difficult situation.
For many of us, keeping working in some capacity is what’s helping us feel grounded at this time of unprecedented uncertainty.
I know that applies to me and it applies to lots of musicians as well.
Like me, they are all freelancers, which is a nightmare just now. For people just starting out, just starting to get a bit of headway, this has been an absolute tsunami which has knocked them back. The point here about Sofathon Singalong is about creating a community feeling and supporting each other.
From my point of view I just wanted to write a few lines mainly to say thanks to the musicians for keeping us entertained during the long days of self-isolation and to praise their generosity in promoting the needs of others when they may be struggling themselves.
If you can afford to contribute please do as we need these venues to be retained to ensure the independent music scene continues to flourish and all the artists we have watched on their sofas are given a stage to showcase their undoubted talent going forward.
My only other commitment is to help publicise as many as the upcoming performances as I can by retweeting etc.
Sofathon Singalong will share as many as the performances as they can their social media pages - so like and follow to keep up to date: