André 3000, Julia Holter and more have contributed music to a new compilation album to aid victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.
- READ MORE: LA music community tell us about “tragic” impact of wildfires: “This will be felt for years”
Since the devastating wildfires began on January 7, over 150,000 residents of Los Angeles were forced to evacuate their homes. To date, 27 confirmed deaths have been reported, with over 20 people reported missing.
This past weekend (January 17), Leaving Records took to social media to announce a compilation album to raise funds for people, artists and communities affected by the Californian catastrophe. The album is titled ‘Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires’.
The album consists of 98 tracks, a total runtime of six hours and 51 minutes. It includes contributions from the likes of André 3000, Julia Holter, Reggie Watts, Laraaji, Baths & Rachika Nayar and more. Most of the tracks that feature in the compilation are unreleased songs. The compilation closes out with André 3000’s nearly nine-minute song ‘This Is Where My Room Used To Be.’ featuring Carlos Niño, Alex Cline and Pablo Calogero.
In a statement on the official Leaving Records Bandcamp page, the label’s Emmett Shoemaker wrote that 50 per cent of the money raised from the purchase of the album will be “meticulously, manually allocated to Los Angeles artists and music colleagues in need”, while the remaining 50 “will be allocated to displaced Black families and community impacted by the fires, again, as equitably as possible”.
The album is not available on streaming platforms, and is only available for purchase on Bandcamp in digital, vinyl and cassette formats – to purchase, check it out here.
The artists featured on the ‘Staying’ compilation record aren’t the only musicians to aid the affected communities in the aftermath of the fires. Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD foundation have donated $2.5million to help to relief efforts for the Los Angeles wildfires. Paris Hilton also launched a fund for families displaced by the fires, pledging $100,000 and promised to match up to $100,000 in donations. Dave Grohl also spent his birthday making meals for families that had been effected.
Canadian metal band Spiritbox have announced a charity raffle to raise funds for victims, and are putting up instruments and gear from their tours and studio recordings as prizes.
American-Mexican band Fuerza Regida have rented out an entire hotel for a week to shelter 50 families fleeing the wildfires. Members of the LA music community have also spoken to NME about being hit hard, with a number of venues, studios and artists being affected by the blaze.
A slew of A-list musicians including Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Stevie Nicks, Green Day and more will be performing at the FireAid benefit concert in Los Angeles later this month –check out the current line-up here.