Knowing a thing or two about Liverpool’s thriving music scene, Tony Cook and Brian Ambrose both members of international renowned band; The Mersey Beatles, have felt the full force of the devasting impact the COVID pandemic has had upon the music industry.
Putting their skills to best use, while raising money towards a local charity that supports to end homelessness, the duo have breathed new life into Bob Geldof’s 80s Band Aid classic ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas’.
With a seal of approval from Sir Bob himself and Warner Music, and a little help from local artists from Liverpool, Tony and Brian have created Band Aid Liverpool.
We caught up with Tony to find out more about the Band Aid Liverpool project.
How did the idea of Band Aid Liverpool come about?
The idea started after a dream I had back in August, in the dream I was on stage with my fellow band mates from The Mersey Beatles along with some of my musician friends who I hadn’t seen for a few months because of lockdown, so I immediately thought how good would it be if that dream was true. I then developed the dream into an idea and ran it by a few of my musician friends. I then wanted to make the idea into a project that would involve lots of my musician friends who have been deeply affected by the situation this year and record a song for charity at Christmas.
What charity have you chosen and what made you decide this was the one you wanted to donate to?
I chose Shelter as the nominated charity because of what I observed during the first full lockdown. It was a day in May when I was in the city centre and it was a pure ghost town at a time when it would normally be busy, it dawned on me that there were no homeless on the streets and I wondered where they would be getting their support from, the small change for a cup of tea etc., that stayed with me until September when I was considering a few charities, but Shelter became my preferred one because it was also very relevant to our industry with thousands unable to work and their livelihoods under threat.
What was the response from local artists that wanted to take part?
There are over seventy musicians and singers involved, and it could have easily been hundreds because we are blessed with so many talented artists on Merseyside. I wanted to include artists covering all genres and all ages. My co-Director and Producer Brian Ambrose, who is also in my band, has been amazing putting the track and video together at his studio with most artists recording their tracks, thanks to technology, from their own homes and studios. All the artists involved would also love the single and the video to give the people of Merseyside and beyond, something to smile about this Christmas which will be very difficult for many this year.
What people can do to support the project?
The single is released on 10th December and can be purchased on all the download platforms such as iTunes/ Amazon music etc., it would be amazing if the people of the Liverpool region could get behind it and who knows, it could even do well in the charts in the lead up to Christmas, but more importantly it’s about raising money with all proceeds going to Shelter.
For further information follow @bandaidliverpool
