The rioters that swept England in early August may have had the nation’s establishment in their sights, but their fury also claimed a Sony warehouse holding more than 2 million albums released on independent labels.
Labels affected by the fire included bigger indies like XL (which releases music by Adele and Vampire Weekend) and Domino (from Animal Collective to Cass McCombs) and a host of smaller ones, whose artists encouraged fans to buy digital downloads from the labels to keep the cash flow coming. (Though much of the stock was insured, the fire puts independent labels, many of which operate hand-to-mouth, in a compromising spot in the short term.)
Now local musicians, organized by Astronomers’ Alexandra Angelich in association with Label Love and Bay 1 Studios, are sweeping in to help struggling labels with a last-minute benefit festival this weekend. The Laser Waste Music Festival is "a benefit concert to support independent labels and artists who lost over 2 million albums in a senseless act of arson during the London Riots," says the event’s page.
Here’s the lineup for the festival, which is this Saturday, September 3, at the
, according to the fest’s Facebook page.
Main Stage:
Sinclarity 12:00 am
Grey Matter 11:00 pm
Astronomers 10:00 pm
Hunter Smith and the Dead Men 9:00 pm
Manorlady 8:00 pm
Rock n Roll Cannibals 7:00 pm
Gunchux 6:00 pm
the Co-Pilots 5:00 pm
Bar side:
DJ Landing Force 9:00 pm
the Buffalo Theory 7:45 pm
Sally Rose 6:30 pm
Graham Partridge 5:45 pm
Willits Bowditch 4:45 pm
Will Patterson 4:00 pm
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"Firestarter," from Prodigy’s 1997 album Fat of the Land, was an early break for the influential indie label XL Recordings, which lost stock in this month’s London fire.
