us that MTV News is reporting that Fat Mike's Rock Against Bush tour and compilation are coming together. Bands involved include the Alkaline Trio, Green Day, NOFX, Pennywise, Good Charlotte and Sum 41 among others.
The bands will each contribute a track to a Fat Wreck Chords compilation that that aims to raise political awareness and encourage punk fans to vote against George W. Bush in the next presidential election. Green Day, NOFX and the Alkaline Trio will record new songs for the album. The other groups haven't yet announced whether their tracks will be new or previously released. Expect the disc in stores by April or May.
All the bands involved are playing at least one show on the Rock Against Bush Tour, which will run in two legs. The first will take place around the release of the album, with the second to occur closer to the election. Punkvoter.com will have voter registration booths setup at all the shows, which are planned to be free and staged mostly at college campuses. The tour may be called the Punkvoter tour since many college campuses and radio stations may not promote it under that name. All proceeds from the album will go toward print and television ads that will encourage punks to oust Bush from office. (click below for more)
"We're just going to put true facts on TV," Fat Mike said to MTV, "and one or two famous punk rockers will be reading them." With no profits from the album and free shows, Fat Mike is prepared to pick up most of the costs from the effort, "I'm planning on losing a lot of money, but I don't care. This is something I really believe in."
NOFX singer/bassist Fat Mike spoke to MTV about the effort "About a year ago I decided to use my influence to get bands together to speak out about the president… I think it's our responsibility as citizens and musicians to do so. He's wrecking the country and the world. He's starting wars for no reason, our economy is in the toilet, he's ruining the environment, and he does things like cut taxes when we need money… We're trying to build a coalition of kids 18 to 25… We want punks and other disenfranchised young people to vote as a block, which no one has ever done before. Kids are the biggest group of people that don't vote. We want to change that."