For the charity single “Come Together (We Will Stop You)”, members of Faith No More, Rammstein and Stabbing Westward, among others, have joined forces to collect donations for Unicef, which are then to go directly to Ukraine.
Beatles cover for peace
“Come Together” is a cover of the Beatles’ 1969 track. Elements of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” were also mixed into the reinterpretation, giving the original a heavy industrial rock edge.
The initiators of the project are Christian Petke, founder of COP International Records, and producer John Fryer. The two were overcome by “violent waves of shock, anger and deep sadness as we watched the horrific events taking place in Eastern Europe,” they write on Bandcamp. Her heart has ache since the first day of the Russian invasion “for all whose lives and well-being are at risk”.
Bob Geldof remains the #1 charity inspiration
Inspired by Bob Geldof’s Live Aid charity initiative, Petke and Fryer decided to pursue their “intense desire to actively help our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and Eastern Europe”.
In addition to many other artists, they drummed up Rammstein guitarist Richard Kruspe, Bill Gould from Faith No More, industrial rocker Chris Connelly from Ministry, as well as Christopher Hall and Walter Flakus from the band Stabbing Westward. The aim is to collect money for Ukraine and at the same time create awareness of the situation in Eastern Europe.
However, what is most important to them is “direct and quick help for the people who need it most urgently”. To ensure this, all donations should go to Unicef. The aid organization would then invest the money directly in projects in Ukraine.
Help is possible from one euro
The charity single can be over bandcamp can be purchased as an MP3, the minimum amount is one euro. Nevertheless, the organizers are calling for a higher amount to be contributed if possible. The appeal of the two ends with the play on words and the request “‘Together[zu]come’ and the people of Ukraine and Eastern Europe [zu] show that we hear them and that we really care about them.”
In addition to Petke and Fryer, other musicians have also initiated fundraisers for Ukraine in recent weeks: The Cure designed a band shirt in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and announced that they would donate all proceeds from the sale to the UN refugee agency.
Kruspe’s Rammstein colleague Till Lindemann started an art auction, the profits of which are also to be donated to Ukraine, and Merchcowboy put together a benefit mixtape in which Die Toten Hosen and Farin Urlaub are also involved.