Melodic punk rock band Ink Bomb from Nijmegen, Netherlands, will once again be selling a cover for charity this year. The foursome will release an entirely unique acoustic version of the song ‘Cease,’ originally by punk rock veterans Bad Religion. The band will donate all proceeds to Brigada de Alter, a volunteer fire brigade that tries to extinguish the forest fires in the Amazon.
For this fourth edition of their annual donation cover Ink Bomb chose a new approach: “This year we wanted to challenge ourselves. Normally we’d record with just guitar and vocals but now we wanted a full band co-op. That’s why we also used bass, percussion and keys. We also had the opportunity to collaboratively record in a studio. This enhances the intimacy as well as the live-feel of the song,” according to guitarist Quirijn Foeken.
To garner more attention for their annual charity cover Ink Bomb has scheduled a number of instore tour performances in the city center of Nijmegen on December 22. “The great part is that people then cannot only donate online but also in real life,” says bassist Arina Banga. “We are big fans of books and records, so we are looking forward to perform our acoustic set in the midst of these things!” The locations of the instore tour are library De Mariënburg, record store De Waaghals and comic store Señor Hernandez.
Brigada de Alter is a voluntary fire brigade, partly consisting of member from an indigenous tribe living in the Amazone. Since the election of new Brazilian president Bolsonaro the rain forest is more under pressure than before. “The funds we collect with the ‘Cease’ cover will be used to buy safety gear, oxygen masks and helmets, so that the volunteers can protect themselves,” according to Banga.
“We discovered this organization through Minor Operations Bookings,” adds singer Joost Hoedemaeckers. “These are people who organize punk shows in the Dutch city Haarlem, one of which we got to play last November. They also have a fund raising organization that collects for several different charities: Minor Operation Donations. In the last few months they have been collecting for Brigada de Alter. We wanted to raise money for an environmental charity so we are happy we could work with them. It is also important to us that the proceeds are used in a very concrete, direct way so we can show people who buy the single how their money is being used.”
MORE: Check our interview with Ink Bomb
Everyone can listen to the cover for free on Bandcamp. Whoever wants to buy the song as an MP3 and in this way wants to donate to Brigada de Alter, can do so in two ways:
– Buy the cover on Ink Bomb’s Bandcamp page using Paypal or a credit card. Because Bandcamp and Paypal charge administration costs 70% of the donated amount via this route will be donated to Brigada de Alter. You can donate up until January 9.
This is the fourth time Ink Bomb is selling a cover for charity. Last year the Nijmegen band covered ‘Black Me Out’ by Against Me! for the LGBTIQ+ organization Outright Action International. In 2017 and in 2016 the proceeds went to the Surf Project and Kledingbank Nijmegen respectively.