Songs For Parents: Charity Special with Mitchell and Jacob W. Fowler

Hello and welcome to this charity special of MIC Talks Music. A couple weeks ago, I was approached by a former Music Industry Club member who is now the founder of Beautiful Rat Records, Jacob W. Fowler. He was messaging me to tell me about a charity collaboration he was doing with fellow label, Ska Punk International. This collaboration consists of two compilation albums called Songs For Moms: Volume 2 and Songs for Dads. Jacob has kindly provided some information for the two labels as well as the inspiration of these charitable compilations. Please give his words a read and feel free to keep reading at the bottom for my thoughts on the projects!

Beautiful Rat Records
Beautiful Rat Records is a radical label with the goal to help artists and the communities they come from thrive. The label was founded and is currently solely ran by former MIC member, Jacob W. Fowler, who was tired of not being able to find a job with his audio and music industry degree, so he decided to create one. Since its surprise debut in July of 2021, they have raised over $1000 for various charities and released 5 compilations albums. The ultimate goal of the label is to make the music industry more accessible, to help spread political knowledge, and to raise money to aid and uplift those who need it. 

Ska Punk International

Ska Punk International is a podcast gone label founded to share Ska music from all over the globe. First started in October of 2020 by Chris Reeves as a podcast to play his favorite ska songs from across the globe, it eventually evolved into interviewing his favorite bands and eventually in 2021 expanded into a label. The label has since put out music for many musicians across the globe such as Hans Gruber and the Diehards, Kmoy, Common Sense Kid, and Buena Suerte, along with many more. Along with putting out music for a plethora of artists, Chris also still runs the podcast parallel to his label. Ska Punk International is founded on 3 principles: community, accessibility and giving back, with many of the releases giving the money made to charity. 

The Origin of Songs for Parents

Songs for Moms was first put out in 2021 by Ska Punk International to honor the passing of Chris's mother, and to do a positive thing with his grief. All of the proceeds went to the Prevent Cancer foundation. For volume 2, Ska Punk International asked Beautiful Rat if they wanted to collaborate and put out the first volume of Songs for Dads (which was a popular request after the release of the first moms compilation). BRR excitedly agreed and started work immediately. To still honor Chris's mother, all proceeds to both comps will go to the Prevent Cancer foundation, and so far together this year they have raised over $1700, and hope to continue to keep the hype train going!

Prevent Cancer
The Prevent Cancer foundation is a non-profit organization that dares to imagine a world where no one dies of cancer. Their mission is to save lives with early detection and cancer prevention, along with raising money to help research innovative technologies and expand cancer vaccinations access.

- Jacob W. Fowler

Thoughts

As the names imply, these two compilations were songs chosen by the artists for their moms and dads respectively, whether that means it was a favorite of their parent's, or just a song that reminds the artist of them. Songs For Dads features BRR artists and others such as Dylan Perkins, Scott Making Sense, Bergie & The Magic Bag, and more. A nice blend of ska, pop punk, folk, and rock makes up a majority of the songs on this compilation, as well as Songs For Moms: Volume 2. The latter compilation consists of SPI artists and some other friends including the likes of Sad Snack, Millington, Megawave, and many others. While not all of the contributing acts of the compilations are signed by these two labels, I'd like to note that everybody that contributed to these projects did so out of the goodness of their hearts. The emotional connection the artists have to the songs they chose are incredibly apparent through their performances throughout both projects. While all of these songs are covers, the originality that comes from these emerging artists makes the experience completely separate from the original songs. Due to this, what we are left with is a lovely preview of what the artists of these labels sound like, making it an accessible way to find what you like and support these wonderful labels. Below, I will be showing my favorite tracks, and then I'd like to show how you can make a donation of your own to Prevent Cancer.

Songs for Dads Favorite Tracks: Heart of Gold by Joey Oblivion, Wind Beneath my Wings by Sounds Like Mike, But It's a Dry Heat! by Holy Schnikes!, Subterranean Homesick Blues by Dylan Perkins, Godzilla by Scott Making Cents

Songs for Moms Vol. 2 Favorite Tracks: Love In Stereo by Joey Oblivion, Parachute by How I Became Invisible, No Children by Sad Snack, 'Fun, Fun, Fun' by Millington, Don't Think Twice... by Lumpy, Daydream by Atlas and Oracle

HOW YOU CAN HELP!!!

Down below, I've provided the links to both compilations on Bandcamp as well as a link to the official Prevent Cancer website. While the compilations are available at a dollar a piece, I highly recommend you donate what you can as it is for a good cause and these artists have worked very hard to bring these projects to fruition. I'd like to thank you all for making it this far and on behalf of both labels, I'd like to thank you again for any support they might receive from this. 

Purchase Songs For Moms: Volume 2 by clicking here: https://skapunkinternational.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-moms-volume-2

Purchase Songs For Dads by clicking here: https://beautifulratrecords.com/album/songs-for-dads

Donate directly to Prevent Cancer by clicking here: https://www.preventcancer.org/

Socials: Find Ska Punk International on Twitter @skapunkintl for more info.

Find Beautiful Rat Records on Twitter @BeautRatRecords for more info.

Find the Music Industry Club @micbgsu on Instagram and Twitter and find me @sp1d3rland on Twitter or @mitchellhxrley on Instagram for more info on new blog posts and more music discussion.