Music. Words. Tuition. Activist. Bard.
Thank you to all who pledged to make our album! We now have the minimum funds we need to make this album happen, so pre-order it below if you haven’t already.
The launch gig will be Thurs Dec 7th, at Ashburton Arts Centre: TICKETS
Pre-order Digital Album on Bandcamp
DONATE HERE SECURELY to support us to keep making music:
Thank you so much to all who have pledged and shared since our last update!
However, progress has been slow overall, and with 55% still to go and only 10 days left, we need your help to get us to £3.5K! Please keep sharing tinyurl.com/KimweiCrowdfunder on socials, in group chats (Whatsapp etc) and with friends who would love our music/project. This is an “all or nothing campaign”, so if we don’t reach our goal we won’t be able to finance our album or support protest campaigns by playing live through the coming season.
Since our last update:
Anita and I were in the studio recording new song Rip Out His Pockets Old Crockern to support Right to Roam and The Stars Are For Everyone in the fight to keep the right to Wildcamp on Dartmoor.
I supported the right to Wildswim on a protest at Spitchwick, writing the song River Run Through Me, on location, on the morning of the protest. It was covered by BBC Spotlight, and in a small win the landowners agreed to change the signs which had said “No Swimming”.
Coming Soon:
After a Dartmoor week comes a return to Climate Protest as Chris and I head to London to musically support the Global Fight Against Fossil Fuels – an international string of marches demanding a rapid, just, and equitable end to fossil fuels, as world leaders attend the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit in New York.
Devon Transformed Festival – we’ll play a full set on 22nd Sept, hopefully celebrating this crowdfunding campaign being a success the day before! We’ll be following a talk by George Monbiot and passing the evening on to Holly Ebony.
Thanks again for all your support and keep on putting the word out so we can get the funding we need to bring this music to where it’s needed!
Here’s an example of a post: I loved this album project by Kimwei and his band so much that I’ve just funded it! Help support them to finish recording it and to take the music out to perform this Autumn. https://tinyurl.com/KimweiCrowdfunder #AnthemsForChange: Album & Live Music to Build A New World. Where is the soundtrack for the climate revolution? We believe it’s down to us, musicians born into these interesting times, to make it.
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https://www.instagram.com/kimweimccarthy
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Love & Rage
-Kimwei (he/him), Chris (he/him), Lisa (she/her), Anita (she/her)
Thank you SO much to all who have pledged to get us so far in such a short time! In just 10 days we’ve reached nearly £1.4k. If it keeps going at this rate, we’ll hit our £3.5k target in time, but to do that we’ll need your help! Please keep on sharing our campaign (shortlink = tinyurl.com/KimweiCrowdfunder ) on socials and with your friends who would love us.
In the first 10 days we have:
Announced the launch of the campaign live on BBC Radio Devon: FULL INTERVIEW WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE
Received 36 pledges – Thank you! With a special mention to our big pledges of £250 and £400 (anonymous for now)! Big and small pledges all make a difference, so do encourage your friends to pledge £1 or more.
Received written support from:
“You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll change the world… go support!” -Rob Hopkins, Transition Towns.
“This is music that makes a difference” Caroline, Extinction Rebellion “The Big One” Team.
“The campaign has not only been fought on legal, objective grounds but also…through creative means -storytelling, song, music art – we’ve seen all of that through this campaign which has spoken to so many people in so many ways…” – Lewis Winks, Right To Roam & The Stars Are For Everyone.
Written a NEW SONG for The Dartmoor Wildcamping campaign, as landowner Darwall comes back for a court appeal to again try and get the right to camp on Dartmoor revoked. The song RIP OUT HIS POCKETS OLD CROCKERN has already garnered 5000+ views in just 1 day, raising awareness to support the campaign.
Thanks again for all your support and keep on putting the word out so we can get the funding we need to bring this music to where it’s needed!
Here’s an example of a post:
I loved this album project by Kimwei and his band so much that I’ve just funded it! Help support them to finish recording it and to take the music out to perform this Autumn. https://tinyurl.com/KimweiCrowdfunder #AnthemsForChange: Album & Live Music to Build A New World. Where is the soundtrack for the climate revolution? We believe it’s down to us, musicians born into these interesting times, to make it.
Connect with us on a platform of your choice so you can tag us etc.
https://www.facebook.com/kimweidotcom/
https://www.instagram.com/kimweimccarthy/
https://twitter.com/kimweidotcom/
Love & Rage -Kimwei (he/him), Chris (he/him), Lisa (she/her), Anita (she/her)
Well, it turns out we couldn’t wait any longer, with songs in the pipeline to record and invites to perform at so many change-making events this Autumn, we just had to launch our crowdfunder, because we need your help to keep on making music for a better future!
PLEDGE AT ANTHEMS FOR CHANGE ALBUM CROWDFUNDER TILL SEPT 21ST 2023
Stay tuned for our new album of music that births change, coming! We’ve started recording our rehearsals and had our first day in the studio this week, but we will soon be needing your help to bring these beautiful lush songs into the world. We’re looking to launch a crowdfunder in the next few weeks, to help us to record and release, and to bring it live to protests around the Southwest and further! In the meantime, here’s a taster of what we’ve been recording in the rehearsal room!
with love
-Kimwei, Chris, Lisa, Anita (picture including Anita coming soon)
I’m just over the moon to have had Chris Dance (vocals/fiddle) and Lisa Rowe (vocals/accordion) come on board to play my new songs with me in time for the spring! As you may know, I’m devoting this year to writing/performing/recording protest songs and it’s been a joyful surprise to have two great musicians wanting to join me for that, in what is fast settling in to a sweet trio. It’s a real invigorating experience to be making music with a band who have shared values, passions and a real belief that together we CAN change the world for the better! Here is our showreel. We’re keen to play, so please book us! An album will no doubt follow soon, likely to be called Anthems For Change. Lots of love xx
For those of you who enjoyed my previous blogs on classic topics such as running out of money on purpose, living in a van (with a cat), living in a yurt with no electricity or travelling everywhere for a year on a bike with one gear, you’ll be pleased to know that I have an new blog, chronicling this year in which I’m devoting all my musical energy to music in protest. This Machine Births Change: Soundtracking the Climate Revolution is where you’ll find all my latest songs, performance media and thoughts on how to change the world for the better.
“Why am I devoting this year to making climate protest music? Because we need it. And, because the system is so broken that songs about things that really matter to us are not able to thrive. When it’s plain for all to see that Climate Change is the biggest issue we face today and yet it’s almost impossible to find a song about it on the Radio/TV/Streaming Charts, then something is seriously wrong.”
Love & Rage. x
Kimwei (he/him)
As you may know, this year I’m devoting all my musical energy to music in protest. Here are the two most recent protest songs I have written. If you like them, feel free to learn them and use them yourself. I’ve tried to make my hands really visible in the videos to make that easier. I’m working on sheet music for them at the minute too so watch this space.
This was an amazing protest in which 3000 people came together to protect the right to wildcamp on Dartmoor. A scratch band of folk musicians accompanied the Spirit of The Moor, Old Crocken, to protect the moorland.
“Thousands gathered on Dartmoor in a peaceful protest to support the right to Wild Camp. The spirit of Dartmoor’s ‘Old Crockern’ was summoned by the many. A powerful and uplifting day after such an awful decision from the courts.” Arwen Stickland, Filmmaker, who captured it all in this film, below:
It was an honour to open the first ever European Fingerstyle Collective Guitar Festival which took place in my part of the world : Exeter, Devon, at The Phoenix Arts Centre. I decided to put together a set that shows the range of what the guitar can do (as I see it) playing instrumental pieces and songs and using standard and extended techniques. For the longest time I have been in love with the level of expression that the guitar provides for me as a composer and a player.
When I was University (Guitar Institute 2003-6) I worked on extended techniques on acoustic guitar for some time before I found others who were doing the same, so I felt very connected to the spirit of creativity and personal discovery when I was starting to play percussively/lap style. It was a very magical time for me and it was my own journey. In fact, what can be achieved on the guitar still feels magical to me and I find myself moved and astounded every time I discovered a new sound that has been hiding in the acoustic guitar perhaps for hundreds of years. In this set I use altered tunings, play in standard position and with the guitar on my lap, also play a duet with an old friend – Kevin Harding – and another with a new friend Sando Norton and South West Dance Hub. Guitarlele and ukulele also feature.
Hope you enjoy watching this performance as much as I enjoyed giving it.
-Kimwei