Hanson Explains SXSW- Japanese Quake-Benefit Concert
Many of us have looked at and read about the heart-wrenching destruction caused in Japan by the March 11 earthquake and so has Taylor Hanson. But unlike the general public, Hanson has the financial clout and resources to do something to help those who are in need at this time of crisis, and that’s exactly what he did with the arrangement of a charity- concert in a very short space of time. The Hanson band was already in Austin for the South by Southwest music festival, accordingly they quickly brainstormed for the ideas and less than 12 hours later, all the big arrangements had been made. The band of brothers contacted agents, organisers, fellow musicians, and everything just kept on rolling collectively.
Speaking in an interview with MTV News on the studio compound where the concert is going to take place, Taylor Hanson voiced that they came to the South by Southwest with the automatic assumption that the music society must be up to something, in order to provide relief to the millions who have been affected by the Earthquake-induced Tsunami in Japan. But to the brothers’ surprise, there was nothing being done about it and the festival was mostly about the promotion of individual artists.
The disappointed band weren’t prepared to turn a blind eye on the subject like the other musicians had until that point. Instead they took the initiative themselves and announced the SXSW 4 Japan concert, which would broadcast 12 nonstop hours of music on SXSW4Japan.org, with all the revenue and donations going directly to the Japanese people. Soon after the announcement, other artists warmed up to the idea and now broad Panic’s John Hermann, Michael Stipe and the Court Yard Hounds are all scheduled to perform alongside Hanson to show that they are with Japan in these difficult times.
Taylor said that the band likes to do things that are overlooked by others and this was one of those things, which had drawn no reaction from the American music industry. So they dove in to the idea and made the South by Southwest fraternity realise their lack of efforts in this regard. The MMM Bop-singer said that a mass message needs to be sent, ensuring Japanese individuals that the American public is fully aware of the distress they are in, and will do their all to pull them from this horrendous natural calamity.
The funds generated by the SXSW 4 Japan benefit concert will be collected by the Red Cross’ disaster relief team and fans could contribute by sending text messages to 90999. This would only be the first step in pulling the Asian powerhouse from the wondrous mess, and Hanson hopes that others would follow suit and donate in any way they can for this cause.
Taylor additionally urged his fellow musicians to utilise their influence and financial muscle to arrange more occasions like these and elevate their moderate efforts to the next level.
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