This weekend, four North Carolina bands will be gaining more international recognition while supporting a local nonprofit: The Shalom Project, which helps families in need.
Each band's album release will take place on Record Store Day, an annual event that celebrates the culture of vinyl LPs and neighborhood record stores throughout the U.S. and around the globe.
Musician Jeffrey Dean Foster worked with Record Store Day co-founder (and former bandmate) Michael Kurtz to make it happen. Foster spoke with WFDD's David Ford about his own contribution, I'm Starting To Bleed, a personal reflection on a year of protest and pandemic.
Interview Highlights
On the title cut, "I'm Starting To Bleed":
It was more of a visual thing that I was almost writing down the movie that I was seeing in my head of this man lying on the ground, seeing the last couple of minutes of his life and reaching out for his, you know, his mother. I mean, how heartbreaking is that? You know, grown man, knows that it's almost over and he's reaching out for his mother. And we saw that on national television. That wasn't like some fictional, bittersweet novel, you know, that was on the news every night.
On the song "Tell Somebody [you love them]":
And I've started to live those words a little more in telling my friends that I do love them sometimes just out of the blue, you know, and I just am reminded of them or see their name or something. I'll call them up and say, ‘Hey, man, how are you doing?' And, you know, it's a little thing to do. But I've just started doing it and people do it to me, so I appreciate it. You know, maybe it's just that we're all getting older, but we realize that anything can happen.
On "Headin' Home":
When it first started, like when I wrote that song, I think a lot of people were like rebelling against staying at home, you know, and helping out in that way. Because at the time we were being told that if we all would stay home for a while, that might would give the health care workers a chance to get on their feet and not back them up. And so that was just like my, you know, kind of rock 'n' roll way of reminding people.
On The Shalom Project:
The Shalom Project during the pandemic, we never missed a beat. We never stopped working once. You know, we just kept going because we knew our clients who need the food from the pantry and the clothing and most importantly, the medical clinic, some of the people that need drugs, you know, every few weeks to sustain them.
I'm Starting To Bleed, along with a new album by North Carolina's The Veldt, will drop on Record Store Day this Saturday at independent record stores throughout the Triad. The Backsliders, and Chris Stamey & The Fellow Travelers releases are July 17. Proceeds from all the limited edition 12” vinyl sales will benefit The Shalom Project.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This transcript was lightly edited for clarity.