“Ocean Aid” has been an idea, an aim, a developing international project, and now a song. I have talked about “Ocean Aid'' in books, in magazines, a newspaper, on websites, on podcasts and on the radio. “Ocean Aid” has been featured in articles or interviews with me, in Italy, Portugal, Wales, England, Ireland, Spain, Australia, and the USA. Like, I said it is an international project. Italian radio host and author, Filippo Solibello, gave me a 4-page chapter in his book SPAM Stop Plastic A Mare.
He was touring Italy promoting his book and also telling people about my song and ideas. I was looking forward to going over to Italy to join him at some point but then the pandemic struck. Despite lockdowns and restrictions I have kept working doing what I can online and in any media that will give me a platform to spark out on. I am reaching out to people all around the world to take action to help save the oceans and the marine life in them. The idea for “Ocean Aid” originally came to me when I wrote my song “Where Does All The Plastic Go?,” which I recorded and released in 2019.
Everyone will remember “Live Aid” and the massive concert that went under that banner, with many internationally famous acts performing for the event. I thought that ideally a concert of that sort of magnitude could some day take place at a stadium sized venue somewhere. The aim would be to raise awareness of the threats to the ocean, as well as raising funds for a charitable organisation like Sea Shepherd, an organisation that is already working hard at reversing the terrible damage to the seas and marine life in them. I chose Sea Shepherd because I believe it is the organisation most committed to saving the seas, and that it is treating the matter as a top priority. Captain Paul Watson, who founded Sea Shepherd has said: “If the ocean dies, we die.” I started my new book Saving Mother Ocean with this quotation from Captain Paul. It shows how urgently we should all be thinking about what we can do to save the ocean. It is a call to action, as is my book, and songs. I use the plural “songs” because I wrote another, with the title “Time For Ocean Aid.” I have been playing it live and online, and opened an Ocean Aid concert that was performed in Feb, 2021 with the help of the regular singers and musicians from Rew Starr’s ReW & WhO? Show from New York. We raised some funds for Sea Shepherd, and I had seen my idea become an actual reality, even if on a small scale. Since then I have been telling musicians and promoters to organise their own “Ocean Aid” concerts. I want to see this type of event taking place all around the world, because saving the seas really should be a priority around the planet. I recently recorded my song “Time For Ocean Aid” at the Verdelho Studio, in Quinta do Conde, in Portugal, where I am based.
My good friend Crum, formerly of Shockhead, Hawkwind, and the Moonloonies, and now with a new band called STARRATS, very kindly added his keyboard wizard skills to overdub some piano and synthesiser. This has really added to my song and given it a space-rock feel which works well with the basic acoustic protest song. Daz, also from STARRATS, has created a music video to go with it. I will be releasing “Time For Ocean Aid” on 2 February, which is World Wetlands Day, and which seemed an apt time to do this. It really is TIME FOR OCEAN AID!
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