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Artist News Media Releases
Foo Fighters donate Stay Home Live Lounge royalties to charity, while BBC’s drumming weatherman forms a virtual band
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 24 April 2020
The BBC’s Stay Home Live Lounge record is out now. That being the all-star cover of Foo Fighters’ ‘Times Like These’, recorded by a plethora of artists on lockdown.
The recording having been announced earlier this week, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins were late additions to the line-up of artists on the single. As the recording was debuted on BBC radio and TV yesterday, the band also announced that they will be donating all the song royalties received from the release to charity.
“I am so honoured to be a part of this incredible recording, and blown away by all the heart and soul these amazing artists have put into our song”, says Grohl. “I hope that it helps lift people’s spirits, and reminds them that we’ll all be back in one of those muddy fields again someday soon, singing our hearts out together”.
In a further statement, the band’s publishers, Kobalt and BMG, add: “Kobalt and BMG are proud to be part of this historic and benevolent event. It’s ‘Times Like These’ indeed that so many of us turn to music for comfort and solace, and that music can give back even more with acts of generosity like this”.
The band’s publishing royalties will be donated to the charities already benefiting from the single release – so that’s Comic Relief and Children In Need in the UK, and the WHO’s COVID-19-Solidarity Response Fund for international income.
Also on the record are Anne-Marie, AJ Tracey, Bastille, Biffy Clyro, Celeste, Chris Martin, Dermont Kennedy, Dua Lipa, Ellie Goulding, Five Seconds Of Summer, Grace Carter, Hailee Seinfeld, Jess Glynne, Mabel, Paloma Faith, Rag N Bone Man, Rita Ora, Royal Blood, Sam Fender, Sean Paul, Sigrid, Yungblud and Zara Larsson.
Watch the video for ‘Times Like These’ here:
Elsewhere in BBC ensemble recordings, drumming weather presenter Owain Wyn Evans has virtually teamed up with a whole range of housebound musicians for a new version of the BBC News theme tune.
The weather presenter for ‘BBC North West Tonight’ last week went viral after posting a video of himself playing drums along with the BBC News theme music. The conceit being that, while making his weather reports from home during lockdown, BBC bosses now also expected him to play the music himself too.
“Like so many other people I have been working from home since early March and doing my weather bulletins from my garden or dining room, sometimes with the help of my cat”, he said. “I thought it would be a bit of fun to put a bit of a weather forecast in front of a rocked up drum track to the BBC News theme… and it’s gone bonkers darlings! I had no idea it would be such a hit”.
Following the success of the clip, he appealed for submissions from the public to build Owain’s Big House Band. Now he’s released a new version of his original video, featuring some of the more than 500 submissions he received.
The composer of the original piece of music, David Lowe, says: “I am totally THRILLED with all the attention it is getting. I have been a BBC fan all my life, so this has been an amazing experience”.
Watch the new video – released as part of the BBC’s Make A Difference campaign – here:
