Ferocious Designs appears on new ‘Rock Against Hate’ compilations benefiting LGBTQ+ causes

Ferocious Designs, the music project of Central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley, has contributed two tracks to the latest releases in BlowUpRadio.com‘s Rock Against Hate music compilation series. Rock Against Hate, volumes 7 and 8, will be available starting Friday, June 6, and all proceeds will benefit The Trevor Project and No More Dysphoria, respectively.

These latest releases will coincide with BlowUpRadio.com’s Rock Against Hate “Pride Month” Special, featuring live performances and selections from the compilations, starting at 9 a.m. EDT on Friday, June 6. The special will repeat every six hours through that weekend (June 6-8).

For more information, and to donate and listen, visit RockAgainstHate.org.

Also appearing on Rock Against Hate, Volume 7, is the late LGBTQ+ trailblazer and icon, Jill Sobule, who contributed a live version of her song “America Back” shortly before her untimely passing on May 1.

“It is a profound and bittersweet honor to appear on Rock Against Hate, Volume 7, alongside Jill Sobule,” said Kelley. “Jill performed at a very small venue less than 20 minutes from me in Central New Jersey in early April, and my wife and I nearly bought tickets to see her before realizing we couldn’t make it that night.

“I am a big fan of Jill’s work and her advocacy, and I’m proud to be taking part in a project she also supported,” added Kelley.

Kelley contributed a stripped-down version of his song “Peace of Mind,” featuring longtime friend and collaborator Christian Beach on acoustic guitar, for Rock Against Hate, Volume 7, benefiting The Trevor Project. The song, in its original form, appears on the 2023 album, Looking for the Light.

For Rock Against Hate, Volume 8, benefiting No More Dysphoria, Kelley submitted a “techno demo” of “It’s All Around You,” a song that appears in a more guitar-driven, power-pop format on his recently released EP, Off You Pop!

“We are seeing so many attacks on the LGBTQ+ community from the regime in power and its minions,” said Kelley. “My song ‘It’s All Around You’ is about trying to survive this fascist nightmare by finding strength and hope within one’s self and in the community and support systems around you — and these compilations are a small way for artists like me to help out and be allies in this fight.”

https://youtu.be/nHU3TBezORs

#benefit #BlowUpRadio #fundraising #indie #LGBTQ_ #music #NJ #NoMoreDysphoria #Pride #PrideMonth #RockAgainstHate #TheTrevorProject

Ferocious Designs appears on two ‘Rock Against Hate’ benefit compilations

Ferocious Designs, the music project of Central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley, has contributed two tracks to the latest releases in BlowUpRadio.com‘s Rock Against Hate music compilation series. Rock Against Hate, volumes 5 and 6, are available now and benefit Planned Parenthood and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), respectively.

A live-in-studio performance of “Looking for the Light” appears on Rock Against Hate, Volume 5, benefiting Planned Parenthood, while a live-in-studio performance of “You and Me Against the World” is included on Rock Against Hate, Volume 6, benefiting Kids in Need of Defense. Each compilation features 30 songs, comes with a PDF booklet with lyrics and liner notes, and costs $10 — with all proceeds going to the respective organizations.

“We are entering very troubling times and, really, uncharted waters with this incoming regime,” said Kelley. “It was awful enough the first time around, and now the guardrails are mostly gone for this inexplicable second crack at it.

“So many people in this country will likely be hurt and persecuted, really, just for living their lives,” added Kelley. “We need to support the organizations like Planned Parenthood and KIND, who help those who will need it the most.”

The Rock Against Hate compilations have been released ahead of BlowUpRadio.com’s Rock Against Hate Webathon, featuring nine hours of live music by 14 different artists, starting at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, January 20 — and right into the time some other event is taking place that day.

For more information, and to donate and listen, visit RockAgainstHate.org.

https://youtu.be/t_m7FwLz34c?feature=shared

#benefit #BlowUpRadio #fundraising #indie #KidsInNeedOfDefense #music #NJ #PlannedParenthood #RockAgainstHate

Here is my set list from today’s BlowUpRadio.com Banding Together performance:

1. “Precious Jewel” – piano version of song that will be on my long-delayed power-pop EP
2. “Eventually” – one of my earliest songs from late 1988/89; a reworked version will appear on the power-pop EP
3. “Time Takes Over” – the first complete song I ever wrote back in October 1988, it is based on something said during a breakup of two former coworkers at a Pizza Hut in New Jersey.
4. “Expectations” (Lo Moon cover) – Decided to try my hand at performing this piano-focused take on a track from Lo Moon’s second album, A Modern Life.
5. “Beyond Forever” – a track from my Open Your Eyes EP released in early June 2024.

https://ferociousdesigns.com/2024/10/19/banding-together-2024-set-list-ferocious-designs/

#BandingTogether #benefit #BlowUpRadio #indie #music #NJ #spondylitis

This weekend, Friday, October 18, through Sunday, October 20, tune in to BlowUpRadio.com for Banding Together 2024, benefiting the Spondylitis Association of America.

The benefit features a weekend of live music from over 30 artists, including a stripped-down set from Brian Kelley of Ferocious Designs on Saturday (10/19) at 4 p.m. ET. With a minimum $10 donation, listeners can get an exclusive compilation download that includes the Ferocious Designs track “Don’t Lose the Groove (feat. Christian Beach).”

https://youtu.be/lgWOvXL-AzA

“The song is something I actually started writing during a high school health class in the late 1980s,” said Kelley. “I remember scribbling some of the original lyrics in a notebook.

“When Christian Beach and I were in our synth-based rap outfit, TMC + The New Generation, with Asbury Park rapper Tariq Mohammed, we wrote an industrial song in 1990 that I thought was a perfect fit for those old lyrics,” added Kelley. “I believe it was going to make its live debut at the Green Parrot in Neptune, N.J., in August 1990, but the Parrot closed forever just a few days before the show.”

But “Don’t Lose the Groove” wasn’t originally going to be the song Kelley submitted for the compilation.

“I actually planned on fixing up an old demo of a ballad I also wrote back in the 80s called ‘Evenutally (Love is the Answer),'” said Kelley. “But then I found a version of ‘Don’t Lose the Groove’ I recorded about 14 years ago — and I have been on a nostalgic industrial kick lately — so I decided to go with that one instead.”

While Mohammed was not available to record vocals in time for this latest version of “Don’t Lose the Groove,” Beach was able to provide backing vocals in the choruses and some synth loops.

“I was hoping to get the whole band back together for this, but it didn’t quite work out this time,” said Kelley. “Maybe we’ll revisit it down the road.”

Visit BlowUpRadio.com for the full Banding Together 2024 performance schedule, details about the companion compilation download and the link to donate to the Spondylitis Association of America.

https://ferociousdesigns.com/2024/10/16/ferocious-designs-to-take-part-in-banding-together-2024-on-blowupradio-com-oct-18-20/

#BandingTogether #BlowUpRadio #indie #music #NJ

@jasondidner @AllFallDown

Boosted just like that 🙂

I also realized I had already looked at your Bandcamp, maybe from you, but more likely from #BlowUpRadio

I guess this is time for me to say that I was born in NJ, but moved from there almost 50 years ago, so I have this tenuous connection that I try to strengthen from time to time. gardenstate.social totally caught my eye.