Billie Eilish, Peter Gabriel, Bootsy Collins, Sheryl Crow, and many other musicians have united to raise awareness of gun control via a new initiative called Artist for Action to Prevent Gun Violence. The goal, in Eilish’s words, is to “end the gun violence epidemic.” Those artists — as well as Nile Rodgers, Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, Rufus Wainwright, Pixies’ Joey Santiago, Soffi Tukker, LP, and Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor — ask people to volunteer, donate, and vote to raise awareness around the issue.
In a video for Artist for Action, Gabriel said, “Much as I love the United States, I’m always appalled at the ease with which anyone can get hold of a weapon.” Fairchild explained, “We’re not coming after your guns, I just want common sense.” And Crow spoke to the power of unity: ” The people on Capitol Hill aren’t gonna do the work, and we’re just gonna get louder and louder until it’s unavoidable.” The clip also showed the musicians declaring themselves each as an “Artist for Action.”
Mark Barden, who cofounded Sandy Hook Promise and is a member of the Promise Band, launched the initiative alongside Rick Korn, who directed A Father’s Promise, and the two co-founders of Artist for Artist, Matthew Reich and Neal Saini. The website for the initiative describes itself as “a non-political movement that has come together as one to help prevent future tragedies.” Its goal is to “engage large groups of Americans to get involved and keep their communities safe.”
“Our mission at Artist for Action is to build a coalition of musicians, artists, athletes, and influencers of all kinds to come together for the common cause of preventing gun violence,” Barden said in the video. Barden’s son is one of the 26 murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
Other musicians who included their names on the website are Halestorm, Rozzi, Young the Giant, and Tedeschi Trucks Band. Bush will headline an Artist for Action concert on Friday at New York City’s Irving Plaza. Variety reports that another concert is in the works for December to mark the release of A Father’s Promise and another in Central Park next summer during Gun Violence Awareness Month.