Slang Church releasing DIY/punk/emo comp benefiting Big Minds (stream a track)
Oakland art collective and record label Slang Church is releasing the Long Armed Bill’s Summer Comp (Vol. 1) compilation on May 1, and all proceeds will benefit Big Minds, “an attachment-based, community-focused, non-traditional 1-8th grade special ed program in the San Francisco Bay Area” whose director Billy Bouzous is also head of Slang Church. The first single is “Adrian,” a catchy, fuzzed-out, indie-punk ripper by Kevin Nichols, and the rest of the tracklist is being a kept a secret for now, but a little birdie tells us that there’s some really cool stuff on there. Billy gives much more background on the comp:
What is this comp going to be benefiting?
Big Minds is a 501c3 non profit and private school in the San Francisco Bay Area that serves the twice exceptional community, grades 1-8. Twice exceptional, or 2e, refers to a gifted student who also has some form of disability. Our model is a radical one that turns traditional American elementary and middle school education on its head. We value social emotional support and learning above all else, and any academic pursuits are driven by the student and their strengths and interests.
Where many institutions employ a deficit-based model centered around “fixing” academic deficiencies or disabilities, we choose to focus instead on students’ strengths, interests, and passions. We use technology to help mitigate the challenges our students face due to various disabilities, helping them realize their giftedness and potential in a more tangible way.
This comp will be an annual fundraising effort for the school’s scholarship fund – which is a sore need considering we are a bootstrap organization that, in an effort to keep tuition as low as possible, is on a shoestring budget. What goes in comes out, and this is one of the first major efforts to fundraise outside of that.
How long have you been involved with the school?
I’ve been involved with the school in a multitude of capacities for the past 4 years. Starting in 2017, I was a driver for several of the school’s students between tours with my band at the time (Lawn Chairs). I became close with many of the students and staff at the school through this process, even being invited as an honorary staff member to the school’s holiday party that same year. Fast forward to the Fall of 2018, when fresh off a DIY full US tour I accepted a job as a literacy tutor at Big Minds. Within 6 months of that I was promoted to assistant director, and within 6 months of that I was promoted to operations director. I now manage our day-to-day operations, marketing, fundraising, finances, dev, and growth – in addition to still working with a small gaggle of students directly. This year, that meant developing our own distance learning app complete with a multitude of accessibility features specifically suited to our students and their needs in this unprecedented crisis. It’s been a wild ride!
Why did you select these artists to be on the split?
For starters, they’re all close friends! The general theme is bands that have been involved with our label (Slang Church) in one way or another through the years. A lot of west coast DIY veterans, with a few east coast friends peppered in. A few of them also have LP’s coming out this year with us, too. Tl;dr good bands who care about raising funds for Big Minds! We’re grateful to everyone who donated a track :).
Stay tuned for the rest of the comp and listen to “Adrian” below.
