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Mar 20, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Hiss Golden Messenger

Hiss Golden Messenger (the band led by M.C. Taylor) have shared a new song, “Passing Clouds,” with proceeds going to Everytown for Gun Safety. The song, along with a dub remix, will be released at midnight via Spacebomb Records, with all proceeds going to the charity Everytown for Gun Safety, the nonprofit looking to end gun violence. Listen to “Passing Clouds” below via Billboard (who premiered it).

Taylor recorded the song in Richmond, VA, on Feb. 7, which was a week before the tragic school shooting at Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that resulted in 17 fatalities and reignited the gun control debate. Due to Parkland, Taylor decided to release the song for Everytown for Gun Safety.

Taylor had this to say about the song in a press release: “I believe gun laws need to change. So I am now committed to performing whatever actions are within my power to push that stone forward. We’ve been told for so long that a change in gun laws is next to impossible. It is not. We’ve been told that the NRA, and the politicians whom they buy, are too powerful. They are not. The young people in Parkland, Florida, have proven that. I am on their side. I am on the side of peace, hope and love, on the side of grieving parents and spouses and co-workers in Parkland and Newtown, in Aurora and Las Vegas. As Sly Stone says, ‘My only weapon is my pen.’ But it’s a mighty weapon indeed that works to bring light to dark places.”

Bassist Cameron Ralston, who previously toured with Hiss Golden Messenger, co-produced the song and the remix with Spacebomb founder Matthew E. White. Ralston had this to say in the press release: “Not long after we had recorded ‘Passing Clouds,’ news spread of the tragic events at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Mike immediately reached out to me and said we should put this song out to raise money as charity for Everytown for Gun Safety. I’m not sure there was even a decision to be made on my end. Absolutely, YES. The harsh reality that an event like the Stoneman Douglas shooting presents to us as humans is a reality I am just not willing to accept. The threat of a mass shooting at a school is not something we can tolerate as ‘part of our lives now.’ What object holds more value than the gift of life?”

Spacebomb Records & Group CEO Ben Baldwin also had this to say: “At Spacebomb, we believe our children should be able to learn in safety. Our loved ones should be able to go to work and teach in safety. No one should have to face or fear gun violence. We are lucky enough to have worked in, spent time in, and lived in countries where less access to guns, not more guns, has been the answer. With sensible gun laws, that is possible in the U.S. too.”

Hiss Golden Messenger’s last album, Hallelujah Anyhow, came out last year via Merge, a label they are still signed to. The “Passing Clouds” 7-inch is available here.

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