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Oct 21, 2016 Tegan and Sara By Christopher Roberts

Continuing all weekend and until next Tuesday, all of the autographed musician-made protest signs featured in Under the Radar‘s 2016 Protest Issue will be auctioned on eBay, with all profits going to the American Cancer Society. The auction includes protest signs made by Tegan and Sara, Amanda Palmer, Best Coast, Sharon Jones, Thurston Moore, Banks & Steelz, Moby, Mew, OK Go, Okkervil River, Metronomy, Wild Beasts, Car Seat Headrest, Lush, Local Natives, Julien Baker, Super Furry Animals, Billy Bragg, Perfect Pussy, Wye Oak, Everything Everything, School of Seven Bells, Deerhoof, Kristin Kontrol, Andrew W.K., Yeasayer, Natalie Prass, Superchunk, The Julie Ruin, Frankie Cosmos, Kevin Morby, LUH, Tacocat, Xiu Xiu, Slow Club, and many others. The full list is below.

In addition, Kristin Kontrol (aka Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls) will make a personalized DJ mix for a winning bidder. The auction also includes a rare test pressing of The Head and the Heart’s 2013 album Let’s Be Still courtesy of Sub Pop Records, along with signed vinyl by Warpaint (“New Song” 7-inch, courtesy of Rough Trade Records), How to Dress Well (Care), and Petite Noir (La vie est belle / Life Is Beautiful), the latter two donated by Domino Recording Company. Finally, Polyvinyl Records have donated a box of vinyl to be auctioned as one piece that includes 17 recent albums by La Sera, of Montreal, Deerhoof, Beach Slang, Katy Goodman & Greta Morgan, American Football, and others.

The auction starts today, October 18, at 2 PM eastern time at eBay (www.ebay.com/usr/utrprotestauction) and ends next Tuesday, October 25, at 2 PM eastern time. EBay have waived all fees connected to the auction so that all profits can go to charity.

Under the Radar‘s Protest Issue is out now both digitally and on newsstands nationwide. The Protest Issue uses the time-honored connection between politics and music to promote political dialogue and awareness in a way that few media outlets do in this day and age. Publishers Mark and Wendy Redfern have put together a Protest Issue every U.S. Presidential election year since 2004, and as before this issue features articles examining the intersection of music and politics and photo shoots with musicians holding protest signs of their own making. Under the Radar provided musicians poster-board and paint and asked them to make their own signs. The artists were free to write whatever message they liked-it was an exercise in free speech. The American Cancer Society was in part chosen because in the last two years Mark’s father and sister both lost their battles with cancer.

Amanda Palmer graces the cover holding a protest sign that ties into one of the main articles in the issue, one that tackles sexism, feminism, and misogyny in the music industry. That article also features Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, CHVRCHES’ Lauren Mayberry, Lower Dens’ Jana Hunter, Lush’s Miki Berenyi, music publicist Beth Martinez, Amanda Palmer, Natalie Prass, Perfect Pussy’s Meredith Graves, Tegan and Sara’s Sara Quin, and Chelsea Wolfe. Another big article in the issue centers on the 2016 U.S. Presidential election and includes interviews with Billy Bragg, Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, Kristin Kontrol, Mew’s Jonas Bjerre, Moby, Thurston Moore, Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, Amanda Palmer, Henry Rollins, Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg, Superchunk’s Laura Ballance, and Andrew W.K. Other political articles examine progressive musicians who are based in red states and whether cancelling shows and boycotting performing in specific states and countries is an effective means of protest.

Some of the topics covered on the protest signs include the election, gun control, Brexit, global warming, immigration, healthcare, prison reform, Citizen’s United, the Black Lives Matter movement, feminism, animal cruelty, and transgender rights. Thurston Moore‘s sign says “Free Chelsea Manning,” in support of jailed whistleblower Chelsea Manning, a trans woman and United States Army private who was court marshaled in 2013 and sentenced to a 35 year jail sentence for violating the espionage act by leaking classified and sensitive materials to WikiLeaks. The signs by Wye Oak and The Mynabirds both include the message “Fuck Guns.” Protomartyr’s signs reminds: “Don’t Forget Flint.” Meredith Graves of Perfect Pussy wrote on her sign: “End the Racist U.S. Prison Industry Now.”

Readers are also encouraged to submit their own protest sign photos via social media using the hashtag #ProtestIssue.

Here is a complete list of artists who did protest sign photo shoots and whose autographed signs are being auctioned:

Amber Arcades
Julien Baker
Banks and Steelz
Best Coast
Billy Bragg
Hayley Bonar
Car Seat Headrest
Deerhoof
Everything Everything
Fear of Men
Frankie Cosmos
Gwenno
HÆLOS
Hinds
Shaon Jones
The Julie Ruin
Kristin Kontrol
Local Natives
Lower Dens
LUH
Lush
Mass Gothic
Metronomy
Mew
Moby
Thurston Moore
Kevin Morby
The Mynabirds
OK Go
Okkervil River
Cullen Omori
Amanda Palmer
Perfect Pussy
Petite Noir
Britta Phillips
Pillar Point
Natalie Prass
Protomartyr
Rogue Wave
School of Seven Bells
Shearwater
Slow Club
Still Corners
Sunflower Bean
Superchunk
Super Furry Animals
Tacocat
TEEN
Tegan and Sara
Wild Beasts
Andrew W.K.
Wye Oak
Xiu Xiu
Yeasayer
Younghusband
Yuck

About Under the Radar: Under the Radar is an internationally distributed indie music print magazine and website that’s independently published by husband-and-wife team Mark and Wendy Redfern. This December it will celebrate its 15th anniversary. The magazine was started in Los Angeles but is now based in Virginia. Under the Radar was the first nationally distributed print magazine to interview such artists as Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes and was the last media outlet to interview and photograph Elliott Smith before his untimely passing. The magazine is distributed nationwide on newsstands and via such chains as Barnes & Noble. It is also available digitally for smart-phones and tablets via Under the Radar’s own app and the magazine apps Zinio, Readly, and Readbug. The company has just launched a Patreon page to help keep it going strong and expand into new areas, including podcasts and more original video content.

www.undertheradarmag.com

www.patreon.com/under_the_radar

www.facebook.com/UnderTheRadarMagazine

www.twitter.com/Under_Radar_Mag

www.instagram.com/undertheradarmag/

About the American Cancer Society: For over 100 years, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has worked relentlessly to save lives and create a world with less cancer. Together with millions of our supporters worldwide, we help people stay well and get well, find cures, and fight back against cancer.

www.cancer.org