MANTRA Vega, the transatlantic band co-founded by York singer-songwriter Heather Findlay and Sound Of Contact’s Dave Kerzner, are releasing a song on Bandcamp tomorrow to raise funds for humanitarian relief in Ukraine.
Heather, formerly of Mostly Autumn, now one half of Odin Dragonfly and a solo artiste, reunited with Dave to write and record We See You.
Mantra Vega’s recording features Findlay on lead vocals; Kerzner on keyboards and vocals; Dave Kilminster, from Rogers Waters, Steve Wilson and Keith Emerson’s bands, on lead guitar; Chris Johnson, from Mostly Autumn and Halo Blind, on rhythm electric guitar; Stuart Fletcher on bass and Alex Cromarty, ex-Mostly Autumn, on drums.
In addition, Mantra Vega have made a Global Sing-Along Mix of We See You, where “anyone in the world can sing the verses in their own language or with the wordless anthemic chorus”.
Kerzner says: “Heather came to me with this great idea of reuniting Mantra Vega to do a song for this global concern regarding the war in the Ukraine. I’m proud to have taken part in it.
“As well as raising funds to help the people of the Ukraine, we also wanted to send love and support to all who are suffering from this crisis through the universal language of music.”
We See You will be available exclusively from Bandcamp from midnight tomorrow (May 6) for a limited time, launching on Bandcamp Friday, a monthly event when the ten per cent revenue share that Bandcamp usually takes is waived. In this instance, that means more funds can be donated to Ukrainian aid.
In an incentive to help spread the love, Mantra Vega invite fans to share Howard Rankin’s artwork from that midnight launch onwards, either as their profile picture or as a social media post, accompanied by the download links, encouraging their friends to head over to Bandcamp to buy the single.
All proceeds will be donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Appeal.