I’m guessing everyone knows about the riots in London last month, and more specifically the fire at the PIAS Distribution warehouse. Just in case you don’t, basically the little arsonist fucks succeeded in burning down the warehouse where pretty much every independent UK record label keeps its stock, including Xtra Mile Recordings, my label. Everything was destroyed (more than 3 million records), all back catalogue lost, it was a body-blow for an industry that’s already in a fragile state. Not good, in short.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining to this cloud. The good folks at Xtra Mile, with the help of the people at Pledge Music, have set up a frankly amazing scheme, “Fuck The Fire“. Basically it’s a plan to organise small-scale pressings of old releases, so that, if enough people want it, you can get hold of old items that were destroyed. It means that those smaller or older releases are not lost forever to the flames. As soon as the minimum number of people have pledged to buy a release, it gets manufactured. Simples.

In addition to the bare-faced awesomeness of the plan, if you order something you also get a digital download of a bunch of Xtra Mile rarities (including a quick new song about the riots by yours truly). And on top of that, Xtra Mile and Pledge Music will also be donating a chunk of the proceeds to UK Disaster Relief, who are helping the people made homeless in the riots.

So, it’s all totally ace, in short. The only drawback is that, for now, this is only open to people in the UK; I know, I know, that sucks for everyone else, but we’re working on sorting that out. Updates will follow.

And finally, a link to the website itself: Fuck The Fire.