Simon Jones, musician and formerly bass player with the Verve decided to put a fresh new take on the Band Aid classic, “DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS?” with all proceeds going to Claire House Children’s Hospice on the Wirral.
The song was recorded and mixed at Faktory Studios in Great Barrow, Cheshire. Everyone involved donated their time and talents.
We filmed the video of the song on Sunday night, December 7 on a Black Magic camera with two DSLRs and the video was released on YouTube a week later. On December 17, the producers were surprised and delighted to receive a personal e-mail from Midge Ure proclaiming the unique new version “a great ‘spin’ on the song” and “stunning” and passing on the congratulations of Bob Geldof himself:
“I am speechless…What extraordinary voices..What a beautiful understanding of the song..it takes me right back to the beginning and original.. the piano arrangement is stunning…utterly utterly beautiful… ‘well done everyone’ is completely inadequate…release this track immediately!!!!”
Midge had stumbled across the YouTube video by chance and was struck by the thoughtful, subtly melancholic feel. BandAid 30 also featured the video prominently on their Facebook page.
Veracity MD, Andy Porter was delighted with the response:
“It’s brilliant, at this time of year especially, to be able to do something like this. It’s a unique version of the song and to have such positive comments back from the original composers is just wonderful for all concerned – hopefully it will make people think and raise lots of money and awareness for Claire House”
The all in-house Veracity production team on the project was Andy Porter (producer and camera operator), Jordi Vidal Oliveras (cinematography and edit) and Sarah Swanston (camera operator and production manager).
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