If the haze or the fury that enshrouded Quebec City last April has cleared, somebody forgot to tell Chris Brown.
Brown is the man behind GASCD, a compilation of speeches, spoken word pieces and protest songs. The two-disc set includes the Tragically Hip, the Barenaked Ladies, Bruce Cockburn and Ani Difranco.
Brown compiled the CD in an effort to aid those arrested during the Summit of the Americas.
GASCD is not only the name of the anthology, but also of the company that was formed to guide the project. That is, it’s an officially registered Canadian corporation, only with a rather anti-corporate board of directors.
Among the directors are Brown himself, Kate Fenner, Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis (former host of CBC’s Counter Spin).
Once his fellow artists caught wind of his project, Brown received an outpouring of support. “After the first couple days of making phone calls to see who would be interested, I had so many people calling me back and pledging me their material that I already had too much for one album,” he says.
Brown attributes this warm reception at least in part to the fact that no record company was directly involved in the album, although RAM Recordings has agreed to distribute it.
In fact, so warm was the reception that every track was provided free of charge by the musicians and their record labels. This means a higher percentage of the sale price will be able to go to the people who need it.
The compilation was inspired by what Brown saw at the Summit of the Americas. “The affront of that fence made it a virtual war zone,” he says.
However, it was incidents of police brutality and accounts of the mistreatment of those arrested that gave the project its focus.
“This CD grew out of a solidarity with those arrested,” says Brown. “The idea was ‘let’s help pay people’s legal bills, and let’s help create an awareness and a dialogue.’ ”
Brown appears on the album both as a soloist and alongside Kate Fenner. Fenner and Brown have spent the past several years touring together. While Fenner was politically active during her college years, she sees Quebec City as a wake-up call.
“Surviving that city put some things back into perspective, like the role of your own music. It was a good feeling,” says Fenner.
The Quebec Legal Collective will be the first beneficiary of proceeds from the sale of the CD.
The collective aims to help those now facing criminal charges from the protests. According to Andreane Laflamme, a representative of the collective, any money will go a long way. She estimates that the cost for defense starts at around $5,000 per person charged.
Laflamme is cautiously optimistic about many of the cases. “People were being arrested for obstructing the peace. All they were guilty of was being near the fence.”
Laflamme and fellow representative Laura Rostas are more reserved about the outcome of four civil suits that have been launched against the Quebec government and the police.
Two of the suits have been brought forward by citizens of Quebec City, demanding accountability for the security perimeter and the long-term effects of tear gas. Of the other two, one deals with the treatment of protesters at the Orsainville prison, the other with the arbitrary detention of someone who was arrested while eating pizza several blocks away from the fence. Both instances, Laflamme claims, are serious violations of basic constitutional rights. GASCD has no qualms about using corporate channels to sell the album. It is available across the country in stores such as HMV.
Nevertheless, Brown expects that grass-roots contacts will boost sales. “We’re experimenting with non-traditional methods of selling it,” he says. ([email protected]).