You're probably more familiar with Alex Band than you realize. Several years ago, Band's former band, the Calling, ruled the modern rock airwaves with their inescapably catchy and super-sized hit "Wherever You Will Go." While the Calling is no more, Band is still making noise. Lately, his efforts have joined forces with local organization Donate Life in a partnership with a purpose: raising awareness about organ donation, and hopefully saving lives. Band took some time to speak about his work with Donate Life, and will soon be taking the stage at Toad's Place to lend his talents to the cause. Remarkably, Band might just be the only person around who can say they've never really watched the Real World before...
How did you get involved with Donate Life? And how did Donate Life Rocks evolve?
My wife Jennifer was diagnosed with giant non-cancerous tumors of the liver about 5 years ago. They were such a large size that we were being told a liver transplant was our only option. She actually came across Donate Life online while researching our next step. We loved what they were doing and wanted to help in any way we could. With the help of my great fans, we’ve been able to raise over $100,000 for the cause and hope to increase that number 10 fold in the future. Denise Tripp over at Donate Life and myself have become friends and created Alex Band’s Donate Life Rocks a couple years ago to help gain even more awareness for the cause. Last year was our first official concert in Los Angeles and it was a great success.
Why is the Donate Life mission important to you?
It became important to me as I watched my wife go through what so many others are dealing with. As we learned about the lack of donors in this country and how many people die a year in need of organs, it seemed like a crazy problem that could easily be fixed if people in the media really worked at it with the help of Donate Life .
What do you hope to achieve with Donate Life Rocks?
I’d love to see it become a much bigger event, get it televised, even more established artists on the bill, etc. I’d also love it to become global, cause this is an issue that is just as prominent outside of the US as it is here.
Besides performing here in Richmond at Toad's for Donate Life Rocks, and the other Donate Life Rocks events, how do you spread the word about the importance of organ donation?
My fans are awesome and they really do a lot of the work for me! The internet is a great tool of course, but I also do my best when I’m performing live on tour by handing out Donate Life bracelets and spreading the word to those that are listening.
Brianna Taylor is performing at the Donate Life Rocks event with you. How did she get involved?
Brianna and I met last year while she was on MTV’s The Real World and she actually came and sang one of my songs with me at my Donate Life event in Los Angeles. It was a great way to get Donate Life on MTV and in front of hundreds of thousands of young adults. I so appreciate Brianna helping out with that and I’m looking forward to her being a part of this years show as well with her new music.
Mine is London, so I'm curious. What's your favorite season of the Real World?
I hate to say it, but this was the first season of Real World that I had ever watched. What a crazy show!
How many events does Donate Life Rocks put on yearly?
At this point we’re just shooting for once a year, which is a lot of work, but I’d love to see the event grow and possibly have multiple events headed up by other artists.
How can people get involved and help the Donate Life Rocks cause?
The Donate Life Rock’s cause is that of Donate Life. Please go to Donatelife.net to learn how you can help and sign up as a donor.
What has been your proudest Donate Life moment so far?
They surprised me with an award at a Donate Life event a few years ago that I played at. It was a really special moment for me. And I got to present an award to my friend and fan Debbie Hagerman who has helped me so much with the cause as well.
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For more information about Donate Life please visit www.donatelife.net.