When I first started jamming 'Jackie' with my band, the sound of it reminded me of 'Across 110th Street' by Bobby Womack. A song about crossing the physical racial divide in Harlem in the late 60s. It was featured in the opening credits to Quentin Tarantinos's 'Jackie Brown', hence my song's title. The lyrics for 'Jackie' were written later, they talk about homelessness in our societies, and how we often treat people on the streets without respect.
After the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis on May 25th 2020 protests against systemic racism spread across the globe. Together with these protests the important conversation about the music industry culturally appropriating black music and exploiting black artists instead of recognising them was sparked once more.
I think these conversations are important to have. It is something I have been thinking about a lot because I am influenced by soul and blues, music that originated in black America. Jackie is kinda retro/soul, exactly one of the styles in question. Am I culturally appropriating by making that kind of music? I wrestled with it a lot, I thought about abandoning the release altogether.
I had a whole ‘social media plan’ leading up to the release date which I did completely abandon. It suddenly felt ridiculous to me, promoting a single just like normal amongst everything that was going on. I ultimately decided to release 'Jackie' and donate 100% of bandcamp sales to Grandmothers Against Removal NSW, a charity back home in Australia.
GMAR is a grassroots group led by Aboriginal grandmothers, fighting the ongoing removal of Aboriginal children from their families. You can follow them on facebook and even donate to them directly.
www.facebook.com/GMAR.GrandmothersAgainstRemovals/
donate.mycause.com.au/charity/37188?fbclid=IwAR24gHhAJ5Vup5QMzPmOnCZId2OKfHXRiObumpYdeNcrqPJE4WmjCOMGHtM
Please buy this single for as much as you can afford to give, your money will end up in the pockets of Aboriginal women with great work to do.
Thank you for listening.
released June 5, 2020
released June 06, 2020
Recorded at Low Swing Studios Berlin 2017
Written by Georgie Fisher/Tomás Peralta/Stephanie Grace
Guitar - Harry Charles
Keyboards - Armin Hempel
Bass - Tomás Peralta
Drums - Jens Baumann
Mixed and Mastered by Matthias Millhoff