UPDATE 7.10.08
READ THE PRESS RELEASE HERE!!

UNDER THE RADAR 2008 PROTEST ISSUE:
SPARKING DIALOGUE


R.E.M., Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, Spoon, OK Go, Jarvis Cocker, The Flaming Lips, Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine, Moby, Bright Eyes, and many others talk politics in Under the Radar’s Protest Issue

Under the Radar unleashes 2008’s Protest Issue on newsstands the first week of July, using the time-honored connection between politics and music to promote political dialogue and awareness in a way that few print publications do in this day and age. The Protest Issue features two alternating covers: one with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse, the other with Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, The Decembrists’ Colin Meloy, and Britt Daniel of Spoon. Inside the issue, you’ll find in-depth interviews and photo shoots exploring the intersection of music and politics as artists tackle issues ranging from Darfur to the environment to the upcoming  2008 U.S. presidential election. This is a pivotal era in America’s history and n ever has the time to utilize musicians’ voices through the media been more apropos.

As with Under the Radar’s 2004 Protest Issue , publishers Mark and Wendy Redfern asked a n eclectic array of artists to contribute to the 2008 issue. Under the Radar conducted photo shoots with musical artists holding protest signs of their own making that will be auctioned for charity (the magazine provided the materials and the artists painted a message of their own choosing on the signs). Artists who were interviewed for the issue and/or photographed with their signs include cover stars Stipe, Brock, Walla, Meloy, and Daniel as well as Billy Bragg, Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, British Sea Power, Built to Spill, Jarvis Cocker, Death Cab for Cutie, The Dresden Dolls, Elbow, The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, Fleet Foxes,  Foals, Michael Franti, The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, Sharon Jones, Talib Kweli, Jamie Lidell, Metric, Moby, O K Go, Peter Bjorn and John’s Peter Morén, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, St Vincent, My Morning Jacket, Okkervil River, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Rogue Wave, Stars, Supergrass, System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, and more.

Articles and features in the issue include:

  • Musicians and Politics in 2008: Can It Work?
  • Reclaiming the Mic:  Hip-Hop and Protest
  • Issues Around the World:  International Musicians Speak Out
  • Michael Stipe: New Adventures i n Activism
  • Top 10 Protest Songs of the 21st Century
  • Tights and the Good Fight: Politics and Comic Books
  • Four Stories of Imprisonment and Exile
  • An interview with Iraq War veteran Tomas Young (Body of War)
  • A political essay by Chris Walla
  • Politically themed Q&As with Isaac Brock, Britt Daniel, and Colin Meloy

Each protest sign has been autographed by the artists and will be auctioned off on eBay, with proceeds going to War Child International, www.warchild.us, a non profit that helps children i n areas of conflict across the globe. The auction will go live on September 30th.

For a more detailed look at The Protest Issue visit: www.undertheradarmag.com/protestissue2008.html

To speak with the publishers about the issue and the auction, please contact Sheila Kenny at Riot Act Media (Sheila@riotactmedia.com).