By Delinda Lombardo on
LookToTheStars.org first interviewed Blurred Vision in 2010 after the release of their first video, a remake of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall” which was dubbed “Hey Ayatollah Leave Those Kids Alone.”
The video was named one of the top 100 most influential pop videos of all time and one of the first Youtube cover songs to go viral. The band’s artistic work has been displayed in Museums alongside legends like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Michael Jackson to name a few.
In 2012, Blurred Vision became official ambassadors of NYC based charity WhyHunger and have worked with Amnesty International since 2010 on campaigns to spread awareness about human rights violations and prisoners of conscience. To back it up, most – if not all – of their social media posts are cause related.
The band’s official video for “Dear John” – A Global Tribute To John Lennon – was just released on April 2nd and brought BV fans from all over the world to be involved in the video-including a group of kids from the Hope North school in Uganda. All proceeds from the single on iTunes is benefitting WhyHunger, where along with Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, and Carlos Santana, Blurred Vision are official ambassadors.
Look to the Stars was more than happy to catch up with Blurred Vision front-man Sepp about using rock and roll to change the world, John Lennon and world peace.
Whose concept was this new video “Dear John”?
It was our own. We thought it would be really incredible to bring our fans from all over the world to be part of this and make it a letter – that’s how it all started – Sohl, my brother and I came up with this concept of writing a letter to John Lennon. If we could communicate with John using the inspiration of his lyrics, what would we say to him? That’s where this concept came from, and having our fans from so many different countries get involved was because we wanted to make this a global tribute to somebody that’s inspired so many of us.
Included in the video are former child soldiers from Hope North in Uganda. How did this come about?
Hope North is a partner with Why Hunger, they are involved with the ‘Imagine There’s No Hunger’ campaign and we ran across their information and what they are doing in Uganda, right after the Kony 2012 viral video. For us we also like to dig a little deeper into situations and when we dug we found there was this phenomenal school – Hope North- that is really hands-on in dealing with the direct cause of war and what happens when kids are taken hostage and made into child soldiers. It was so moving – these kids in Uganda knew the lyrics and they were the ones that decided to hold the signs that read ‘You know I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one, we hope some day you’ll join us, and the world will be as one’ – it was so moving that even through they are so far away, it resonates with them as well.
You mentioned Why Hunger, tell us a bit more about your involvement with them?
We were introduced to the WhyHunger ‘Imagine There is No Hunger’ campaign last year, and it embodies John Lennon’s legacy, so when we wrote the song we knew that we wanted to have the proceeds go there because of the work that they do all over the world to end hunger and poverty. Last year we were honored to be named as official Ambassadors, standing shoulder-to-shoulder alongside Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne and Carlos Santana, all of who are major, major influences to us, so it was wonderful to officially become ambassadors for them.
The word ‘dreamer’, does it imply “unrealistic”?
A dreamer is something we all have in us for something better, so if that’s unrealistic, then shooting for something bigger really goes out the window. For me its very much reality, if we don’t dream the world becomes the dark cloud that it is when you look at it through the eyes of the news and all the horrible things that go on. And without that mentality I think you get clouded by that, so I’d say it’s more real than what is out there.
With so many people pleading for Peace, singing for it, marching for it… why hasn’t it happened? Will we ever see Peace? Is a revolution coming?
Well, I think you just do what you can do with what you have. For us we have music and a voice in the world, and if we don’t use rock and roll to strive for peace I think we are fooling ourselves and aren’t rock and roll at all because I think that’s what its all about. It can be very daunting and easy to think ‘well how the hell can we achieve peace’ but I think it comes down to our generation, those that inspired us like Paul Simon, Bob Marley and John Lennon – these individuals put everything on the line to achieve peace someday. I think its up to our generation to do the same, so we are going to continue to move forward in their footsteps.
Aside from effectively using music to promote peace, you are also extremely well versed in politics… it would seem a natural fit for you to appear on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’?
I think it’s a perfect fit because we are the voice of today’s generation and Bill has always been the outspoken voice for many. I think one of the things we stand very much aligned with Bill is the fact that for our generation now, religion is losing its power. I think that’s a big thing because religion is really one of the weak points of humanity all over the world. With hunger and poverty I think there are those that use the concept of religion to feed off of those that are hungry or impoverished. So the more we educate the world, the more we feed the children of the world with good things, the less the chances are of them being preyed upon by those that use religion to brainwash minds and send them out to the battlefields to fight for whatever God they believe in or whatever holy figure they want people to die for. Hopefully we’ll be on Bill Maher very soon. We watch him every week, he’s spot on too.
Many thanks to Blurred Vision for taking the time to speak with us, promote peace and use rock and roll to really save the world. Look for the release of their debut album “Organized Insanity” in July, and a US tour to follow.
Find more info at BlurredVisionMusic.com.
Copyright © 2013 Look to the Stars
