Interview at this years Isle of Wight Festival
Q - Who can put 'green' demands on award-wining music producers and record labels? A – Jarvis Smith of The Phoenix Rose
Jarvis Smith is a musician, evangelist, publisher and TV personality. All of these talents culminate in a career that has focused on green living, a tenet best illustrated by The Phoenix Rose, which is Jarvis and collaborators Jim Evans-Jones (drums), Rob Tree (bass), Fingers (guitar), and Reet (vocals). The band has signed the with the UK's first and only green record company, Archangel Green, and the recording contract denotes guidelines about travel reduction and worst case, carbon-offsetting travel, green energy tariffs, and efficient CD production, and the use of enviro-friendly products for promo shoots and appearances.
Jarvis' talent as a songwriter and his musicianship are used as powerful vehicles for his 'green' message; The Phoenix Rose has performed at Isle of Wight, Glastonbury, Sunrise and the Bristol Vegan Fayre, and played the main stage at the UK's Greenest Festival, Waveform. The band also played at the London Week of Peace event in Trafalger Square, & impressed the star-studded audience at the GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards, which champions and recognizes ethnic achievement.
The Phoenix Rose's music is a melodic blend of reggae, pop and rock, written to infuse the mind and soul with positive vigour and a feeling of unity, principles of Reiki of which Jarvis is a master. The concept of energy transmission is a driving force; the belief that sharing knowledge, positivity and understanding is key in Jarvis' music.
Jarvis Smith wrote the new single, 'Sick & Tired', a call to people who want an end to dictatorships and manipulation, which are founding causes for the state of our planet. Strong idea, but as Jarvis believes, music is the best way to spread powerful and determined messages in a peaceful manner. 'Sick & Tired' is a catalyst to make people consider their world, and hopefully engages them to realise their own capability in insisting change.
'Sick & Tired' not only speaks of social change, but its actual production further demonstrates a new way of thinking – the producer of the track, Pete Hammond, PWL's mixmaster, who has had no less than 11 No 1 hits in the UK alone, was informed by the band that he would have to switch to a green tariff before they could work together (his studio was ultimately powered by 100% renewable, green energy)!
In addition to his music career, Jarvis is the publisher of National Geographic Green, the UK's largest ethical business & lifestyle magazine. Jarvis' publishing experience is deep, having published a number of other ethical magazines, including a special green edition of At Home and the Mail on Sunday supplement, Make Your Money Go Further and Be Kind the Environment.
To further the promotion of environmental concerns, in 2008 Jarvis co-founded realpeoplepower.org with the Big Issue and to highlight the need for recycling, he lived on a landfill for Channel 4's 2007 reality TV show, 'Dumped.'
'Sick & Tired' will be released in Spring/Summer 2010.
They have signed the worlds first green recording contract and have made the following commitments
This is from the actual contract
"The Artist The Phoenix Rose agrees to:
* Travel responsible to gigs and recordings
*only play low carbon stages preferably Solar Powered
* use 100% green energy tariff for recording
* release mp3's or sustainable products
* where possible use ethical products and clothing
* apply pressure to festivals & venues to proactively publish public travel links and switch to green energy tariff"
* offer 100% green switching tarrif to fans, get £10 worth of product in return for switching. www.greenhelpline.com/phoenixrose
Sick & Tired
