Fans of thrash metal, folk rock, punk, and hill country blues will be able to find common ground this month in helping to fund support for people with cancer. The Ten Bands One Cause initiative, now in its 10th year, will release records by Anthrax, Lissie, R.L. Burnside, Face to Face, the Gaslight Anthem, and others, pressed on pink vinyl in October and November. One release, a reissue of the Wedding Singer soundtrack, features many more than 10 bands, including the Police, Billy Idol, New Order, and Ellen Dow (the actress who played the octogenarian Rosie) performing the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.”
A portion of the proceeds will benefit Red Door Community, a nonprofit that provides free “cancer support, emotional and educational programs, and healthy lifestyle workshops online and in-person.”
Previous Ten Bands One Cause participants include Metallica, Run the Jewels, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Jason Isbell, among others. The initiative kicked off in 2014 and is activated every October for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The initiative has raised nearly $300,000 for Red Door Community since its first activation.
The records are available for purchase at independent record stores around the country and on Amazon. Red Door Community also accepts direct donations. Actors Gene Wilder and Mandy Patinkin and film critic Joel Siegel co-founded Red Door Community with others in 1995 as Gilda’s Club New York City in memory of actress and founding Saturday Night Live cast member Gilda Radner, who died of cancer in 1989. The name at the time was a reference to how she said cancer gave her “membership to a club I’d rather not belong to.” The name Red Door Community refers to the color of the door in the entranceway to the original Gilda’s Club.
Ten Bands One Cause releases:
Dear and the Headlights, Drunk Like Bible Times (out Oct. 6)
Lissie, Back to Forever (Oct. 6)
Anthrax, Anthems (Oct. 6)
Face to Face, Don’t Turn Away (Oct. 13)
Myrkur, Spine (Oct. 20)
R.L. Burnside, Come On In (Oct. 20)
The Gaslight Anthem, History Books (Oct. 27)
Various artists, The Wedding Singer: Music From the Motion Picture, Vol. 1 (Nov. 17)