Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Jarvis Cocker Enrich ‘Los Angeles Rising’

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Devo are among the artists who have contributed previously unreleased recordings to Los Angeles Rising, a benefit compilation for L.A. fire relief organized by Bauahus/Love and Rockets/Tones on Tail principal Kevin Haskins and beloved British producer Nick Launay. The 16-track collection is available now through Bandcamp, with all proceeds benefiting Sweet Relief.

Launay and Haskins, who moved to the city in 1992 and raised his two musician daughters there, were both evacuated from their homes in the Los Angeles hills and felt compelled to act after witnessing the destruction wrought by the Altadena and Palisades fires. Specifically for Haskins, the helpless feeling of trying to quickly gather up all his important belongings, spray down his yard with water and fight through gridlock traffic en route to safety made him think hard about how he could give back to a city he holds so dear.

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“The first time I came to L.A. was with Bauhaus [in 1982] and I remember looking out the windows of the plane and going, ‘guys, there’s palm trees!’ That’s how naive we were,” Haskins tells SPIN. “We got off the plane and there was this warm breeze. Our sound engineer rented a big, open-topped boat of a car, and driving down Sunset was so glamorous and exotic. Later, I really got involved with L.A. rave culture in the ‘90s, and that influenced [the Love and Rockets albums] Hot Trip to Heaven and Lift quite a bit. There’s a melting pot of cultures and food and people, and that’s what I love about L.A.”

Adorned with Shepard Fairey artwork, Los Angeles Rising is highlighted by Cocker’s stripped-down acoustic cover of the Mama and the Papas’ iconic “California Dreamin’,” the unheard Cave and the Bad Seeds song “Michelangelo,” Harvey’s “The Red River” with Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans (“an absolutely beautiful song that I can’t believe wasn’t a major single from one of her albums,” says Haskins) and an alternate take of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2006 cut “Turn Into.”

Haskins himself has a hand in two contributions: a cover of Bauhaus’ “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything” with Hannah Vandermolen, Nine Inch Nails’ Danny Lohner and harpist Mary Lattimore (“it’s probably in the top three of my favorite Bauhaus songs,” he says), plus “A System for Shutting Everything Out” with longtime collaborator Doug DeAngelis and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and guitarist John Frusciante. Haskins’ brother and bandmate David J also donated the original demo of Love and Rockets’ “No New Tale To Tell,” which has been in the vault since the late 1980s (“I couldn’t remember hearing it,” Haskins admits. “It’s the bare bones and there’s no real chorus in it, but it’s very interesting to listen to now”).

The Flea/Frusciante song was recorded on the fly in 2002, when the musicians were all rehearsing at the same L.A. studio. “I was so excited and nervous to work with them, and when we got together, I realized it was the same for them too,” Haskins recalls. “It has a very post-punk kind of vibe. It was very spontaneous and we made it up instantly. When we had the music, Flea said, ‘John, go and sing.’ He was a little reticent, but Flea said, ‘you can do this. Go. Get your [lyric] book.’ He sang this amazing vocal performance on the first take. A couple days later, I realized we didn’t have a title, so I called up John and said, ‘you came up the lyrics. Could you give me a title?’ There was a pause and he said, ‘A System for Shutting Everything Out,’ which just made me laugh. I’ve had some pivotal moments of working with other artists where I’ve had to pinch myself, and this was another one of them.”

Haskins says it was extra rewarding to work on Los Angeles Rising with Launay, whom he calls “a very creative, innovative producer. I can guarantee most people have at least five of his productions in their record collection. I’m a big fan of his early work when he was with Public Image Ltd., where he kind of invented that gated reverb drum sound that Phil Collins became famous for. I met him at a party in Los Angeles about a decade ago and we just really hit it off.”

“I feel like the angels are with us,” he continues. “I feel very blessed and grateful, and actually humbled and in awe, of what has been submitted. There has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes in getting clearances, and everybody’s come to the table. I’m honored to be a part of it.”

Here is the track list for Los Angeles Rising:

PJ Harvey with Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans, “The Red River”
Grinderman, “Worm Tamer” (LaunayVauz Remix)
Gary Numan and Titan, “Dark Rain”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Turn Into Redux”
Band of Skulls, “Cold Cold Sweat” (LaunayVauz Remix)
Jarvis Cocker, “California Dreamin’”
Primal Scream, “False Flags” (Orchestral Version)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Michelangelo”
Haskins, Vandermolen and Lohner, “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything”
Danny Elfman, “Monkeys on the Loose” (L.A. Rising Version)
Devo, “Shoulda Said Yes”
Siobhan Fahey and Titan, “Deep in L.A.”
CRX, “Blip on the Radar”
David J, “No New Tale To Tell” (Original Demo Version)
Flea, Frusciante, Haskins and DeAngelis, “A System for Shutting Everything Out”
US Girls, “Four American Dollars” (Demo Version)

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