Members of Earth Crisis and Public Enemy Team up for Charity Single to Benefit Punks for Autism
In the latest bizarre collaboration news, vocalist Karl Buechner and guitarist Scott Crouse of legendary straight-edge vegan metalcore crew Earth Crisis teamed up with Chuck D of Public Enemy, Craig G of hip-hop collective Juice Crew, and producer Krohme to create a new 7” single called “Live Free” with proceeds going to benefit Punks for Autism. That last sentence sounded like a Mad Lib.
The combination of Earth Crisis and Public Enemy members sounds positively wacky when you first hear about it, but it’s really not. It’s not the first time that Chuck D has teamed up with rock musicians, having famously partnered with Anthrax for the 1991 version of Public Enemy’s single “Bring the Noise,” and also having formed Prophets of Rage with members of Rage Against the Machine in 2016. Similarly, it could be argued that Earth Crisis flirted with rap-metal on their 2000 album Slither when that sort of thing was becoming popularized in mainstream metal. Still, if you didn’t have an Earth Crisis/Public Enemy team-up on your 2024 bingo card, nobody could blame you.
According to a 2022 interview with Kerrang, Punks for Autism was started by punk scene veteran Steve Lombardo who has two children on the spectrum. The organization’s motto is “Be different. Be free. Be punk rock. Be you.” The organization creates merch to raise money for autism charities and raise awareness about autism. There does not seem to be any known connection between Punks for Autism and more controversial autism charities like Autism Speaks.
Lombardo explained in that interview that his son Vinny’s autism reminded him of the punk rock ethos:
“Vinny marches to the beat of his own drum, like a punk rocker. I started seeing parallels between autism and the ethos of the punk rock community. Everyone is accepting of people who are the black sheep, or people that don’t fit in in mainstream society. Autistic people are kind of similar to punks in that they don’t fit in the mainstream. I saw the parallel and the connection.”
The Live Free 7” is available now from Bitter Melody Records.
