Sixx: A.M. Recruit Corey Taylor, Ivan Moody + More for ‘Maybe It’s Time’ Opioid Crisis Song
Sixx: A.M. are back, recruiting Slipknot's Corey Taylor, Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, country star Brantley Gilbert, Five Finger Death Punch's Ivan Moody, Slash, AWOLNATION and Bad Wolves' Tommy Vext for a new video for the track "Maybe It's Time." What is bringing these musicians together is the goal of the song, to shine a light on the opioid crisis and help an industry-wide initiative to raise funds to serve the recovery community and save lives. See the video and hear the song below.
Utilizing the moniker Sixx: A.M. Presents Artists for Recovery, the collective times the release of the song and video to build up to National Recovery Month in September. It should also be noted that International Overdose Awareness Day comes on Aug. 31, while International Recovery Day is Sept. 30.
Nikki Sixx, a recovery spokesperson and advocate, came up with the idea for the song, with all royalties from the track being donated to the Global Recovery Initiatives Foundation. Better Noise Music will also provide a matching contribution.
Sixx says, “I am proud to bring together these artists to help raise funds for the Global Recovery Initiative Foundation. The opioid epidemic did not go away when the pandemic came along. Just the opposite ... those in early recovery became even more at risk than before so it's more important now than ever to raise awareness and support them. I really believe that united we can make a difference and save lives.”
“So, Nikki rang me to see if I’d lend a vocal to ‘Maybe It’s Time.’ After hearing the track for the first time in a while, I was reminded how good it is so I was in! It felt right, all around, giving back to the much-needed Global Recovery Initiative,” adds Joe Elliott of Def Leppard.
The song will also feature in the upcoming soundtrack to the Better Noise Films release Sno Babies (see a trailer below). The film, which arrives via video on demand on Sept. 29, delves into teenage addiction in a suburban middle-class town. Better Noise Films is also sharing profits with GRI.
The film aims to help start the difficult conversation within families about substance use disorders. “Alcoholism and drug addiction are family diseases. They’re the only diseases that everyone is mad at and hurt if you have it,” explains vocalist of Bad Wolves and sober coach, Tommy Vext. “People don't get upset at you if you get cancer. It's because with addiction, it affects everyone whose life touches the sufferer.” The Bad Wolves song "Sober" is also tied to the film's soundtrack, which arrives Sept. 4.
"It’s a real issue… It’s affecting young people more and more every year, so it’s very, very important for all of us to pitch in and do our part, especially some of us who have lived through it... those of us who have survived ... it’s the least I can do," adds Corey Taylor.
The emergence of Covid-19 has exacerbated the epidemic of substance use disorders worldwide. Being trapped in our homes has amplified our need for community and resources to fight the battle against addiction. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)’s director, Dr. Nora Volkow, recently said “For the past three or four months when Covid-19 hit, we don’t have accurate numbers of what the consequences are doing to the overdose fatalities, but from what we hear it’s estimated that there’s at least a 20 percent increase in the number of calls to the agencies reporting spikes in overdoses.”
She attributes this to the loss of support systems. As much as there has been awareness raised about the growing opioid crisis and addiction, there have been few initiatives created to address the issue, head-on, at a scale needed to have the necessary impact.
At a recent Summit of Recovery Researchers, Vice Admiral Jerome M. Adams, U.S. Surgeon General emphasized, “We need local support services for people in early recovery because the protocols of Covid-19 requires isolation and reduces access to support services needed which is the opposite of what is needed to reduce reuse.”
The Global Recovery Initiatives Foundation (GRI) is the first and only national community foundation dedicated to building a philanthropic source of funding for organizations to expand their capacity to provide people with Substance Use Disorders (SUD) recovery support systems and services to combat the growing problem.
GRI’s goal is to deploy 1,000 Recovery Corps workers into communities to provide peer support and access to services for those in early recovery. GRI supports organizations using evidence-based programs that have demonstrated success in: engagement of philanthropy leaders to invest in recovery focused non-profit initiatives, reducing the stigma around substance use disorders and recovery, and deployment of public, private and pop culture resources to strengthen the field of recovery.
Watch the video for "Maybe It's Time" below and if you like what you hear, the track is available via the platform of your choosing here.
Sixx: A.M., "Maybe It's Time" (Featuring Corey Taylor, Joe Elliott, Ivan Moody, Brantley Gilbert, Slash, AWOLNATION + Tommy Vext)
Sno Babies Trailer
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