Prog giants Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, No-Man) and Mariusz Duda (Lunatic Soul, Riverside) have teamed up in recording a new song, “The Old Peace”. The track is a tribute to a recently departed fan of Wilson and Duda’s; the proceeds from the sale of the single will go cancer related charities.
Wilson said this about “The Old Peace”:
“Myself and my friend Mariusz Duda have teamed up to record a song together, and for a very special reason.
“Alec Wildey was a young fan who for several years had been passionate about our music, actively helping out with promotion as a leading member of the Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson street teams from the tender age of 17, and setting up a street team for Mariusz in 2010. Some of you will almost certainly have met Alec, as he attended many of our concerts. If you did you will have found him to be a sensitive, extremely intelligent and articulate young man. He was a devoted and enthusiastic music listener and movie watcher, as well as a self-published poet, with a very bright future ahead of him.
“Unfortunately on Christmas Eve 2013 Alec learned he had a cancer of the lymphatic system, followed shortly afterwards by an additional diagnosis of liver cancer. He began a course of aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but alas to no avail. At the end of July when he understood he had only a short time left, he emailed me to ask if it was possible that his two favourite musicians could set one of his poems to music, a long held dream of his. I immediately agreed but told him I would make a deal with him — I would make it happen if he could hang on long enough to hear it. We even discussed the possibility of him playing drums on the song himself. Unfortunately he passed away only a few weeks later on 25th August at the age of just 26, and so the idea to record the song has now become about honouring Alec’s memory and all too short life, as well as a form of tribute to him and his family. One of Alec’s poems ‘The Old Peace’ has been beautifully set to music by Mariusz and sung and performed by both of us. It is now available to download from Burning Shed for a modest sum in both high resolution FLAC and mp3, with 50 percent of the proceeds going to the medical centre that cared for Alec during his final months, and 50 percent going to other cancer support group charities. We would be happy if as many people as possible paid for the official download (so please don’t share it or upload it to any other sites) in order to raise as much as we can to help others that find themselves in the same awful situation. The song will be available to download until the end of January 2015, after which all the proceeds will be paid over to the cancer support groups.”
You can purchase “The Old Peace” via Burning Shed at this link.
“The Old Peace”
Words by Alec Wildey
Music by Mariusz Duda
Vocals / guitars — Mariusz Duda
Vocals / M-4000 mellotron / keyboards / hand percussion — Steven Wilson
Header image by Lasse Hoile