Anti-incinerator single will set charts on fire

Sep 22 2009 by Andrew Welsh, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

ENVIRONMENTALISTS have harnessed the power of pop in a bid to boost their campaign to keep clear skies above Perthshire.

Protest groups fighting controversial plans to create huge energy-from-waste incinerators in Perth and Glenfarg will get together and sing the same tune - literally - when a protest single highlighting their cause is unleashed on an unsuspecting public in a matter of days.

Campaigners hope zany stack backlash anthem It Was Madness will set the charts ablaze when it is made available to download through iTunes on Monday.

Scottish-based film-maker Ro J Goodwin, who records under the shortened name Ro J, will perform an acoustic version of the bonkers folk-rock effort outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on October 1.

The song is sure to further ‘fuel’ the debate over the rights and wrong of incinerators, boasting lines like ‘When you burn certain articles, the smoke contains nano-particles’.

High-profile supporters backing the single’s release include former-Skids-frontman-turned-movie-director Richard Jobson.

Yesterday, Highland troubadour Ro J said the track – which is his debut single – was written as a means of showing his solidarity for other residents fearful of the health implications from chimney-building.

“I wrote this song to spread far and wide the insanity of burning our waste, and to help communities faced with a fight like our own in Invergordon,” he told Music Scene.

“We want lots of people to buy it, and help to set the charts on fire.”

Protesters from all over Scotland are marching on Holyrood on October 1 at 1pm to mark global No-Burn Action Day.

The track will be available to download from Monday and a taster is available at www.wix.com/itwasmadness/RoJ