Dodgy re-record hit single to aid Musicians Against Homelessness

The Britpop band, who play at the Leadmill in Sheffield on Friday February 15, have re-recorded the song and gifted it to Musicians Against Homelessness (MAH). It is on sale now and all proceeds will go to Crisis, the national charity for homeless people.

The band has also made a new video to promote the song – a summer hit in both 1994 and 1995, and originally a track on their seminal second album Homegrown which went gold in the UK.

Dodgy issued a statement saying: “Having shelter is a basic human need. We’ll never know what it’s like to be homeless until it happens to us and becoming homeless is closer than you think for most of us.

“Certain parts of the media have been successful in demonising homeless people, the way we reverse those pernicious lies is by helping. We are failing as a society if we can’t look after the homeless.”

The band will tour the UK in February and March to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album and will be supporting MAH throughout the tour by raising funds.

They said: “We did a series of festivals with Musicians Against Homelessness last summer and we got along rather well ­– a finer bunch of people you not likely to meet, so it’s an absolute pleasure to work with them on the 25th anniversary re-release of Staying Out For The Summer.”

Dodgy notched up nine Top 40 hits in the mid-90s including the top five smash Good Enough – one of the most played tracks on British radio in the last 20 years.

Their third album, Free Peace Sweet, the follow-up to Homegrown, went platinum.

In the seven years before their first break-up, Dodgy sold more than one million records. They played a Saturday evening slot on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival in 1997 just before Radiohead.

Musicians Against Homelessness was launched by Emma Rule in 2016, backed by patron Alan McGee, the iconic boss of Creation Records who launched the careers of Oasis and Primal Scream.

The grass roots, not for profit campaign has raised more than £150,000 on behalf of homeless charities, beginning with small gigs and more recently progressing to include larger festival stages.

Thousands of bands have taken part in MAH events. Supporters include Irvine Welsh and Shaun Ryder and bands Happy Mondays, Cast, James and Buzzcocks.

Alan McGee said: “Since we launched this project in 2016 I’ve been shocked to see the numbers of homeless on our streets rapidly increasing.

“We’re living in an inhumane society where suffering is common place and solutions are not forthcoming. Thousands and thousands of people are homeless or living in abject poverty. We can’t ignore this and hope that it goes away or fixes itself.

“It’s a sad indictment of society that we’ve become so desensitised that so many will just walk past people who are literally dying on our streets. These people don’t have a place, or a voice.

“Thanks to Dodgy and the huge support we have received from the music community we are able to keep the subject in the news and continue to raise funds.”

To buy Staying Our For The Summer visit: https://apple.co/2ARrpNL

Dodgy will play their album Homegrown in full plus other hits on a huge UK tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of their breakthrough, gold-selling second album. They will be supported on the tour by Babybird, best known for their top five hit ‘You’re Gorgeous’, and Tony Wright, lead singer of UK band Terrorvision, who will be opening all the shows with a solo set.

Staying Out For The Summer was written by Clark, Miller, Priest, published by Universal and produced by Hugh Jones. Re-released by Revolver Records.

For Tour tickets see: http://homegrown25.dodgyology.com