By now, we're all gotten mildly "used to" social distancing, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE,) missing out on birthdays, anniversaries, and everyday life milestones we all take for granted, nearly everything being indefinitely cancelled, cabin fever, etc. It's all become strangely "normal" and abnormal all at once, but we're all doing our part each and every day to beat this thing... even celebrities. We're sure you've seen a number of televised remotely-recorded concerts to help raise funds for our frontline workers. Most of these have been great, but some have been pretty cringe-worthy and seem a bit phoned-in, as if they feel required to do/say something during these trying times. Case in point: back in March, Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot and he famous friends' oft-parodied rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine." Eric Slick (Dr. Dog) even recruited some Indie Rock/Hip-Hop buddies to cover a similarly-minded tongue-in-cheek rendition of blink-182's "Miss You" and Colin Young (NUDIE MAG) enlisted a bunch of his Hardcore/Punk friends to record a cover of Smash Mouth's "All Star." Well, we promise, if you've managed to reach this far... this modern day celebrity charity single is well worth your time! Last week, Gogol Bordell guitarist/Hey Guy frontman Boris Pelekh released a single, with a bunch of Punk/Indie Rock friends in toe, credited to #rockforhopeproject or simply, ROCK FOR HOPE.


Pelekh and his band of merry misfits have have assembled a remotely-recorded cover of "I Believe In Miracles" from The Ramones' 1989 album, Brain Drain. ROCK FOR HOPE consists of charity organizer, producer, film editor, and sound mixer/guitarist Boris Pelekh, vocalists Justin Hawkins (The Darkness,) Frank Turner (Möngöl Hörde, Million Dead,) Walter Schreifels (Quicksand, Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today,) Eugene Hütz (Gogol Bordello,) Tom Higgenson (Plain White T's, Million Miler,) and Brett Anderson (The Donnas,) drummer Michael Miley (Rival Sons,) guitarist Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance, Frank Iero & The Future Violents,) and bassists Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas (MUTEMATH, Pink Dust,) and Nathen Maxwell (Flogging Molly.) "ROCK FOR HOPE was inspired by my mom, who's in her mid-sixties and a staff nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian [Hospital] in Queens," explains music director and project organizer Boris Pelekh. "Her hospital became a central hotspot of the pandemic in New York City and her unit was re-purposed for COVID-19 patients. The situation was growing more grim by the day, so it became very difficult for me to isolate at home and not try to help somehow. I decided to muster up a bunch of friends from other bands to come together, virtually, and lay down a hopeful and anthemic Punk Rock song."


"Our goal is to raise everyone's spirits and help raise funds for a charitable organization that's on the frontlines fighting for our well-being. I picked one of the most timeless Punk bands from Queens and their song couldn't be a better fit," Pelekh continued. ROCK FOR HOPE have partnered with Partners In Health (PIH,) which is a global health organization restoring social justice by bringing quality health care to the most vulnerable around the world. "PIH is uniquely positioned to respond to COVID-19, leveraging deep experience in treating infectious disease outbreaks and responding to emergency situations around the world. They're launching a comprehensive effort to support this response across its network of supported countries around the world to contain and control the spread of the virus, ensure that patients are provided with dignified care, and demonstrate to the world what aggressive action in vulnerable settings can achieve. More than 88% of all our funding goes directly to our sites.'" LOUDWIRE recently ran a premiere of ROCK FOR HOPE's "I Believe In Miracles" in conjunction with its wide release last week. If you're interested in supporting Partners In health's charitable cause for those affected by COVID-19 can donate, via Boris Pelekh & #rockforhopeproject's recently launched GoFundMe page. ROCK FOR HOPE's "I Believe In Miracles" is now streaming exclusively on YouTube.