The Boston music community is coming together Saturday night at the Middle East to raise money for Ian Lawrence, a longtime New England music scene fixture faced with a mandatory kidney transplant, extensive rehabilitation, and mounting medical bills.
The GoFundMe campaign launched in March has raised roughly $13,500, and tomorrow’s show with Animal Hospital, Party Bois, and Adam McGrath should pad those numbers. But those closest to Lawrence have added another means to raise needed money: Releasing the new the long-lost LP from Newton-based indie/shoegaze band Charlene, titled Our Friends Electric.
Lawrence joined the Boston indie/shoegaze band in 1997, and was with the group around the time of Charlene’s lone album release, a 2002 self-titled effort under their own SharkAttack! label.
The new record, about 10 years in the making, will be announced officially tomorrow night, with all proceeds donated to Lawrence’s medical campaign. Our Friends Electric was reportedly completed around 2008, but was never released.
In addition to drumming in Charlene, Lawrence also co-ran Barge Recordings, is the owner of another label, Northern Plastics, and is a monthly resident DJ at Central Square dance party Soulelujah.
Listen — and BUY — Charlene’s Our Friends Electric below.
