Ted Leo and the Pharmacists pen songs for RNC police brutality victims

National indie powerhouse band Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are releasing a new digital EP with a very specific purpose: To raise money for the people who were arrested in the Twin Cities during the RNC. Proceeds from the EP, which is currently available via Touch and Go Records and will be released on iTunes next week, will go directly to Food Not Bombs Minneapolis, Democracy Now and the legal fees for those who have been arrested.

"Real people were hurt in St. Paul, and real people have bills to pay, and real people need funding to continue their good works," says Leo. "We (the band and I) were all feeling these events as deeply as we could from our 1200 mile remove, and so as not to feel entirely powerless, and in an attempt to contribute SOMETHING to that continuation of those good works, we wrote a song and recorded it…”

The EP includes two new songs penned for the occasion, "Paranoia: Never Enough" and "Mourning in America," as well as two covers: Cock Sparrer's "I Got Your Number" and Amebix's "Nobody's Driving."

“This isn't meant to be some grand sweeping statement on our part," says Leo. "It's just a way for us to contribute SOMETHING real to the lives of real human beings, and show our material support for those whose actions and thoughts we value in this ideological struggle.”