Longtime Bad Company guitarist Dave “Bucket” Colwell has enlisted friends including Iron Maiden guitarist and Jackson signature artist Adrian Smith for new album Guitars, Beers & Tears, due Aug. 17, which will help raise awareness of an especially cruel disease.
Colwell was named this summer as an ambassador for the SADS Foundation, an organization dedicated to preventing deaths among children and adults due to Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome (SADS). Through publicity, research, family support and professional education, the group aims to raise awareness of the cardiovascular killer, which causes 300,000 deaths each year.
While on tour with Bad Company in 1993, Colwell was personally affected by the disease when it claimed the life of the band’s tour manager. The guitarist subsequently offered to promote awareness for the SADS Foundation.
Guitars, Beers & Tears will contain a special “Stop SADS” insert with information on the SADS Foundation. The album features guest guitar work by Maiden’s Smith and other musician friends of Colwell, including Steve Conte (New York Dolls), Edwin McCain, Spike (the Choirboys), Danny Bowes (Thunder), Robert Hart (Bad Company) and vocalist Bekka Bramlett.
Colwell also remixed his song “Reach Out,” on which Smith plays, as an exclusive version for the Foundation titled “Reach Out (Stop SADS Mix).” The song was adopted as the official anthem of the SADS Foundation, and ringtones, mastertones and ringback versions will be made available.
Colwell and Iron Maiden go way back; “Reach Out” was recorded by Iron Maiden in 1986 as the B-side for its fourteenth single, “Wasted Years” from that year’s Somewhere in Time album (it appeared as a bonus track on the 1995 album reissue). Unusually, “Reach Out” was sung by Smith (who also played bass on it), with Bruce Dickinson contributing backup vocals; Smith and Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain also performed the song live in their side band, the Entire Population of Hackney.