Peace Tour 2007

Peace Tour 2007

When did Rock and Roll get a social conscience?

"Why wouldn't you go on a tour for peace? There's a universal theme in the culture of music - we all agree that organizing peacefully to create something beautiful is a good idea. We'd like to take this notion and romance the country two ears at a time." China Room

“I was born into a world where bombs were falling yards away from my parents’ apartment, while warning sirens blared from street corners.” Nima Kazerouni of China Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[July 28, 2007]

Los Angeles- When did Rock and Roll get a social conscience? Maybe it was always there, underneath the sex and drugs and party like there’s no tomorrow image, but nowadays whether it’s huge campaigns like the One Campaign or a big national tour like Van’s Warped Tour or smaller but just as strong campaigns like To Write Love on Her Arms, music is about being and doing more. And into this new consciousness steps a rising Los Angeles- based Indie band, China Room, fresh from being featured on the hit show “Prom Queen” and about to set out on the West Coast leg of their national tour.


"Why wouldn't you go on a tour for peace? There's a universal theme in the culture of music - we all agree that organizing peacefully to create something beautiful is a good idea. We'd like to take this notion and romance the country two ears at a time." China Room made a choice to make their tour about more than just supporting their new cd “Put on a Smile, They’re Coming Your Way”, described by BacstagePass as “destined to become one of the better new wave/pop records out there today”,China Room, consisting of members: Nima Kazerouni, Joaquin Pastor, Vince Mazza, Johann Carbajal and Gary Bramlet, are choosing to tour in support of The Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace.

The Dept. of Peace Campaign, an historic citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace, with a bill currently before the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 808) is a landmark measure that will augment our current problem-solving options, providing practical, nonviolent solutions to the problems of domestic and international conflict. Domestically, the Department of Peace will develop policies and allocate resources to effectively reduce the levels of domestic and gang violence, child abuse, and various other forms of societal discord. Internationally, the Department will advise the President and Congress on the most sophisticated ideas and techniques regarding peace-creation among nations.

It’s a natural choice for vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Nima Kazerouni, who has experienced the drastic consequences of a world without peace both as a child, “I was born into a world where bombs were falling yards away from my parents apartment, while warning sirens blared from street corners “and adult, “I've been substitute teaching in Inner City Los Angeles and have experienced vicious racial prejudice and seen the effects of gang violence in upsettingly young classrooms. A student was stabbed and killed on campus only months ago. The experience still lives vividly with the students and myself.” And the band joins such celebrity endorsers as Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Willie Nelson, Joaquin Phoenix, Steven Tyler and Walter Cronkite.

China Room came into contact with the Dept. of Peace Campaign through its relationship with Los Angeles’ CounterCulture Productions, an independent film company and their project, Omarska, a feature film based on the Roma (Gypsy) genocide in Bosnia and the American translator swept into the madness and horror of the notorious death camp, for which China Room’s “Soaring vocals and lyrics that take you on a journey”(XM Radio- Featured Artist of the Week) and “embody that subliminal uneasiness in the modern age, with a sound that is at once stirring and dark” (Pick of the Week-VC Reporter ) are the perfect musical accompaniment. Omarska’s writer/director CounterCulture’s Germaine de Pibrac James, longtime supporter of the Dept. of Peace Campaign and China Room fan strongly backed five young men’s choice to make the Peace Tour 2007, a chance not only to spread the music, but to spread the light and become a force for peaceful change through outreach and awareness raising for the Dept. of Peace Campaign.

As part of this continuing quest to get the Dept. of Peace message out, CounterCulture’s Brett Pitts, also a fellow musician and a filmmaker, who has worked on projects with bands such as The Shiny Toy Guns, is going with China Room on the Peace Tour, where Brett and the band have committed to filming a documentary on the entire 24/7 Peace Tour experience from California to Washington State and back.

It’s somehow appropriate that Peace Tour 2007 kicks off July 5th, the day after Independence Day, with a show and fundraiser at the Knitting Factory Hollywood, (tickets $10 in advance.) Please check out http://www.ladop.org for information on the Peace Tour including some free tickets still available for July 5th, and a tour schedule that includes San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, an Electronic Press Kit, and links to information on the Dept. of Peace Campaign, China Room, Brett Pitts and CounterCulture Productions.

For more information and to schedule interviews: press [at] ladop.org or 323-419-3859

Peace Tour 2007

Tour Schedule West Coast


Jul 5 2007 7:00 The Knitting Factory Los Angeles
Peace Tour Kickoff Party and Fundraiser!!!
Jul 6 2007 9:00P EDINBURGH CASTLE San Francisco, California
Jul 7 2007 8:00P OWL CLUB Historic Roseville, California
Jul 8 2007 8:00P STORK CLUB Oakland, California
Jul 10 2007 5:00P MUSIC MILLENNIUM Portland, Oregon
Jul 11 2007 8:00P TONIC LOUNGE Portland, Oregon
Jul 13 2007 8:00P THE BROWN LANTERN Ancortes, Washington
Jul 14 2007 8:00P THE LAB Seattle, Washington
Jul 16 2007 8:00P TBA Newport, Oregon
Jul 18 2007 8:00P LASALLES Chico, California
Jul 24 2007 8:00P BORDELLO Los Angeles, California