The Leeds, England-based English Teacher released its debut EP, Polyawkward, in 2022, and its first album, This Could Be Texas, in April. So it surprised even them that they sold out New York’s Bowery Ballroom in June — on a Monday, no less.

Frontwoman and lyricist Lily Fontaine and lead guitarist and producer Lewis Whiting chalk it up to relentless touring, which has honed the band into a tight unit that melds Radiohead-style guitar and synth sonics with hard funk flourishes and elegant melodies that showcase Fontaine’s literary lyrics about place, identity and broken relationships. (The quartet has actually been playing together since 2018 when they were a very different dream pop band called Frank.) At the Bowery Ballroom, Fontaine’s electric stage presence also galvanized the crowd, as she paced the stage and alternated between rhythm guitar and synth.

English Teacher’s road work and original sound resulted in This Could Be Texas garnering stellar reviews and a Mercury Prize nomination this year. At the end of August, they continued their momentum with a new EP, English Teacher: Live From BBC Maida Vale — which includes covers of Billie Eilish‘s “Birds of a Feather” and LCD Soundsystem‘s “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” — and on Sept. 15, they return to the road, playing a slew of dates in North America and Europe.

Fontaine and Whiting (briefly) Zoomed in from the United Kingdom to talk about the band’s success, the origin of its name, its songwriting process and its plans for the future.

You’re a very tight band. Is there a lot of practice involved?

Whiting: Less than you think.

Fontaine: We’ve been on tour for at least the past four or five months, and we’re about to start up again. We don’t really have time to practice because we’re playing the set over and over again.

That’s practice of a sort. I do think that strong live shows are crucial to building a fan base. Lily, you’re riveting onstage. Were you influenced by any other artists in terms of stage presence.

Fontaine: It’s not really a conscious thing to be honest. I’ve been doing it for such a long time — 10 years — that I feel quite confident now on stage. I also think that being a music fan, the affectations of people that I have enjoyed slip in with my stage personality.

How did the band’s name come about?

Fontaine: Ugh.

Whiting: It was a name Lily came up with quite a while back. There are different ways of looking at it. Like, a lot of our family members we’re English teachers and it’s a bit of a connection.

Fontaine: Now, I like the idea of what an English teacher is. We go to so many different countries, and the English language is so prevalent— people do speak it everywhere now — that people sometimes resent it. I hate the name, but also I like the idea of an English teacher being perceived negatively or positively depending on which country you’re in.

How did you all get signed to Island UK?

Fontaine: It was baby steps.

Whiting: Yeah. We’d gotten some support slots, Our guys were floating about. Nothing happened for a long, long time after that. They must have been aware of us and then yeah, the EP came out, we started to play more and they started sniffing around a little bit more.

A number of bands are striking deals with labels that enable them to keep their masters. Was that something you did?

No. It was like a split. We have a percentage.

What are the best and worst parts of touring?

Whiting: The best parts are being able to travel to places and play music that we’ve written to people who don’t know it as well. That’s the best bit, and then I suppose all the rest of it is the bad bit. The traveling is taxing for sure.

The price of touring has ratcheted up, which particularly effects indie bands. What has your experience been?

Fontaine: We don’t really make money. We only ever break even or lose money.

Regarding the title of your album, This Could Be Texas, you could have chosen any state or city here. Why Texas?

Whiting: It must have been in our minds subconsciously because it had just come up on the news about [us playing] South by Southwest. I think it was the best descriptor for where we stood. It was a really hot day and we were at a car park. At first it was a bit of a joke phrase, but then it morphed and attached itself to the song, which is about the process of writing the album. Then it became us saying this should be the title for the album. It wasn’t a sorted-out thing from the start. It just kind of presented itself.

Lily, on “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab,” you sing, “I’m the world’s biggest paving slab, and the world’s smallest celebrity.” Can you give me some context behind that?

Fontaine: I grew up in Colne, Lancashire, and outside the town hall there’s a giant paving slab and that’s one of the town’s local celebrities if you will. The song is about exploring this great display and not necessarily ever leaving the town. It’s a juxtaposition of exploring feelings of grandeur and feelings of self-deprecation.

There also seems to be a little bit of, “Don’t tread on me.”

Fontaine: Yeah, definitely. I think that’s the grandeur element.

Do you and the rest of the band write songs collaboratively?

Fontaine: It’s different every time. Sometimes, one of us will come in with a song quite finished and sometimes just a bit of poetry and a riff come together. Sometimes it’s separate songs. Sometimes it’s all together. It’s different. We like to work like that. So far, it’s been all right.

Whiting: It’s a quite chaotic approach. It’s kind of just throw things together.

Another standout song on the album is “R&B.” On it, you sing, “Despite appearances, I haven’t got the voice for R&B.” Is that subtext about expectations of you as an artist because of your skin color?

Fontaine: The whole song isn’t about that, but part of it is. At the time, I had writer’s block and the only thing I could come up with in my head was a melody for an R&B song. I thought that was so ironic because that is the genre that people always assume that I make when they look at me. Not always, but there’s been times when we meet another musician, and the look on their face is a big shock when I say that I make guitar music.

You come from a mixed-race family?

Fontaine: Yeah, my dad’s side of the family are from Dominica in the Caribbean and my mum’s just I don’t know, England I guess. They’re both British.

Now that Kamala Harris is a presidential candidate, race issues are at the forefront of the campaign. I don’t know if it made news in the U.K., but Donald Trump made headlines here when he said that Harris only recently had decided to identify as Black instead of Indian. Is that kind of racism familiar to you?

Fontaine: Definitely. It’s so funny because it depends on who you’re with. It depends on how Black you are, how white you are. So, if I’m with my white friends, then I’m the Black one, but if I’m with my Black family I’m the whitest person in the room. Race is fluid in a sense — and what a prick [Trump] is. Sorry.

Are you following the presidential race here?

Whiting: I’m following it closely. Biden dropping out was an extremely good call. I can’t say I knew a crazy amount about Harris before this, but I like following American politics. I’m an avid American politics podcast listener.

Fontaine: I don’t have as much knowledge of [politics] as Lewis because I don’t listen to any podcasts or anything. I’m glad that Biden dropped out. I think that was an obvious decision. We’re going to be in the U.S. when the election is happening, so it will be an interesting time to be there.

Lily, the lyrics to “Broken Biscuits” are quite powerful and sound very personal. Is there an autobiographical element to it?

Fontaine: That’s probably the most personal song on the album actually. Yeah, it’s really personal. There’s this John Cooper Clarke poem, “Evidently Chickentown,” that has a lot of repetition, and I wanted to see how many different ways I could use the word “broken.” Then I was seeing how I could use all those different ways to relate to things in my life that were broken or that have been broken.

There are references to all sorts of things: breaking in shoes and broken homes, but also “Smithereens,” which is a Black Mirror episode and the show’s creators [Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones] call their company Broke and Bones, which I use in the lyrics. There’s lighthearted stuff in there as well. It’s not all sad. But a lot of it is quite dark actually.

Do you come from a broken home?

Fontaine: That’s me. Yeah, my parents split up when, I don’t know — maybe I was like one. It was when I wasn’t conscious, which is a blessing probably.

I noticed that the band worked in more melodies on This Could Be Texas than you have on prior work. Has that been a natural progression?

Fontaine: That’s probably because when we were writing the first EP and some of those earlier songs. I was listening to more post-punk. That was the time of the post-Brexit, post-punk resurgence in the U.K., and I was quite influenced by that. That trend wore off, and I was listening to a lot of classic songs — not classical music. I’m coming to music as a singer, and I felt it was just natural that I would probably go back towards that eventually.

At the end of August, English Teacher put out a live EP that includes covers of Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” and LCD Soundsystem’s “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down.” Why did you choose those?

Fontaine: LCD felt natural, because we all really like them, especially that song. I think it felt like a song that we could tackle given the instruments that we had at our disposal. With “Birds of a Feather,” we were asked to do a cover for BBC Radio One which is as you probably know is more of the pop end of the spectrum. So, we looked at what had come out recently — and my boyfriend said, “You should do this song.” We listened to it together, and I was just crying. I found it really moving, and I was like, “I want to do this.” We put it together in a day, and it felt right.

Are you working on the next album?

Fontaine: Yeah, we’ve got a few songs written actually. It seems like it’s come around so fast. Yeah, I’ve got ideas of the concept for it and everything.

Can you share the concept?

Fontaine: It’s too early to say really, and it’s not entirely up to me. But I don’t think I would want to put out a body of work that didn’t have some kind of unifying aspect to it. It happens naturally when you pull everything together that something connects it. It’s not exactly a concept album but always a bit of a through narrative. Thematically, it will probably be a sadder and darker album.

You are clearly into literature, poetry and media. Is there anything that has your attention these days?

Fontaine: Yeah. I’m going through a big phase with Octavia Butler, the science fiction writer. I’m obsessed with her and I just finished the second of two of her books. I’ve immediately ordered the next one because I want to read it whilst I’m still in that world.

She’s my focus at the moment. I’ve been watching The Bear. I think it’s amazing. The writing is brilliant, and the acting is so realistic that it’s kind of scary that people can act but also be so human at the same time. I love food as well so it’s a good one.

Corey Kent has Willie Nelson to thank for changing the course of his life.

By age 16, Oklahoma native Kent had already spent years playing music, including five years as part of a Western Swing group, but by his mid-teens, he was pondering quitting music. When Nelson played a show in Tulsa, Kent got a ticket, and quickly engineered a plan to perform with the legendary country entertainer.

“I got a piece of cardboard out of the trash, found a Sharpie from a lady at the concession stand, and wrote, ‘It’s my dream to play a song with you,’” Kent recalls to Billboard. Kent continued holding up the sign until Nelson called him onstage — and at Kent’s request, they sang Bob Wills’ “Milk Cow Blues.”

“From that point on, I knew I was never going to stop until I got where I wanted to go — but that [had been] the closest I ever got to throwing in the towel,” he says. “But Willie was there for me, and he probably didn’t even realize just how much that moment meant to me.”

It was what Kent calls “another of those black bandana moments.” That symbolism is woven throughout his sophomore major label album Black Bandana, out Friday (Sept. 6) via Sony Music Nashville. The bandana — which serves as inspiration for the album’s title, title track and cover art — has long been a favored cloth of cowboys, bandits and gang members. But for Kent, his own black bandana has been a practical deterrent from rocks or dust while riding his motorcycle. Kent drove his motorcycle to meet with his managers at Triple 8 Management for the first time and walked in with a black bandana around his neck.

“We had the formalities, and they were like, ‘You need to think about keeping that. That might need to be a thing as part of your image and onstage, to help you stand out in a sea of male country artists trying to break through,’” he explains.

A songwriter at heart, Kent also recognized the image’s deeper meaning. With his co-writers Rocky Block, Jordan Dozzi and Brett Tyler, Kent put the inherent rebellious spirit symbolized by a black bandana into song.

“’What’s the opposite of a black bandana? A white flag,’” Kent says. “Then it took on this whole meaning of staying the course and keeping on, even when everyone else quits. This is for when you want to wave a white flag, it encourages you to raise a black bandana.”

Kent notes that the album was originally to be called Bixby, in a nod to his Oklahoma hometown. After realizing “Black Bandana” served as the fulcrum and centerpiece for the project, the album’s other songs, such as “Rust,” “Ain’t Gonna Lie,” and “This Heart,” were written around themes of grit, tenacity, love, faithfulness, and hard-fought triumph — music for those whose lives have been seasoned by rocky times.

Those are themes Kent is well-acquainted with, having moved to Nashville to pursue music, only to land and then lose a publishing deal. He left Nashville for Texas just before the COVID-19 pandemic. With concerts paused, his family of five had to sell their house to continue paying his band members. Undeterred, Kent also worked at a pavement company, with his family living on an income he says hovered just above the poverty line for a while.

“It was a crazy tough time,” he recalls. “There were a lot of moments, a lot of exit ramps that would’ve been way easier to quit than to keep going.”

His breakthrough came in 2022, with the song “Wild as Her.” He was quickly signed by Sony Music Nashville. “Wild as Her” reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and has since been RIAA-certified platinum. He released his major label album debut Blacktop last year. But on his latest, he says he’s realized a wider, deeper scope of impact: “It’s the first record I’ve made that I had bigger motives [behind] than just writing about my own life.”

Each song, he says, points to a heartier, deep-rooted, flintier kind of love, fashioned from years of enduring together hardships and triumphs. For instance, “Never Ready” details milestone moments — finding love, raising children, facing the death of a parent — that many people face whether they feel prepared or not. “I got tired of hearing all these love songs where it was just like the honeymoon phase only,” He explains. “What about people like me, who are seven, or eight years in and have tough times but still are making it work and love their wife? Where’s that song? It’s not all glamorous.”

He also eschewed the typical Music Row writing rooms, instead bringing a host of songwriters — including Joybeth Taylor, Austin Goodloe, Rocky Block, Brett Tyler and Lydia Vaughan — out to his residence in Texas for writing sessions. Kent is a co-writer on six of the album’s songs, including “Rust” and “So Far,” but was intentional about recording only the most standout songs, disregarding whether or not he was a co-writer on them — a defiant goal ossified through Kent’s early career days of trying to make it as a songwriter.

“I had a lot of holds, but I never got into big cuts, because I wasn’t in the rooms with the writers who were co-writing with the artists,” he recalls. “I remember going, ‘That sucks for somebody like me that gave everything just to be right here in Nashville writing songs. Now I don’t get a shot, even though I wrote a great song, just because I didn’t write it with the guy that’s putting the record out.’ That frustrated me to my core.”

One of the few outside cuts was “Now or Never,” an ’80s-tinged power ballad he performs with “Road Less Traveled” hitmaker Lauren Alaina, as they sing of a couple on the precipice of a relationship-altering decision.

“I was supposed to just put the song out myself — it was already recorded — but the more I listened to it, the more I realized it could be a strong duet,” he says.

Kent was playing a radio event at Billy Bob’s Texas when he first met Alaina. “I was blown away when I heard the power in her voice — the tone, the control, it checked all the boxes,” he raves. When Kent brought up the idea of Alaina singing on the track, she agreed.

“She’s a complete pro,” Kent says. “She was every bit as good in the studio as she was live, and she gave this song a really cool dynamic that it didn’t have before.”

Kent’s relentless underdog spirit has resonated with his fans, including the video he posted on social media on his way to this year’s ACM Awards in May. 

“I was driving my old 1996 Bronco. I was just reflecting, and said something like ‘On my way to the ACM Awards with zero nominations, one badass record on the way…” and I dedicated it to anyone still putting in the work,” he recalls. “They’ve got their head down. They’re outworking everybody. I realized how many people identify with that, and those are usually the pretty soft-spoken people, those who aren’t necessarily going to jump up and down and say, ‘Look at what I’m doing.’ People resonated with that and a few weeks later, we wrote ‘Black Bandana.’”

In late September, the WME-signed Kent will take the album on the road for his headlining Black Bandana Tour, visiting 25 cities in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, including Atlanta, Boston, Dublin and London. Joining him on select dates will be openers Braxton Keith, Kaitlin Butts, Max McNown, Karley Scott Collins and Lauren Watkins.

Parallel with music, Kent recently launched his Bus Call podcast, which features Kent in conversation with a mix of music industry friends and non-industry friends he’s met along the way, including songwriter Kevin Fowler and Mac Terrence Sr., who works to bring positive influences to at-risk youth.

“I just wanted to make people aware of some really cool people in my life that I’ve met along the way,” he explains. “A lot of these people, I’ve met on the road, so that’s why we call it ‘Bus Call,’ because we bring them on the bus in whatever city we’re stopping in. Most times, it’s just me catching up with friends and having the same conversation we would regularly have, except we have a microphone in front of us.”

Black Bandana may be Kent’s second major label project, but as he prepares for its release, he again draws inspiration from Nelson, his sights set on playing the long game.

“I’ve put my work in, I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I plan to be here 20 years from now,” Kent says. “When you look at Willie Nelson, [whose] about to put out his [76^th solo studio album], the second one doesn’t seem all so do or die. You owe it to yourself to take the pressure off and create something you’re passionate about. Let the chips fall where they may, and then you move on to the next one. That helped me lower the pressure on the new album and realize I’m looking at this from a 20-year perspective, not a next-year-only perspective.”

“Welcome to Pearl Jam’s 50th show in New York City,” Eddie Vedder said to a rapturous response on stage at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night (Sept. 4), the second of two shows the iconic band from Seattle played at the World’s Most Famous Arena this week.

“And for that we are grateful and want to pay that back. So enjoy yourselves to the finest — and Mike McCready promises to do the same,” he added, before the lead guitarist ripped into a searing version of “Evenflow,” playing an extended epic solo with his guitar behind his back.

That was one highlight of a show full of them, and one that captured the band in its element: pushing songs to the limit, having fun with the crowd and also getting serious about some of the big issues in the country and the world at large. 

“The rights of women are not just being threatened, they are already being taken away,” Vedder said after “Evenflow,” a handful of songs into the band’s two and a half hour set. “I know it’s a little early to be getting into this s–t, but let’s get it over with! So the right to choose issue, it used to involve religious fanatics, and then politicians got involved, not because they care one way or another, they just would like the votes. And it’s evolved into judges, and women of all ages are up against a Supreme Court. So there’s good news: It’s time to vote, and as the great Patti Smith said, people have the power. Never have truer words been spoken. Women, feel empowered; women, vote for your own interests, and help a sister out while you’re at it.”

The band then went into “Daughter,” with an extended outro to the melody of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In the Wall Pt. 2,” in which Vedder changed the lyrics to sing, “Keep your bans all off our bodies/ politicians leave our girls alone/ Judges leave our girls alone.”

It wasn’t the only time Vedder, wearing a Walter Payton Chicago Bears jersey, and the band addressed the outside world. On a day in which the U.S. saw another mass school shooting, in which four people were killed and more wounded at a high school in Georgia, the band pulled out a seldom-performed song from its sophomore album, Vs., called “Glorified G” — a cynical sneer at the false bravado of gun owners, with Vedder introducing it by saying, “I hate guns!” More poignantly, and more somberly, two songs later, the band played “Jeremy,” its first breakout hit from the group’s debut album, which is about a boy who brings a gun to school and shoots himself in front of his classroom bullies. Delivered with full energy, the subtext wasn’t lost.

Otherwise, the band clearly enjoyed the 50-show milestone, with Vedder telling a story of the first time he ever came to New York City (“as a Chicago kid, and then on the West Coast, I had never been East of Chicago before”) while introducing “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town,” while there were huge crowd reactions for the high-energy performances of songs such as “Rearviewmirror,” “Hail Hail” and “Do the Evolution.” (The latter, for this fan at least, takes on a different tenor after watching three episodes of the docuseries Chimp Crazy, but I digress.)

After a set break, Vedder came out solo to perform the Steven Van Zandt-penned “I Am a Patriot” and the latter-career gem “Just Breathe,” before bringing tour opener Glen Hansard — “Good human, great Irishman” — to the stage to perform the latter’s “The Song of Good Hope,” shouting out a few fans who had been going through rough times and saying that the song had helped him through troubles of his own. The full band — plus former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and producer Andrew Watt, who chipped in with a few solos over the evening — then returned for John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth” and the punk anthem “Sonic Reducer.”

The band then ripped through another rarity in fan-favorite “Leash” and its iconic anthem “Alive,” before Vedder brought Little Stevie himself on stage to run through a joyful “Rocking In the Free World,” complete with Hansard, Watt and the full arena lights on, before closing out with their unreleased classic “Yellow Ledbetter” and sending fans home into the Manhattan night.

Set List

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The Recording Academy is gearing up for Music Advocacy Day, its new name for District Advocate Day, which is set for Oct. 1 with Mark Ronson as this year’s Music Advocacy Day Artist Ambassador. A letter with Ronson’s signature was emailed Thursday (Sept. 5) to the Recording Academy’s 22,000 members, including voting, professional and GRAMMY U student members, urging them to join him in this nationwide rally.

“The music industry is changing faster than ever, and with those changes come challenges—whether it’s navigating the impact of artificial intelligence or tackling the issues surrounding live event ticketing,” Ronson wrote. “But these challenges are also our opportunities to shape the future of music.

“Music Advocacy Day is your unique opportunity as an Academy member to share your perspective on policies to prevent the misuse of A.I., protect your voice and likeness, and stop predatory ticketing practices to ensure we creators are getting equitably paid.”

Ronson was in Washington, D.C., on May 1 for the Academy’s Grammys on the Hill Advocacy Day, at which time he and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, Jr. met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), among others.

“I saw firsthand the impact of sharing our stories with the people who represent us,” Ronson wrote in this letter. “Those conversations helped lead to meaningful outcomes on Capitol Hill, including the passage of the TICKET Act in the House, and the introduction of the NO FAKES Act in the Senate. Now, on Music Advocacy Day, we can build on the progress we’ve made and speak with our Congressional leaders at home in our local communities to ensure they hear our concerns.”

Recording Academy members can sign up for Music Advocacy Day by checking their inboxes for registration information or reaching out to their local chapter. But they don’t have much time to act. Registration closes on Friday (Sept. 6). The Academy notes that non-members can also participate by reaching out to their legislators through the Academy’s music advocacy action page.

Key issues that members of the Academy will address with legislators in their hometowns this year include:

Artificial Intelligence: Advocating for the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act, which is designed to protect Americans from fraudulent AI replicas.

Live Event Ticketing Reform: Advocating for the Fans First Act, legislation that safeguards artists and consumers from deceptive practices, provides transparency and restores integrity to the ticketing marketplace.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Music Advocacy Day, which the Academy calls the largest grassroots advocacy movement for music. On last year’s Music Advocacy Day, more than 1,700 Academy members engaged in nearly 100 meetings with lawmakers, according to the Academy.

Music Advocacy Day has helped achieve several legislative victories. Efforts from previous years have led to the enactment of the Music Modernization Act, which reformed music licensing for the streaming era, and the Save Our Stages Act, which provided needed financial support to music venues affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, advocacy efforts contributed to the passage of the CASE Act and the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, further protecting music creators and consumers alike.

Ronson, 49, has won eight Grammys, including two awards for record of the year — one as producer of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” and the other as artist and co-producer of his own megahit “Uptown Funk!,” featuring Bruno Mars. He also won an Oscar for co-writing the Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper hit “Shallow” from A Star Is Born.

Here’s the complete text of Ronson’s letter to Recording Academy members:

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years in the studio, it’s that music has the power to move mountains. It’s more than just beats and lyrics; it’s the heartbeat of our culture. That’s why I’m reaching out to you today about something that’s close to my heart.

October 1st marks Music Advocacy Day, a day where we, as creators and members of the Recording Academy, come together across the country to make sure our voices are heard. The music industry is changing faster than ever, and with those changes come challenges—whether it’s navigating the impact of artificial intelligence or tackling the issues surrounding live event ticketing. But these challenges are also our opportunities to shape the future of music.

In this time of industry transformation, I am honored to serve as this year’s Music Advocacy Day Artist Ambassador and work alongside you to inspire a positive impact on our community. Earlier this year, I had the chance to speak with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. during GRAMMYs on the Hill, and I saw firsthand the impact of sharing our stories with the people who represent us. Those conversations helped lead to meaningful outcomes on Capitol Hill, including the passage of the TICKET Act in the House, and the introduction of the NO FAKES Act in the Senate. Now, on Music Advocacy Day, we can build on the progress we’ve made and speak with our Congressional leaders at home in our local communities to ensure they hear our concerns.

Music Advocacy Day is your unique opportunity as an Academy member to share your perspective on policies to prevent the misuse of A.I., protect your voice and likeness, and stop predatory ticketing practices to ensure we creators are getting equitably paid. On this day, you’re representing the millions of artists and producers – your peers – that need safeguards and protection. The Recording Academy will be with you every step of the way to provide resources and guidance.

I know how busy life gets, but this is a moment where our voices can truly make a difference. If you haven’t signed up for Music Advocacy Day yet, I urge you to do so. We’re a community of innovators and pioneers, and together, we can protect human creativity for generations to come.

Looking forward to championing the cause with you,

Mark Ronson”