John Cameron Mitchell Teams With Eyelids for a Lou Reed Tribute EP for His Sick Mother

John Cameron Mitchell has teamed up with Eyelids to record an EP of Lou Reed covers, and the proceeds of the EP will go towards Mitchell's mom's Alzheimer's care. They also released an animated video for "Waves of Fear."

Listen below!

It's not just any old love letter to Lou Reed. It's also not just a love letter to exes, or to New York, or to mothers. It's an EP made from years of happenstance and relationships and kismet. John Cameron Mitchell, the legendary writer/director/performer of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and most recently, the podcast musical Anthem: Homunculus, curated the Lou Reed songs for the Turning Time Around EP, out December 13th, 2020.

The story goes,
"Lou Reed is probably my favorite musical artist. Hal Willner and Laurie Anderson asked me and my Anthem: Homunculus composer Bryan Weller to sing "Turning Time Around" (from Lou's album Ecstasy) and my favorite Velvet Underground ballad "I Found a Reason" at a special Lou Reed Day at Lincoln Center. I extrapolated on Lou's melody and, inspired by performance artist Justin Vivian Bond, mashed it up with WB Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" rewriting "what rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem to be born" as "what orange beast..." Who could that refer to I wonder? My buddy Chris Slusarenko, who produced our Hedwig tribute album "Wig in a Box", invited me to sing Turning with his wonderful Portland Oregon band Eyelids. Bryan suggested we record it as a benefit disc for my Mom's Alzheimer's care. We added "I Found" and my late boyfriend Jack Steeb's favorite Lou song "Waves of Fear" (Jack used to work for Lou). REM guitarist Peter Buck hopped on as producer, Hedwig designer Miguel Villalobos came up with killer cover art and here we are."

John is intermittently touring a Hedwig-inspired concert The Origin of Love Tour. See www.originoflovetour.com for info and www.junctioncitymercantile.com for merchandise benefitting his Mom's health care. Eyelids will be releasing their new record, The Accidental Falls, on February 14th, 2020 with Jealous Butcher Records. "I love Eyelids and Lou and my Mom and I hope you will too."

Album art by Miguel Villalobos