Following the release of her most recent album, “Fatal Optimist,” last month, singer Madi Diaz has released another project, but it's far from new and has a higher purpose.
The Grammy nominee, 39, announced Monday, in a surprising turn, that she recorded a complete, track-by-track version of Blink-182's seminal 1999 album, “Enema of the State.” All proceeds from their cover of the hit pop-punk LP, titled “Enema of the Garden State,” will go to the Defending Our Neighbors Fund, which helps immigrants have fair access to legal assistance.
“These recordings started as a fun exercise fueled by the love and fandom I have for Blink-182 and the 'Enema Of The State' album,” Díaz wrote in an Instagram post.
She went on to explain that the album cover was recorded in a New Jersey studio (hence the insertion of “Garden State” in the album title) while she was recording “Fatal Optimist.”
“I wanted to see if I could play these songs and let nostalgia guide my memory through the lyrics and through a punky acoustic arrangement. No planning, no overthinking, no analysis allowed, just performing the songs,” he wrote. “It was pure joy with no clear intention to launch this project until recently.”
“Enema of the State” is far from the singer-songwriter's usual theme. Times pop music critic Mikael Wood described Díaz's latest album as a “simple set of songs about heartbreak and renewal arranged for little more than Díaz's confident voice and folky acoustic guitar.”
Meanwhile, Blink-182 singer and bassist Mark Hoppus described “Enema of the State” in a decidedly different way in a 1999 interview with The Times.
“This record is pretty much about the same things we said on the last one,” Hoppus said. “What was [that] Girls hurt your feelings and free masturbation.”
Despite the marked differences in musicality, Díaz and his producer remembered “how incredible” the title “Enema of the State” was for a record and began to reflect on how strangely appropriate the name seemed to fit the current political climate in the US.
“There is a lot going on right now across the United States and a lot of pain with ICE raids and false convictions of hard-working American citizens and undocumented immigrants,” Díaz wrote. “[M]Maybe we could use this version of the state enema (garden) to raise awareness and money for people who need defense and help in their right to live, work, breathe, be and remain on American soil.”
The son of Peruvian and Danish immigrants, Díaz spoke about how people from all over the world come together to make the United States what it is and how they should not be demonized for being born somewhere else.
He also talked about the organization Defending Our Neighbors Fund and how he feels about the government's recent action against immigrants.
“So this project is on bandcamp and every penny it generates will go to @defendingourneighborsfund. This will help provide immigrant families, adults and children who need advocates access to resources through this support system,” Díaz wrote. “They are providing immediate grants for trusted organizations to provide legal advice and bond assistance. To me, this is about much more than nostalgia for teenage rebellion against mom and dad. F—ICE. Enema Of The State Forever.”
