Madi Diaz has released a full-album cover of Blink-182’s *Enema of the State* to support the Defending Our Neighbors Fund. You can listen to her renditions of “Don’t Leave Me” and “Anthem” below, and click through to purchase the album on Bandcamp.
The Nashville singer-songwriter, who released *Fatal Optimist* last month, shared in press materials that the cover record “started out as a fun light exercise fueled by an eternal love and fandom” for the band and album. She explains, “I wanted to see if I could let the nostalgia drive my memory for the lyrics and tear through a punky acoustic arrangement. No planning, no overthinking, no analyzing allowed, just ripping into the songs. It was pure fun, pure joy.”
Diaz adds that she had not planned to release the record until the extent of the Trump administration’s mass-deportation program became clear. “I started thinking about how incredible the name *Enema of the State* is for a record,” she says. “How the title is somehow so current and politically, culturally, socially, insanely ironic.”
Reflecting on this, she continues, “We thought maybe we could use this version of *Enema of the (Garden) State* to raise awareness and money for people in need of defense and aid in their right to live and work and breathe and be and stay on American soil.”
Every penny generated by this project will go to the Defending Our Neighbors Fund, which helps provide immigrant families, adults, young children, and others in need with access to advocates and resources through a support system.
Diaz closes with a heartfelt message: “Thank you so much for listening. For me, it’s become so much more than just a nostalgia for teenage rebellion against mom and dad. Fuck ICE. *Enema of the State* Forever.”
https://pitchfork.com/news/madi-diaz-releases-blink-182-covers-album-for-charity-listen/