The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) was set up to prevent male suicide, currently the single biggest killer of young men in the UK.

Each year, on average, men are three times more likely to take their lives than women.  But whilst smoking and knife crime make the headlines, suicide was responsible for the deaths of more young men in 2011 than murder, HIV/AIDs and road accidents combined.

Who are Quenched Music?

Quenched Music are a Manchester based company/collective supporting new music through a wide range of creative services from design and visual communication to DJ sets, gigs and reviews. Set up by Danni Skerritt (DJ Dirty Freud/writer) and Ben Tallon (Illustrator/Creative-Director) to help new music using their skills and networks.

What is Xpress?

Xpress is a new voluntary transmedia awareness campaign directed by Quenched Music. The project will highlight the benefits of artistic expression and how the arts can provide a common ground for people to come together - a vehicle for guys to get things off their chest.

We are featuring, via our official website: http://xpressofficial.com a wide range of exciting creative activity from different disciplines in the arts: musicians, poets, writers, artists, comedians, actors and more in a print/digital campaign, looking at the disciplines as a whole and people's personal experiences in the arts, hoping to inspire people to get involved.

We are also releasing an exclusive album of great new and established music from artists who have each kindly donated or recorded a track that was created to express something, whether it is positive, negative of just having fun. Alongside the album will be an accompanying newspaper encapsulating the whole project.

Who benefits from Xpress?

Primarily, Xpress will raise crucial funds for CALM to carry out their essential work to address the shocking statistics for male suicide. This can only be done through sales of the album, limited edition publication. We need your help to produce physical copies of these to sell.

The website http://xpressofficial.com will form the home of the campaign and provide a place where people can see many featured artistic projects and submit their own feedback. With your support, we can commission more projects through the arts to raise money for CALM.

The project will support new music and the arts. The album, publication and website are all a collaboration between artists, designers, writers, musicians, comedians, actors and other creative people. The project will gain valuable exposure for people in the arts during a time where the industry is under threat in a fragile economy.

What We Need & What You Get

We are a working with zero budget over seven months, relying on the kindness of people willing to offer their skills for free. We are looking to raise $6000 so that we can make the campaign reality. This will enable us to produce a limited run of physical album copies and an accompanying publication encapsulating the whole project.

By helping us raise the money you will be supporting a massively overlooked cause. 100% proceeds from the album/newspaper sales, created by the money raised here will go directly to CALM and help them carry out their crucial work. You will also be an integral part of the campaign, receiving a range of perks in return for your support.

Any Excess funds will also allow us to:

Make more copies of the CD album to sell, distribute and promote

Produce a limited run of vinyl records

Commission specific Xpress projects to support CALM

Put on gigs showcasing the musicians on the album to raise more money for CALM

Other Ways You Can Help