Francois van Coke released his cover of Eagles of Death Metal’s I Love You All The Time – in a musical response to the terrible terrorist attack at a French concert last year. The attack took place at the Bataclan theater in Paris on 13 November 2015 where Eagles of Death Metal was performing, and left the band rattled, but determined to not be deterred.
Afterwards, the band issued a challenge to other musicians to cover their song I Love You All The Time – and Francois van Coke accepted.
For every cover sold, we pledge to donate 100% of the publishing income to The Sweet Stuff Foundation. We ask that you also donate the money generated from sales of the song to the charity.
– Eagles of Death Metal
Van Coke believes in the unifying and healing power of music, he felt moved by this plea to help raise funds for the victims of the Paris attacks.
I felt that I wanted to be a part of the Play It Forward campaign because I was touched by the attacks at the Eagles of Death Metal show. I also feel a bit of a connection with the band because we played with them when they were in South Africa.
I am a huge fan of the band and I Love You All the Time was my favourite song on their new album. It was an honour to record this song.
Francois’ stripped down and pure version of I Love You All the Time was recorded with Theo Crous at Bellville Studios. Jedd Kossew played guitar on the track.
He translated the French part of the original version into Afrikaans:
I translated the French part to Afrikaans to make it more my own, plus my French pronunciation would’ve been bad.
Francois’ version of I Love You All the Time can be purchased from iTunes.
Relate Bracelets: Raising funds for the Vrede Foundation
Additionally, Francois van Coke will be selling Relate Bracelets, raising funds for the Vrede Foundation.
The Vrede Foundation – founded by Herman Pretorius, who lost his battle with cancer eight days before his 30th birthday in 2009 – is dedicated to raising awareness, early detection, as well as funds for young South Africans with cancer.
On his involvement with the Vrede Foundation, Van Coke says: “Herman and I have a long history. From playing in bands together in high school in the 90s to being part of the rise of the Bellville rock scene in the 2000s, he was truly my blood brother. His death was a blow not only to those of us who knew him and the South African rock scene, but also to the people he was reaching through the Vrede Foundation. Partnering with Relate on this bracelet is the least I can do to honour him, his legacy, and the message he was trying to deliver.”
The Francois van Coke Relate Bracelet, retailing at R50, will be launched on 18 February in Cape Town (Fire & Ice Cape Town) & 23 February in Pretoria (Fire & Ice Menlyn), when Van Coke performs a FREE acoustic show.
The bracelets will also be on sale at all of Francois’ 2016 shows and concerts.
