Chris Cowburn, former drummer of Melbourne outfit The Smith Street Band, has taken to eBay to auction off old merch to aid in raising funds for Australian Indigenous legal services.
Having left The Smith Street Band back in 2017, Cowburn took to Instagram over the weekend to announce that he would be selling some old memorabilia from his time with the band, including two drum heads from the band’s More Scared of You than You Are of Me tour, and artwork for their Sunshine and Technology album, created alongside Andy Johnson.
Announcing his decision following a heartfelt post about the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the necessity to use white privilege to dismantle systemic racism, Cowburn urged his followers to donate money to a number of Australian Indigenous legal services.
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“I have no affinity with [The Smith Street Band] anymore, but I do have some unique stuff which might be of value to some people, that I wanna use to do some good with,” Cowburn, who now plays in the Melbourne three-piece LOSER, wrote.
“I just put up three auctions of one-of-a-kind SSB stuff on eBay. 100% of money raised will be donated to the organisations listed, and I’m gonna match the total amount raised with my own money.”
At the time of writing, the drum heads (one in good condition, and another featuring a hole made by Smith Street Band frontman Wil Wagner’s guitar) have brought a collective total of $1,035 in bids, while the artwork is creeping closer to $300.
Interested fans can check out the auctions via the link in Cowburn’s Instagram page, before they end on Friday afternoon.
In recent news, The Smith Street Band achieved their first chart-topping album in April when Don’t Waste Your Anger, their first record without Cowburn on drums, managed to hit #1 on the ARIA charts, just one month after their Live at The Triffid album reached a peak of #4.
