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Alt-Rock Band Remedy Drive Won $200,000 for Song Inspired by Singer’s Work Helping Free Survivors of Human Trafficking

Remedy Drive Wins HFMA Golden Microphone Award

Remedy Drive Wins HFMA Golden Microphone Award

Remedy Drive's lead singer, David Zach

Remedy Drive's lead singer, David Zach

Zach works with The Exodus Road to fight human trafficking

Zach works with The Exodus Road to fight human trafficking

Remedy Drive left their record label when told no one will listen to anti-trafficking music; now, they've won the HFMA Golden Microphone Award for that music.

What is the currency of your life and where will you spend it?”
— David Zach, lead singer of Remedy Drive
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES, February 15, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- “What is the currency of your life and where will you spend it?” artist David Zach asks in a video sharing his journey into the fight against human trafficking. Today, the Human Freedom Music Awards’ (HFMA) announced that Zach’s alternative rock band Remedy Drive won the first place, Golden Microphone Award and a $200,000 grant for their song, Lovely, inspired by Zach’s frontline, anti-trafficking work with The Exodus Road.

Zach wrote Lovely while working with The Exodus Road and law enforcement in Latin America, building cases against trafficking networks. “When I meet a teenage girl who’s been ensnared by traffickers, there are so many things that I wish I could say to her, but I can’t,” Zach said. For security reasons, Zach and the nonprofit’s other investigators cannot inform the girls that they are there to help liberate them.

“I want to remind her of her value and her beauty and that she is worthy of so much more,” He said. “That’s why I wrote this song. It’s my way of saying what I wish I could say in person to the many girls that I’ve met while working with The Exodus Road.”

Speaking about Remedy Drive’s first-place song, Lovely, OneRepublic called it a “compelling song that speaks directly to the heart of the message of human worth.” The band went on to say:

"When we’ve met kids who have been trafficked it’s always obvious that there’s a very hard road to knowing or remembering their worth. With a good aftercare program and a focus on each individual child, they are walked through the understanding that they are so much more than what they’ve been told they are. It’s incredibly impacting to see the blossoming of these kids (or any person coming out of slavery) and the joy they have when they start to know and believe that. This song [Lovely] is a bullseye to that message."

The journey to writing this song began ten years ago. Zach’s passion for the counter-trafficking movement was born as he watched documentaries and read articles about slave labor, child soldiers and other forms of human trafficking. He recalled watching the documentary Kony 2012 with his five-year-old daughter at the time and crying together as they saw children kidnapped and forced to become soldiers.

Quoting William Wilberforce, Zach said: “You can choose to look the other way but you can never again say you did not know.” After watching the documentary and diving into more research, Zach started writing lyric and song ideas about justice, abolition, exile and freedom.

When he brought the ideas to executives at his record label, they said anti-trafficking music would never sell. On the drive home that day, he first coined the phrase, “I am not a commodity;” the foundational lyrics for his first of three abolition albums. Zach left the label shortly after.

In 2013, Zach started working with The Exodus Road after meeting the nonprofit’s co-founder, Matt Parker. Parker had started reaching out to artists in Nashville about getting involved in the movement to end human trafficking. Little did he know, Zach had already started recording the three-part, anti-trafficking albums.

Taking his song-writing advocacy to the next level, Zach completed The Exodus Road’s vetting process and became a volunteer undercover investigator. He joined small teams of national staff to gather evidence of human trafficking in brothels, red-light districts, dark alleys and wherever survivors were being held captive. Zach, along with other volunteer investigators, gather evidence to help local law enforcement agencies build cases to free survivors and arrest traffickers. To date, Zach has served in multiple countries on hundreds of cases.

In the last nine years, Zach has written several songs inspired by the women and children he met while working undercover with The Exodus Road. Individuals who were, or still are, trapped in sexual exploitation. He has consistently used his platform to share about modern-day slavery and its realities while challenging others to get involved.

Through the years, Zach’s fanbase has come alongside his work funding several missions and providing other resources for The Exodus Road’s frontline teams. The band's community and fan base have contributed more than $500,000 in donations and in-kind giving to the nonprofit.
“Everyone can make a difference in this fight, and it starts with understanding the issue,” Zach said. “I’m so grateful the HFMA team is propelling anti-trafficking conversations and action.”

HFMA, created by the nonprofit Humans Against Trafficking, launched in 2021 to unite artists and fans in the fight against modern-day slavery. The HFMA team collaborated with International Justice Mission to bring together and empower artists against human trafficking. Artists submitted songs that relate to the issue of human freedom; fans voted for their favorite songs; and then, judges Brent Kutzle from OneRepublic, Drew Shirley from Switchfoot, Charlie Peacock and Mike Elizondo selected the songs that best fit the criteria – original, impactful expressions on the issue of human freedom with commercial potential. HFMA grants were made possible by anonymous donors who support the HFMAs.

“Act on the stirring you feel for whatever human rights crisis or issue you’re passionate about,” Zach said. “We only have one life to live and to give. There are millions of people around the world trapped in various forms of modern-day slavery who need you to say, I’ll do my part.”

Mackenzie Spillane
The Exodus Road
+1 719-648-4291
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HFMA 2022 Top Artists