Mystery Jets have shared their new song ‘Hospital Radio’, an ode to the NHS.
The band’s frontman Blaine Harrison has spent the majority of his life relying on the service due to suffering from Spina Bifida, and the song comes in conjunction with the 71st anniversary of the National Health Service.
The band are heading out to a number of NHS hospitals in London this week to play ‘Hospital Radio’ live on air on hospital radio.
“I was born in the NHS and it has saved my life several times over,” Blaine explains of the inspiration behind the song.
“I spent so much time on wards growing up that they became a second home to me and inspired the first song I wrote.
“Over the years, I have come to see NHS nurses and doctors as our guardian angels, beautifully portrayed at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony,” he continues. “But austerity measures over recent years have meant that the spectre of privatisation has become a very real, and threatening prospect.
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“Whilst in hospital last month for on-going leg surgery, I lay in bed watching President Trump’s televised address to the British media, in which he boasted that NHS contracts would be part of future trade deals,” Blaine continues. “It gave me the chills, as it must have done to many others. I felt especially fearful of what the future might hold for the elderly people in the beds around me, many of whom are already in danger of falling through the cracks of the social care system.
“Sometimes music can reach places deep within us that can’t be reached by words alone. On this, the 71st anniversary of the creation of the National Health Service, it feels right to release this song to express our gratitude.”
Mystery Jets played a surprise acoustic set at Glastonbury last month. They’re set to play a handful of summer shows this year, including Glasgow’s TRNSMT Festival and a Newcastle gig with Bloc Party.