The Coup’s Boots Riley has posted a truly terrifying account of the band’s recent, near deadly bus crash. Although he notes that the bandmembers all feel lucky to be alive, the crash has seriously damaged the band’s ability to make a living. “We lost everything in that crash and fire,” Riley writes. “We were packed to live and do shows on that bus for a month. Most of us had every stitch of clothing we owned on there. We lost clothes, computers, recording equipment, cameras, IDs, phones, keys to cars and homes. We lost cash. We lost all our damn instruments and equipment to perform with. We were and are happy to walk away with our lives. But now we’re home. Most of the band touring with The Coup has kids, rent that won’t quit, bills, and holiday expenses coming. We need money, because like I said the band doesn’t have the tools that they make a living with. Not only did we lose cash and material things on the bus, but we also were depending on this tour for money to make it through. It may take a year for us to see any money from the insurance company.”

Basically, this situation is scary and really shitty. If you want to help support the band (whose music you can listen to here,) follow the directions after the jump, you can donate money to the band’s get-back-on-our-feet cause via PayPal.

Riley writes:

I have set up a Paypal account so people can make donations for The Coup. The money will be split between Me (Boots Riley), Silk E, Q, Steve Wyreman (guitar), and Riccol. Mr. Lif is setting one up on his site and when I have that info, we’ll let you know.

To make a donation, hit button in the “about” section on the front page of this profile, right below the paragraph and above the “We Are The Ones” video. This allows you to donate even without a paypal account.

If you have an account, ours is thecoupbuscrash@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance to anyone who does this, this is a really crazy situation. I never thought I would would be doing something like this. I also never thought that we would almost die like like that.

We’re grateful for anything you can do.

Thank you,
Boots Riley

P.S. Thank you for the messages of love and warmth we’ve been receiving. It makes a difference.