Local home-grown musicians teamed up with approximately 20 other Washington bands for a compilation CD to promote a message of life and peace to youth listeners through their love of music. Edson, a Lynden band, is featured on the disc as part of a nationwide drunk driving prevention campaign organized by a Massachusetts based record company, Illumina Records.

For the campaign, label executives tapped into local music scenes by state and networked to find unsigned, independent musicians or groups to sponsor that fit with their vision, ideals and style. The sponsored bands' events are promoted by Illumina, which includes endorsements of the label's message of teen safety and drunk driving prevention.

"This is a reputable project, so we weren't just taking anyone," said the company's director of publicity, Nicole Van Eden. "We were looking for talented bands that would benefit from working with us, but also have good hearts. Artists that jump in to the project put money into the campaign for the amount we promote them for, so there's no cost to them."

Edson was involved with "Seattle Rockers for Life," the Washington state division of Illumina's Ground Control Drunk Driving Prevention Campaign. Compilation CDs have been compiled for each project division, with hand-selected bands from more than 100 cities across the nation contributing at least one song to the track list for the "Rocker and Hip Hip for Life" compilation CD series.

In early April, Illumina produced the Seattle project CD and distributed discs to the featured bands, but a record release party is still in the works to be scheduled. Illumina hopes to have shows set for each state by New Year's, Van Eden said. Illumina Records and Ground Control program president and founder, Ronald Bellanti, established the project in the 1980s as a result of having witnessed an overwhelming number of drinking and driving accidents through his career in the entertainment industry, Van Eden said.

In 2005, with the initiation of Illumina Records, Bellanti attached the campaign to the label so a percentage of all profits made by the record company goes back into the campaign. The Edson band members have since split up after the collaboration with Illumina's project. Two months ago, the musicians went their separate ways to pursue their respective musical styles and interests, said Rev, the band's bassist. The band members, however, are planning to reunite for the event after the release event date is set, he said.

"We didn't end on bad terms," Rev said. "Our music styles and backgrounds are so different and that's what made us so unique, but it ultimately led to our downfall as well. We're all still good friends so if they set up a release event, we'd all be down." Other Washington bands featured on the "Seattle Rockers 4 Life" album are Road 20 and Kill Kill Orchestra. To find out more about what Edson members current projects are, or to sample Edson's music, visit www.myspace.com/edsonband or www.edsonband.com. For more information about Ground Control, visit www.myspace.com/groundcontrolawareness.