Back in 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (or MH370/MAS370) mysteriously disappeared while in route to its destination of Beijing, China. The plane, which was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers, last made voice contact some 30 minutes after takeoff, and entirely disappeared off radar an hour after that. After a few years of extensive searching only fragments of the wreckage were found earlier this year but ultimately, the search for anything more was suspended just some months ago.
Right before the Malaysia Airlines flight went down, local rocker Mike Stortz was writing some of the first songs for his band Johnny Raincloud. One of those songs coincidentally was of the same name as the flight, and has sat shelved until basically now. "When the search for the plane stopped, I wanted to make this song to be a reminder," says Stortz.
So, Stortz and the rest of Johnny Raincloud decided to record the track and make a live music video for the song at Surburbia Studios down in southeast not for profit, but as a means of keeping the lives lost on the flight in memory. "We’ve become so insensitive to real-life stories like MH370 but for that brief moment in time I felt connected to the whole world in a way I haven’t felt in a long time," says Stortz. "It’s just another reason I wanted this song to be a reminder of the brief time of when we did care. I think it’s sad it takes the mystery of a missing airplane for the world to come together with love. I think it should be like that all the time."
Watch Johnny Raincloud play "MH370" in their live video below, or later on tonight at the Twilight Cafe. Seattle bands Tyler Songs and Great Shame will also be playing, along with WorryDoll.