“The transfer of energy when repurposing gun metal and using it towards music’s healing energy is immense.” ~ Mystic Marley.

On February 14, 2018, Malibu’s Richard Gibbs, a composer, musician and producer (Dr. Dolittle, Battlestar Galactica, Oingo Boingo and Korn) was in his car driving to his studio when he heard the devastating news – yet another school shooting – this time in Parkland, Florida, a place where families moved just to enroll their kids for an upstanding education. Only six weeks into the new year, there already had been 18 shootings at schools in the U.S. Gibbs felt sick to his stomach. Fed up and determined to take action, in mid-2018 he, along with a high-powered group of musicians and activists, formed Armory of Harmony, a nonprofit that gathers decommissioned guns and works with manufacturers to smelt them into trumpets and other musical implements. Armory of Harmony then distributes those instruments to high school music programs in need around the country.

“The essence of the message of Armory of Harmony lies right in its name - it denotes strength through cooperation and the creation of harmony amongst people of diverse beliefs,” Gibbs says. “People can work together like different notes in a chord.”

In addition to the projects above, Gibbs has been a composer and musical director for a plethora of films and television shows, such as Muppets Tonight!, The Simpsons, Queen of the Damned and Step into Liquid. His Malibu studio, Woodshed Recording, has served as the recording home for U2, Barbra Streisand, Chance the Rapper, P!nk, and Coldplay. He was also a founding member of the Malibu Cultural Arts Commission. Now, he passionately works on Armory of Harmony, hoping to use his talents to change the gun violence narrative from “what can we do?” to “this is one way to make a real difference.”

“The first time I was in California was when I was 16 and marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade, playing trombone for the Seabreeze Marching 100 from Daytona Beach,” Gibbs says. “So, the Parkland shooting really hit home for me. One of the victims, Alex Schachter, played trombone in the Stoneman Douglas band.”

Armory of Harmony flew to Florida to film Mystic Marley (Bob’s granddaughter), singing Jamaican patois and dancing around the ranks of the Marching 100 on the beach in Daytona.

Gibbs elaborates, “We are reimagining and recording famous songs about guns, without editorial comment. I Shot the Sheriff, Happiness Is a Warm Gun, or, in this case, 16 Shots. It is our way of demonstrating how deeply embedded guns are in our music and culture.” He continues, “We can and must do better by our kids.”