You can see the FIRE

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Rob Lamp said it took him just a week to write the music and lyrics for his song “Rocket Girl” after reading 18-year-old education activist Malala Yousafzai's book, “I Am Malala.”

This project has become an important mission for Lamp and the other two members of Yesterday's Future, a band from MetroWest.

“I was determined to capture her courage and energy in a rock song vs a ballad,” Lamp said. “I sent 'Rocket Girl' to Malala's organization, and they were excited to promote it to her fans. We are hoping thousands would donate 99 cents to download the song 'Rocket Girl' so we can donate all the proceeds to help girls all around the world get an education. If everyone does just a little, then together we can help many girls.”

Yesterday's Future band members are songwriter Rob Lamp, who also contributes on keyboards and drums; McKinney Griffin, vocals and guitar; and Alan Reitman, guitars, bass and vocals.

The trio collaborated last fall when Lamp met Reitman at a Full Sail University recording session and heard Griffin's voice on a project Reitman was engineering at the time. Lamp was interested in working with the singer and sent the basic tracks of 10 original songs to Reitman and Griffin, who collaborated and brought them to life with a very modern pop sound, Lamp said.

In the chorus McKinney Griffin sings: “Look into her eyes you can see the fire. Her desire to fly higher and higher. She’s a rocket girl, gonna rule the world. Don’t try to hold her down.”

“When I watched Malala confidently addressing the leaders of the world at the United Nations, I saw a young woman with inspiring passion and purpose,” Lamp said.

Producer and guitarist Reitman agreed, “We wanted to create a rock song that shares Malala’s passion for giving every girl a chance for an education.”

Yesterday’s Future is available for personal appearances to perform Rocket Girl and discuss its mission to assist Malala in raising support for girls’ education. For more information contact Rob Lamp at [email protected] or (407) 729-5267.

The band has performed locally at Yellow Dog Eats in Gotha and will return to the venue Saturday, Feb. 6.

The song is available on iTunes and Amazon. The video can be viewed at bit.ly/Yesterdaysfuture.

“We hope that everyone who loves Malala will download ‘Rocket Girl’ and keep it on their playlist to keep them inspired and rocking for a great cause,” Griffin said.

By donating the proceeds of song purchases to the Malala Fund, Yesterday’s Future is helping in the fight to improve girls’ lives around the world.

“When you see a need in the world like education, it’s good to know we can all do a little something to make a big difference,” Lamp said.

To download the song, go to bit.ly/YesterdaysFutureItunes.

MALALA'S STORY

Malala Yousafzai was born in northwest Pakistan in 1997. Her father ran a school near the family's home and was known as an advocate for education in Pakistan, which has the second highest number of out-of-school children in the world, and he became an outspoken opponent of Taliban efforts to restrict female education.

Equally as passionate about education was Malala, who began writing a column under a false name out of fear of retaliation after the Taliban's military demanded her father close his school.

The two continued speaking out for the right to education.

After Malala received Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize in 2011, the Taliban sought to kill her.

Two years later, as she was riding her bus home from school, a gunman boarded and shot Malala once, hitting her head, neck and shoulder. She survived but was in critical condition and was moved to a hospital in England for treatment.

This tragedy received worldwide attention and outrage, and Malala and her father began advocating for the millions of girls being denied a formal education because of social, economic, legal and political factors, according to malalafund.org.

In 2013, Malala and Ziauddin founded the Malala Fund “to bring awareness to the social and economic impact of girls' education and to empower girls to raise their voices, to unlock their potential and to demand change. The next year, Malala and Kailash Satyarthi, an advocate for Indian children's rights and education, received the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala donated her $1.1 million prize money to the creation of a secondary school for girls in Pakistan.

“I don't want to be remembered as the girl who was shot,” Malala says. “I want to be remembered as the girl who stood up.”

Contact Amy Quesinberry Rhode at [email protected].