A WWF endorsed musical story based around Battersea is being released in paperback version this month.
‘Lost on Infinity’ is an audiobook by Rockford’s Rock Opera, creators of dramatized stories and podcasts, run by husband and wife team Matthew and Elaine Sweetapple, and is now coming out in print on November 20th.
It is an educational tale about an Island of Infinity that holds extinct creatures, and a boy called Moog from Battersea, who goes with Rockford to deliver a message from the island to the world.
The couple built the Rockford Rock Opera label from what started out as a song called ‘Rockford’s Christmas’ in 1997, written by Matthew, as a fundraiser for the Battersea Dogs and Cats home.
This was later released in 2004, and eventually went viral, selling numerous CDs and downloads.
They collaborated with friends to create these stories in an attic in North London, where their ideas were channelled into raising over £1M for causes like the Battersea Dogs and Cats home which inspired the character Rockford the dog.
Matthew noted how the story, which has been downloaded more than a million times, touched base on the world we all live in now and how the environment has a tremendously important part to play in our lives.
He said: “One of the main messages in our story is about extinction and losing creatures to extinction is obviously very sad and tragic.
“But what we discovered along the way was that every creature seems to have a secret.
“So an awful lot of medicine, medical breakthroughs, architecture, design and scientific research are as a result of studying animals. That was our message really, we can’t let all these animals become extinct.
“And at the time when we were creating it, nobody was really talking about all the creatures that were gradually going extinct.”
The audiobook has already reached children globally in places such as Australia, New Zealand, USA and has had an overall positive reaction from both children and adults.
Matthew said: “We’ve had parents of autistic children say they just love the story, they listen to it all the time, what more actually do we want than for our art to be appreciated?”
“Our craft has actually moved people, because it’s around such a big issue, it’s really trying to make a bit of a difference and also just trying to brighten up some people’s lives and open them up to the possibilities.
Elaine added: “When we released it on the Internet, it grew completely organically through word of mouth.
“It was children talking about it and then taking it into the school to show the teacher and then the teacher putting it on for the class.
“Eventually that led to assemblies, there was a local school near us that did a Rockford Day where everyone dressed up as a character — it was all completely organic, which we were surprised by.”
Matthew concluded: “It’s something a little bit different — it’s indie, created with love by indie individuals, it is a bit of a special thing to a lot of people.
“For a lot of families out there ‘Lost on Infinity’ became a very special thing, and something they don’t forget — which can have a really positive effect.”
Matthew and Elaine collaborated with friends, including comedian and actor, Steve Punt, to create these stories in an attic in North London where their ideas were channelled into raising over £1M for causes such as prostate cancer and bowel cancer.
They have collectively made four audiobooks that comprise Rockford’s Rock Opera: Lost on Infinity, The King of Nowhere, The Spooo who Grew and The End of Infinity.
Visit Rockford’s Rock Opera’s site https://www.rockfordsrockopera.com for more stories like ‘Life on Infinity’.
Featured image credit: Rockford’s Rock Opera
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