Kickstarter

Hi all!

To cut right to the chase, we’re The Buttercream Gang, and we’re here to ask you to help fund the recording of our next album (and EP). That’s our request. If you can contribute to our cause, please continue reading; if you’re still not sure about this project (or us) also please continue to read. And know that we’d be forever grateful for your help.

The details:

We recorded our third album, Polite Men (available on itunes!), almost two years ago. Since then we have been stockpiling a bunch of unreleased songs; so many that simply releasing one album wouldn’t be enough. We’ve never explored the format of an EP before, so we decided to put the best songs on a full-length album (LP) and an EP. We’re really excited about these tracks, and are very eager to get back in the studio to record and then release them for whoever wants to listen! We’re hoping to get started on this magical endeavor near the end of June (when the songs are ripe and ready to be plucked).

So how are we going to fund this project? Well, that’s where you come in. We’ve never reached out to the public to help fund our projects before but, this time around, we’re hoping to get a little help (a kickstart, you could say) from you, our friends and fans. In the past we’ve gone broke putting out our albums, and it takes a considerable amount of time to earn the money back (sometimes never actually breaking even). We’ve spent hours writing songs, spent money on recording and manufacturing of our albums, and additional time working on the album art, etc. And although we often underestimate the number of hours that we will end up spending in the recording studio (it’s a hard thing to judge with precision), we decided to aim low and try to raise $4,500 through your donations. This would simply go towards the costs of recording and mixing the album and EP in a professional studio (not the manufacturing of CDs or any additional equipment costs). On the last album we spent about double that, but this time we’re going to record certain instruments in our practice space (since Polite Men we’ve acquired a small amount of recording equipment).

Using Kickstarter seemed like a great idea to us for two reasons: 

1) We’d be able to gauge how many people actually would like to hear our music and 2) more importantly, we’d be able to have people pay for the album beforehand, but still getting their moneys worth when receiving the already paid for album and EP; almost like preordering the album, but in this case the album hasn’t been recorded yet. In the past, we have had to stagger the recording of our albums because we didn’t have the funds to record all at once (this slow pace can hamper the creative process), so by having all the funds necessary up front (after our fund raising deadline), we’ll be able to record the album over a much shorter time period. And this means that you’ll be able to hear our music sooner.

If you donate we’d like to keep you up-to-date on the various goings-on with our band. We’ll be posting videos of our progress writing songs, in the studio, and playing live, along with other odds and sods. We’ve never given people even close to this much access to our creative process, so hopefully it’s something that can be eye opening to whoever is interested in what it’s like to make an album. Below are a slew of other rewards that are available depending on how much you’re comfortable donating to our art. Before we get to that though, we’d just like to say thank you to everyone that has supported us so far and to those that choose to support us in the future. The written word can’t express the amount of thanks we owe you. Perhaps it will come out in song—?

Love,

Pete, Bob and Robinson

- Funded LP

- Funded EP

- BCG Stickers

- Exclusive access to our band's video diaries documenting the progression of the creation of our album and EP.

- Your name in the thank you section of our album credits 

- Personal invitation to our private album release show/BBQ 

- The full length album created through your funding 

- Our past 3 albums (full discography) 

- BCG T-shirt

- Free exclusive digital EP

- 3 guitar or drum lessons

- Year long name on the guest list

- Come on stage with us during a show

- Exclusive song downloads.

- Personalized mix CD exclusive to you only

- Our Pete Davies (a professional wedding DJ) DJs your private event

- The Buttercream Gang Private Cruise w/ private show, catering and trip to Angel Island in San Francisco.