hey, it's time to get down to some serious business.  we've been having a blast playing house shows for some of those that pledged, including a going-away party for our dear pals Bernardo & Linda the other week, and an insane birthday bash this past weekend for which we were asked to play a set of all 90's covers.  (for 13 seconds of drunken camera-phone evidence of this party, please view the video below).

we've also just assembled a collection of demo recordings from over the years for all of our backers at the $20 and above level, which we will be getting into your hands over the next weeks and hope you will give a quick listen to.  some of these tunes are songs which we went on to record on our first 2 discs, and many others have never been released at all, often recorded by rolling over in the middle of the night and hitting "record" on whichever object was nearby.

and, the big news:  we've assembled our game plan for recording our next album, and will be hitting the studio tomorrow.  here's a picture of some microphones sitting around, waiting for sound waves to hit them.

we'll post some pictures of us bashing away in the studio over the next days, and hope to see you soon.

Instead of being silly in this update, we would like to let you know that we are honestly moved beyond words.  Thanks to your insanely generous contributions, our band has not only hit our Kickstarter goal, but has raised a staggering budget for our new album... we are frankly confused by this response to our campaign, and are genuinely blown away that this project is going to become a reality.   Our Kickstarter campaign ended this morning at 11 AM, and we have been successfully funded at one-and-a-half times our original goal from nearly 150 backers...  scientifically speaking, this is "good."  

Please know that we will never, ever forget this;  whether you are a friend, mysterious benefactor, collaborator, or family member, we want to extend a sincere thank-you for your support of this project, and hope very much to see you soon in person.  The future of music for us has nothing to do with standing on a stage looking bored/cool, but rather with interacting with those around us in our community, with learning about the people that are interested in our work.  

We are now knee-deep in preparations to begin recording by the end of the month, and hope to have the entire album complete for a Summer release.  Keep your eyes peeled for updates, surveys collecting information about your rewards, and much more.  The next three days straight are going to be spent recording Valentine's Day songs for those that pledged for the personalized tunes; we are going to employ an ancient recording art known as "name-dropping."   And, please check out the clip below, which is us performing our song "I Know Every Street" at a live show this past weekend in the 'burgh.

Again, heartfelt thanks and love to you all for your support, and will see you soon.

- aaron, josh, and matt

...From these humble beginnings (see picture below), the finest Valentine's Day song of all time is currently being molded.  Hey, that sentence was propaganda!

 We'd actually like to take a second to thank you all again for your generous support, and let you know how jazzed we are to be preparing your backer rewards at the moment:  we're sifting through demos, removing pieces of thank-you cardboard with fine Swiss craftsmanship, and if anyone you know is scrambling for a Valentine's Day present, we're working on a real doozy of a love song for our backers.

We've got about a week left in our Kickstarter campaign, and could never have dreamed we would receive this much support-- we're currently at 125% our original goal, which means some truly amazing things for our album:  all funding that we have received past our goal is allowing us to consider better recording facilities, and will be used directly for improved mixing and mastering personnel on the record.  In short, we now have some real options for this thing, and it's all thanks to your support.

We've said it before, but we are absolutely blown away by this, and will never, ever forget the help that we are receiving from friends, family, fellow musicians, and the community for this project.

here's a very, very rough acoustic demo (featuring some nice beat-boxing) of one of our favorite new songs that we're planning to record properly on the new album.  

Alright, Alright... We are absolutely blown away by the first week of activity for our Kickstarter campaign, and can barely put into words how thankful we are for your generous support right out of the gate.  At this moment, we have over 60 backers helping fund a new Meeting of Important People album in 2012, and we would like to think of you all as the most madcap group of investors since that wacky Medici family paid for Michaelangelo to paint on some ceiling (it's been awhile since I took a history class).

Your contributions are not being taken lightly:  we are preparing our rewards, writing Valentine's songs, ordering gallons of tartar sauce, and are overjoyed that our dream of making a new album might be approaching reality.  To be honest, I don't know that i've ever seen a Kickstarter campaign take off on this level:  we have reached 75% of our total budget in just ONE WEEK of fundraising.  But, we've still got a ways to go, and aren't going to break out the champagne yet. 

We are only achieving this because of you all, and this wonderful community: posting links, telling friends, and bothering those around means more than you know, and we hope very much you will stay tuned and keep MOIP in your brain over the next few weeks as we continue this campaign, helping us inform the public that we're back and ready to make new music!

Will see you all very soon.  Stay away from that dog food, will ya?

-MOIP