Kickstarter

Free Downloads!                                                                              Facebook

So, here's the scoop, and why we hope you think we're worth your financial support. We, Colin and Jess, formed a band called The Cost of Living. Unique to our band is our mission to reduce our personal expenses and actively augment our lifestyle to allow us the freedom to focus on what we believe is most important and wiggle out of the traps of a culture of infinite consumption.  We believe that being a band on tour means more than traveling from town to town, showcasing your music, and moving on from there.  To survive on the road and keep our band in line with our personal values we get involved in communities through farms and radical organizations.  We offer our labor to farms through the WWOOF program (www.wwoof.org) in exchange for food and a place to sleep.  We search out new low-budget, DIY magazines (known as zines) to add to our library which we bring to each show in hopes of spreading ideas not covered by mainstream media.  We're trying a different model of touring based on giving back to the communities that host us during the week, playing rock shows on the weekends, and creating face-to-face relationships with rad people everyday.

Unfortunately, in this personal utopia van's still break down, gas is still super expensive, and not every show worth playing has a great payout.  In order for us to have the freedom to play in intimate locations and build community wherever we go we need some support.  All we're really in need of is a hundred or so very small donations.  If you want to see bands touring under similar models as ours you need to support them, or else playing small cities will continue to be unappealing, and bands will prefer to play bars over basements.

That's the gist of it, thanks for listening.  Read on for more detail.

We bought a van, quit our jobs, let our leases expire, and booked a 2 month-long, 27 show tour. We contacted radical spaces and organizations and coordinated with sustainable farms along our tour route to house and feed us in exchange for our labor. On day one of tour the van promptly broke down and left us stranded on the side of a busy off ramp during a 100+ degree heat wave.

Stress and frustration took their toll as the irony set in; our band, The Cost of Living, has to absorb a $900 mechanics bill in order to make good on our promise to ourselves and to the universe.  We almost canceled the tour numerous times during this period but to do that seemed disingenuous.  So we're sticking to our guns, biting the bullet, and paying the bill.  Unfortunately, that leaves us almost broke.  It's entirely certain that we won't be able to recoup our losses this tour, and there's a very good possibility that we won't have the funds left to continue the tour. On the flip side, without the van we have no way of touring. It'd be nice to believe that we could go on tour and sustain ourselves simply by recouping gas money from shows and exchanging labor for room and board but we know that the reality is that most of the world operates on a legal tender basis, which is why we had our reserve funds.  Those funds are now spent, which is why we're asking for your help.

Now, don't take this the wrong way. We're not hoping to inspire your support through sympathy. Though, to be honest, it was a super sucky few days we spent trying to figure out our shit.  We were lucky enough to have the van break down outside of Madison, WI, where we have many amazing friends who volunteered their time and vehicles so that we could get to our show and have places to sleep.  Our burden was lessened greatly by the people around us and we are forever grateful.

We know we are two of a million starving artists out there and we have no delusions of entitlement.  Asking for your donations and taking part in the hype machine pains us, but with all of this money being gone on day one of the tour we'd have to give up if we didn't think we could get it back in some way.  This kind of thing isn't our scene. DIY organizations, basements, bars, coffee shops, small, rad farms and the sense of community that comes from a great night with people, that's our scene.  We are only asking for your support if you appreciate what we create and how we create it and want to see that continue. 

We're hoping that you're willing to give us some financial support because you're pumped about our music and our mission.

Much Love,

Jess and Colin