We are almost there. I'm wrapping up the art this week with the amazing design human Eric Fowles over at Voltage Ad (http://voltagead.com/) I'll post the cover art as soon as we've got it finalized! 

I'm sending out questionnaires for mailing addresses as I order/finish your sweet backer rewards. In other news, the album is on it's way to be mastered. I will be emailing digital pre-release copies as soon as I get it (!!!) and I'll keep you posted. 

So close. Thank you for making this happen.  So many good things on the way. 

Good morning! I just wanted to let you know that we are recording ... and that you can watch it live here: http://www.juneaudio.com/livestream. (Awww yeeeah.) 

Guess what? You are in a secret Kickstarter "I'm Making Wake Up Dreaming Happen" club and I get to keep sending you secret messages. It's pretty sweet. First, I want to thank you for the millionth time and shower you with air hugs ... no ... I don't think that will ever stop. I'm getting back into the studio the first week in November ... strings parts are being arranged as you read this very message ... this project is rolling forward all thanks to you guys. 

In other news, I've been immersed in my geek cave editing a video for the zombie song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPNqub966Tw&feature=channel_video_title

I've also started my journey to backer rewards-ville! It's like Oprah's favorite thing show, but with zombies and ninjas. We are still working on the T-shirt/sticker design and I will be sending out messages asking for sizes/addresses/all that good stuff soon. I'm also working on writing and recording songs and drawing all over everything. Here are two of the first hand doodled items to be delivered at a house show in UT. (Buckle up. Your stuff is next.)  

Here we are, almost down to the last 48 hours of the Kickstarter and my heart is bursting at the seams with gratitude for each and every one of you pledging, spreading the word and making this project happen. I have wanted this to be fun (videos and zombie songs and all) but as we are rounding the home stretch, I really wanted to show you exactly how much this means to me. Below is a peek into the very beginning of this journey, starting almost two years ago in a parking garage in Nashville, TN. I wrote this article for Line Zero Magazine last February. It has taken two years to get to this point, where finishing this album is a reality. Every challenge has been worth it. I can't thank you enough for making this dream come true. 

Wake Up Dreaming 

By, Stephanie Mabey 

(From the Winter 2011 Edition of Line Zero Magazine www.linezero.org)

“So, this is what you do?”

The question caught me off guard. I had just played five of my most finely crafted, shiniest pop songs for a major music publisher who, until that moment, had been quietly listening with his head down.

My stomach sank. “Yeah. This is what I do.”

The meeting was over in 25 minutes. I ducked into a parking garage and cried for at least that long. It wasn’t just the letdown of an unexpectedly disappointing meeting, but because I knew that getting so close to what I wanted shouldn’t have felt so empty. I should have walked out of there saying, “Yeah. This is what I do.” Completely believing it. Those five songs were the ones I thought a publisher would want to hear, written for people who I thought would want to sing them and it would have been satisfying … if it was what I did.

I went home and threw myself into the music I was passionate about. I gave myself permission to figure out exactly what it is that I bring to the table as a songwriter and artist. Expressing universal themes through left-of-center perspectives had become my outlet for my creativity in the midst of trying to write a hit. So I gave the cast of misfit characters floating around in my head the attention they deserved. The bearded lady who found love. Zombies. Villains. A self-destructive robot. I didn’t write these ideas as novelty songs. Each concept was a musical gauntlet I threw down to challenge and express myself. I stopped seeing my songs as darts crafted to hit an invisible mark set by someone else and really began focusing on what I had to say.

Six months ago I was sitting at my keyboard and started working on a dreamlike piano riff that I couldn’t get out of my head. It snowballed into a song about a comic book artist who works at Office Max. When I was done writing it, I realized that the thing I wanted all of my music to say was right there in the title. Wake Up Dreaming. I had found my musical mission statement. I took a recording of it with me to a music conference and played it for various industry reps. I sat across the table from music supervisors and publishers as I did before, but this time I wasn’t worried about their response. I knew that this song was the start of a new chapter in my music. This was the song that would help me find the kind of people I wanted to work with and the kind of people I wanted in my world. This song was my bat signal.

The response was overwhelming. People were cuing in to what made the music different and fresh and they were excited about it. I went home with an arsenal of contacts that the song resonated with. My whole perspective had shifted and the side effects were far-reaching. I started getting more freelance songwriting work than I’d ever received before. I had a few tracks included on an album that was distributed to over 50,000 people. I was able to raise the money I needed to start a new album. I found myself being fueled by the response of new fans who were discovering my songs online and at shows. The more I genuinely believed in what I was doing, the more people could get behind my music. This sounds like such a no-brainer, but it took me months of actively working to trust myself to reach that point.

A couple of weeks ago, my little sister played me the first song she wrote on her ukulele. I was floored by how great it was, but she answered my enthusiasm with a hasty “I’m not really a songwriter, but thanks.” I begged her to let me record it for my blog and YouTube channel. I wanted to share her creation with my fan base. Then it hit me. I want to use my blog to do the same thing I want to do with my music. Encourage people to wake up dreaming. I keep noticing the fascinating people around me that are doing more than just existing. They’re creating and adding to the world around them. There is a kid who lives in my apartment complex that’s building a crazy go-kart contraption from pieces of scrap metal in his garage. Every time someone drives by, he looks up and smiles like “Go ahead. Ask me.” I plan to. Now I’m actually excited to get online and promote not only my music, but a concept I’m truly passionate about. I want to remind the people around me that we can do what we really love in spite of any odds we have stacked against us.

 We don’t have to choose between making a living with our art and being true to ourselves. Sure, it can be incredibly easy to get lost in the midst of our struggle to pay our bills or to feel validated. I’ve been there. I didn’t realize how far I had gone down that path until I was sitting on the pavement between two cars, wondering why I had spent so much time creating music for the sake of meeting someone else’s quota. But I’ve also experienced the forward motion that comes from digging deeper into my craft and truly finding my voice. I have seen the pieces falling into place faster than ever as I’ve let myself write the music that I always wanted to create.

I am so glad my heart was broken in that publisher’s office ten months ago. It allowed me to step back and discover who I am as a songwriter and artist. I’m taking more risks and creating songs that I fully believe in. I’m still very much at the beginning of this new chapter, but I can’t wait to see where it leads. 

My name is Stephanie Mabey. I am a 26 year old singer/songwriter from Denver. This is what I do. http://www.stephaniemabey.com