Kickstarter

We are The Family Crest, a fully independent orchestral rock band made up of people who believe that everyone can be musical when given the opportunity. 


Since we formed in 2010, our mission has been to involve as many people as possible in our music, regardless of their instrument or genre, whether they are professionals, amateurs or have never played music before at all. Presently, we have over 250 members in our Extended Family of artists.  We find a place in our sound for everyone, from conservatory-trained orchestral players, to jazz musicians, metal heads and even shower singers. We believe that there's a place in music for everyone, and we've proven it by incorporating artists in hundreds of unique musical configurations.

It’s taken us a lot of hard work to get where we are today, on both musical and business levels. This year alone, we’ve been on several West Coast tours, released an album, played at the Red Light Management GRAMMY Party as a Google Magnified Artist, showcased at SXSW, and opened for Train, The Head and The Heart and OK Go. We've also been fortunate enough to play both the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge and the 75th Anniversary of San Francisco's Stern Grove Music Festival. Our song North was featured on the television show Awake and it just won first place in the rock category of the Unsigned Only Songwriting Competition. Our hope for the next year is to bring our music to the entire United States and Europe, expanding our Extended Family along the way.
 
Over the past six months, we've been self-recording and self-producing our second full length record, Beneath the Brine.
 
When we released our first album, The Village (which was successfully funded thanks to Kickstarter backers), our lead singer/songwriter Liam had never composed for anything other than guitar, drum and bass before, and orchestration was completely new to him. Laura, Owen and Lucas hadn’t played much but classical music, and Charlie and John were both coming from different musical genres (jazz and metal, respectively). Over the past two years everyone in the band has learned so much from each other and from all the wonderful artists we’ve worked with. Our sound has evolved and refined as we’ve learned and experimented. Liam has had the chance to write for many, many new instruments, which has broadened and added depth to his writing style. On Beneath the Brine, you can expect the same epic sound featured on The Village, with a much more drum heavy, anthemic quality and more complex orchestral elements. So far we've recorded about 70 Extended Family members, from choirs to pedal steel guitar, string quartets to trombone trios. From a thematic standpoint, the record is sentimental, reflecting on love, loss, fear, sadness, and happiness. As the album continues to grow, and the tracks fall into place one by one, we're all becoming more and more excited every day to hear the final product. More importantly, we're can't wait for YOU to give Beneath the Brine a listen.

Aside from our collaborative fundamentals, the most important thing you need to know about us is that we are a completely independent band - we are not signed to a record label.
 
While being independent gives us artistic control, something we deeply value, it also means that we have no financial support of any kind. The money we make we put into touring, merchandise, instruments, and gear for live shows. These expenses leave almost no funds for releasing new material, which is something we must do to continue our artistic growth.
 
We do what we can to make our album production as cost-effective as possible. As we record everything ourselves, we've pieced together a mobile recording setup so we can record anyone, anywhere. We’ve embraced this guerrilla style of recording, and have done sessions everywhere from churches to bars, bathrooms to living rooms. So far we've recorded musicians all over California, Oregon, Washington and Texas. The flexibility of our mobile setup allows us to add many more musicians to our album and band than we ever thought possible.  

Though self-recording is less expensive than spending thousands of dollars on studio time, it still costs money to purchase microphones, recording software and recording rigs. Furthermore, to produce an album, we need more than just tracks. If successfully completed, this Kickstarter campaign will fund: 


    •    Recording gear
    •    Studio time for tracking drums & bass
    •    Mixing the album
    •    Mastering the album
    •    Printing CDs & vinyl
    •    Distribution
    •    Album promotion

We can’t do this without you, and your support means the world to us.

Beneath the Brine is the result of years of writing, months of recording and hundreds of musical contributions. We are proud of this album, and with your help it will come to fruition. By pledging to our campaign, you not only help us continue playing music, you also become a part of an artistic movement. Every penny helps, and every penny will go to the successful production of this album. Plus, you can get your hands on some fun, exclusive incentives including advanced copies of the album, a handmade lyric book containing art inspired by the song titles, and a seat at a one-of-a-kind live preview of the whole record, to name a few.
 
Please remember that Kickstarter is an all or nothing deal. If we don't meet our goal, we don't receive any funding. Aside from pledging, the most powerful thing you can do is to help spread the word. Email your friends and family, post the link to this page on your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, forums, mailing lists, or any other resource you may have. The more people that know about this project, the more likely we are to reach our goal!

Finally, we hope you join The Family.

In today’s electronic world, meaningful connections with other people are sometimes lost. As a band, we’re trying in our own way to encourage personal connection, using our music as a vessel for artistic collaboration. That said, there is still time for you to join us and be on the album! Just email info[at]thefamilycrestfamily.com and we'll find a place for you in our tunes. Our next album is a testimony of how powerful human connections are. You can be a part of that testament, and we thank you so very much for your support.