About
The Firebird Band New Album (www.firebirdband.com)
$15,102
97
We're working on a brand new album for The Firebird Band (www.firebirdband.com). We have some great people ready to work on it - a great producer in Will Yip (willyip.com), a great artist in Sean Hannaway (www.seanhannaway.com), and we're already to diving in this summer to get this thing done. Most of the songs are written and ready to be completed in the studio, though there are a few more to write (as there's always something magical about getting into the studio which leads to creating some great on-the-spot music). Not to mention, we're asking some of you for a song title and themes, if you should accept the challenge.
What do we need the money for? We're pressing it ourselves, paying for recording ourselves, paying for travel and studio time needed to record / mix / produce / master the record, and paying for anyone who might be working this thing (PR/Radio, if we meet some of our stretch goals) ourselves.
The money goes to the following:
- Roughly $6,000-$6,500 for record pressing from United Record Pressing (1000 quantity) with 300 clear coke bottle 180 gram audiophile vinyl and 700 black 180 gram audiophile vinyl.
- Roughly $9 per tshirt (or about $1,200 for 144 shirts from jakprints - though the price drops as we get to higher order amounts)
- Recording/mixing/production costs are negotiable (but we need at least $5k) - Chris Broach is recording most of this in his own studio which he's spent the last 2 years (and lots of time and money) building out in his home outside of Chicago, so we've drastically reduced the cost of the record... but we're hoping to be able to pay our producer/mixer a good and fair price for the work he'll be doing with us. He's stoked on working with us, and we're more than excited to be working with him.
- Travel for recording, mixing, and production and to the studio to do so is going to cost some money (plane tickets, cheap hotel, and food) budgeting somewhere around $4,000 for this. (Steve has to fly in from L.A. to lay down drum parts, we have to fly to Philly for the mix).
- Mastering is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 - but maybe a little more or less.
- Artwork costs are negotiable, but we're hoping to be able to pay our art guy a good and fair price for the work he'll be doing with us. Just because he's an old friend, doesn't mean he can work for free. He's an excellent artist.
- Stickers cost roughly 20 - 50 cents a-piece depending on colors and sizes we pick. (For 1000 stickers from jakprints, we're looking at around 200 with our current design, though the price drops as we get to higher order amounts).
- Buttons cost about the same as the stickers and we're looking to do somewhere in the range of 500 of them.
- Hand printed ltd. edition posters are going to be expensive (depending on the size and the amount we do, they can be anywhere from $8 to $15 dollars a-piece).
- PR/radio can be anywhere from $2500 - $5000 (and that's cheap - and going to be part of our stretch goal).
Background: The Firebird Band has been the Chris Broach's (chrisbroachmusic.com) project since 1997 - and solidifying as Broach's main gig when Braid (braidcentral.com) originally broke up in 1999. 1999 saw the release of "The Setting Sun & Its Satellites" on a small label called The Mintaka Conspiracy out of Montreal... Cargo/Headhunter purchased it and re-released it in 2000 to critical acclaim (a Low Profile in Alternative Press, April 2001 said, "...the dominant use of electronics gives Firebird a far more experimental sound. Broach started experimenting with these ideas way before Radiohead's "Kid A" hit the top of the charts...")
A smattering of EPs was finally followed by 2004's "The City at Night" on his own label and BiFocal Media which received similar critical acclaim (you can read Pitchfork's review here: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3064-city-at-night/ and see a video for one of the album's singles here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doqDivtmG3g)
Though the band toured after that release extensively throughout the US and into Canada, plans for a follow-up full album release were scratched around 2007/2008 due to band member changes & life events - even though recording had begun. The entire album was scrapped and the band went into a hiatus.
While on hiatus, Broach has released a few solo works and released a few more EPs & singles from The Firebird Band. These releases saw The Firebird Band continuing to hone their electro-rock hybrid sound...
While The Firebird Band has been on hiatus, Broach and the rest of Braid got back together in 2010 and have been working hard since. A new EP in 2011, a split EP in 2013, a new album in 2014 (No Coast, Topshelf Records) - which charted on Billboard's top 200 at 119 - and tour dates in the US, Japan, & UK continuing through the present. Broach had a strong presence on "No Coast" - and the current break in touring with Braid and supporting "No Coast" has brought The Firebird Band's slow roll on the back-burner to a full boil.
Today, The Firebird Band is poised to bring together what its been working on in the background since 2011. The result will be very exciting. Plans to tour remain up in the air, until the touring line-up can be solidified, but that won't hold the band back from finishing the record. The bulk of the remaining work on the record will be happening throughout July and August, with a planned release date in November 2015.
Risks and challenges
Risks:
We have to coordinate with our producer/mixer in Philly. If the time we're looking for is booked before we get funded, it could push back the expected release date (into early 2016, but we don't anticipate many issues) - we can work around a lot of things, so this is not a huge worry.
Depending on when the album is completed (recording) - there is still time needed to mix and master the record, as well as complete artwork.
Manufacturing turn around time could be another factor, but we're always planning ahead. It just depends on time of year we get the order into our pressing plant.
If any of these setbacks occur, we will make you aware, but it won't deter us from completing the record and getting it out to you and delivering what we're promising! :)
Thanks,
Chris and The Firebird Band
Questions about this project? Check out the FAQ
Support
Funding period
- (30 days)