What’s it all About?
Thanks for having a look! This campaign is a handy way to pre-order our new album delivered to your door, along with other unique perks we don't always offer - from cool new band merch and custom artwork to private performances - helping us square up the ominous bill that inevitably comes with engineering, mastering, manufacturing, distributing & promoting a quality album. We can't do it without your support!
A Little Background
Kim and I have been touring together for ten years. I just made that realization as I was putting this campaign together... Ten Years on the road. That's crazy.
We have somehow managed to stay afloat as full-time touring performers for a decade, thanks to a combination of hard work, dedication, insanity and a whole lot of generosity from a lot of good music-loving folks. It's incredible when someone we know in North Carolina turns up at a show in New York, or a text message pops in from a friend we met in Kerrville as we drive through Virginia, offering us lodging because they saw on our schedule we’d be passing through their town without a gig. This ever-expanding web of beautiful people keep our lives rich and our faith in humanity strong - and, if we're doing it right, hopefully we're giving back in the process by doing what we do best. What a blessing and an honor to have people in the world who want to hear your songs! These are the things that make up for the ever-threatening financial voids and other challenges in a career choice such as ours.
Wait - I've Followed You Two for a While... Weren't You Actually Calling Yourselves "Reckless Saints"?
Short Answer: Yes!
Way-too-Long Answer: Reckless Saints was a band name Kim & I used for a little 4-piece we put together to play a funky hippie festival a while back. It grew on us quickly, and we decided to plunge into using it full-time, not paying much attention to the possible marketing misstep.
To hell with caution! We're RECKLESS, after all! Yeeeehaw!
We booked under that name for a long stretch - even moved some merchandise under it - but there was still a certain amount of confusion after a year and a half, and we had an album to put out.
Hmm. After years of work building up name recognition as a solo artist, then some more as a duo, there are actually radio stations and desirable venues that have us on their radar, and we're trying very much to build on that. Would it be smart to step backwards and send out a CD that doesn't have our names on the cover? We had to admit that it really might not.
So, we'll have our cake and eat it too. Reckless Saints suddenly becomes the natural title for this body of work mostly generated while performing under it, giving the term a permanent home on our colorful, bumpy road map. And chances are, we'll end up using it again at some point,
New Project, New Funding Effort... Can We Do It?
Once Kim and I admitted we were once again overdue to put out a new album, we knew we'd have no choice but to crowdsource once more if it was going to happen. We'd been so relieved, so grateful to have successfully done so twice before, but we aren't ones to push our luck. Would we be able to drum up ample support to do this one more time? Have we attracted enough additional interest since the last one to take it one step further? ..Farther? (...Further?) ...?
After all, the ultimate goal when we do this is to get to a place where we are working enough that we won't have to come to you and ask for support to make an album; we don't want to ask anything more of you than your attention to our music! That is a gift in itself, and the very thing that makes this all worth it. Listening ears. That said, I'm glad there are so many folks who are happy, even eager, to get behind us. Makes us feel even more of a responsibility to do absolutely everything we can to make it work!
As the new album took shape, our confidence grew steadily in the new Reckless Saints material. These songs might just have the potential to help us reach a wider audience, if we could figure out how to get them in front of the right people. No matter how good a record may be - even if it gets decent radio attention - if the people who talk and write about music don't happen to hear it, it's gonna be difficult for them to talk or write about it. We decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and call the publicity outfit recommended to us for years, to steer this release with some o' that bidness strategization.
Now, we can be sure our stuff gets into the top hands in the industry - and ears, hopefully -, which is both exciting and terrifying. Maybe they'll love us! Maybe they'll rip us to shreds. God forbid, maybe they won't even open the thing. But no matter what, this should leave us with a realistic idea of what the market is for the sound we offer, and what our next moves will need to be.
If we reach our goal of $14k, it will be a life-saver, covering the largest portion of the total cost of creating, manufacturing, shipping and fully promoting the album on a large scale. We do shoulder what we can of the burden, but can’t come anywhere near the full investment on our own. We kicked off nice and strong, got up to 20% pretty quickly (thank you!), and as of the time of this edit, we have ground to a frightening 3-day halt. I very much look forward to that changing soon.
Perks!
Kim has put together some fun perk packages to go along with your support of the album, and if you come up with a particular perk you’d be interested in that we didn’t think to offer, please send us an email (hello@royschneider.com)! We will be happy create a custom perk for you.
In Closing...
We can’t you all enough for the support we receive as we make our way around the nation’s highways and low-ways. Thank you so much for anything you can contribute, please tell your friends about us, and above all – we really hope you dig the music.
Much Love
Roy & Kim
