Our Story:

Four years ago, we wrote our first two songs. One year later, we sold all our possessions, bought a van, and headed west in search of Rock and Roll.

Since then, we've traveled back and forth across the country, played shows in almost every state in the US, and have made friends everywhere we've gone.

We're unsigned, tour independently, and we have released all of our music for free on our website. Since we started this journey, the band has grown a lot. And without the support of our friends, fans, and family, we wouldn't be where we are today.

The Album:

We have a tremendous opportunity to record with Grammy-winning engineer, Michael Rosen. He's worked with acts like Santana, Less than Jake, and Rancid. Check out his full discography on his website, because now he wants to add Gang of Thieves to that list.

Of our previous albums, we recorded Gang of Thieves in 2 days, Dinosaur Sandwich Party in 3 days, and our EP, Riddle, in less than 48 hours. All together, that's less than 7 days of recording time total.

We're going to spend more than two weeks recording this next album. That's more than double the time we spent recording all of our existing music. And it's going to show.

What if we exceed our goal?

Studio time has been set at $8000, and thats just the beginning of the expenses. So our $7000 goal is the bare minimum of what it will take to get this album done. Every dollar we go over this goal will mean more time in the studio, more songs on the album, and a better product overall.

On top of your help, the band will add all the money we make from shows and merchandise. We'll be checking under the seats of the van, too. This is a big moment for us and, with your help, we're going to make it unforgettable.

We first entered the studio on April 29th and have been keeping track of our budget so we can let you know just where your money is going, right here on our kickstarter page!



How much we've spent/know we will spend so far:

$1500 in travel expenses (mostly Gas since we left VT)

in travel expenses (mostly Gas since we left VT) $1000 in food and lodging for 6 people and a dog (apparently camping isn't allowed in downtown Berkeley)

in food and lodging for 6 people and a dog (apparently camping isn't allowed in downtown Berkeley) $500 New equipment, repairs and tune ups on each and every instrument so everything plays smooth and sounds killer on the album.

New equipment, repairs and tune ups on each and every instrument so everything plays smooth and sounds killer on the album. $8000 - Production/Recording/Mixing costs with Michael Rosen. If we get rich and famous because of this album, he wants a million bucks, or at least a new car!

- Production/Recording/Mixing costs with Michael Rosen. If we get rich and famous because of this album, he wants a million bucks, or at least a new car! $500 for mastering with Steve Jankowski

TOTAL SO FAR: $11,500

COMING UP

Artwork

The CDs themselves (and digital distribution)

All the great rewards for our amazing backers!

If we can swing it, we would love to pay our marketing/Kickstarter campaign manager Aron Meinhardt. He's been the brainchild behind all the amazing videos and a lot of the pictures we've been sharing with all of you. He also helped us put this Kickstarter together, and kept on our cases to work our asses off in this project. We would never have anywhere near as successful a Kickstarter if it wasn't for him

We've had some amazing musicians donate their time and energy to be on this album with us, and we would love to reward them with whatever we can.





Here's a short breakdown of what we thought our approximate costs of this project would be:

- 5%-9% of what we raise goes to Kickstarter for hosting this awesome project

- $1000-$2000 (or more) will be spent on rewards for all of you amazing and wonderful backers

- Recording and mixing time with Grammy winner Michael Rosen (1-3 weeks): $5,000-$10,000

- Mastering by profesional mastering engineer and Blood Sweat and Tears musical director Steve Jankowski: probably around $1000 (depending on how many songs we record)

- Ordering 1000 CDs from Discmakers: $1000-$2500 (depending on how fancy we make the album art and case)

- Gas and van upkeep to and from California from Vermont: $3000

- Promotion costs: $1000

- Food for 5 guys and a dog to survive for the weeks of recording: Whatever we have left!

That adds up to be a total somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000 to make the album happen. Adding touring and merch revenue, existing band funds and pennies from under the back bench of the van to our minimum goal will just barely cover the costs involved in producing this album. But we hope that, with your help, we can go well above our goal and make this album really special.

How can you help?

1. Back this project now. If you do, you'll receive updates from the studio, exclusive content releases, and will help this album get made. You will also be encouraging others to act early as well. The higher we push our goal, the better we can make this album. Definitely check out our rewards. We appreciate support at any level, and hope our rewards reflect that.

2. Help spread the word. Share the link everywhere you can, Facebook it, e-mail it to friends, tweet about it, then Facebook it again. Send it your favorite music blog, tell your local radio station, mention it to music bloggers. There's more than one way to support a project like this and we're grateful for anything you can do.

3. Share our music. All our existing music is available for free on our website. Listen to it, share it, remix it, cover it, and please encourage anyone to check it out. This is all about the music, and we thank you for listening.

Kickstarter Campaign by:

Campaign Director:

Aron Meinhardt

Campaign Manager:

Tobin Salas

Videography and Editing:

Aron Meinhardt

Hilary Swift

Photography:

Hilary Swift

Rachael Gutierrez Miller