We're down to the final countdown...
And we're so excited!
We are down to the final 65 hours of our campaign to raise money for our new album!
Above is the first look at what our album could look like. There are still changes to be made, but we want to share with you where we're at!
Even though we haven't reached our goal of $70,000, we are doing GREAT.
We are finding alternative ways of making things happen, and everything is falling into place beautifully.
We are so proud of each other, our friends, family and our AMAZING fans!!!
This has been the most positive album-creation experience we've ever had. We feel connected to our communities, to each other and to the actual record! We're more involved in so many of the details that used to be someone else's job, and it's very satisfying. We expect to have copies in time for Merlefest (mid-April)!
If you haven't yet joined in the fun, we have a lot of exclusive goodies that are worth checking out! Every dollar helps!
We just finished our first tour of the year. We had a great time playing the Midwest -
highlights included The Cedar in Cedar Rapids, The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago and the Stoughton Opera House.
It was our first tour with guitarist Jefferson Hamer and the crowd loved him. It was also our first chance to play many of the songs from the new record live!
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On our two days off in the middle of the tour, we drove for 6 hours to meet up with our great friend and amazing photographer, Laura Crosta. We braved the subzero chill to get new photos that reflect our lineup. It was way easier to put up with the cold, knowing that Laura would take great pics.
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Right now as we speak, Jessee Havey is in west hurley, NY, laying down her vocals on the CD and Tania Elizabeth is getting ready to lay down her fiddle and mandolin parts!
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Thanks again for all your support! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!
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Jan 20th
Hi Everyone!
We're in the home stretch now, and the media is starting to pick up on us.
They're blown away that we would ask for $70,000, and you might be too!
That's why I'm writing you this morning.
I am a musician and a performer. I'm pretty good at graphic art and merch design. I am not a professional crowd-funder. In fact, I've never done anything like this before.
If I could go back in time, I would have set our goal at $10,000, never mind what we actually need to get this off the ground, because PERCEPTUALLY, it looks like we haven't raised that much money.
We have raised a lot of money!!!! I am SO proud of my bandmates and my friends and our beautiful fans for all putting in time, effort and money to spread the word about this album and help it come into fruition. This has been the most positive album-creation experience I've ever had. We all feel so much more connected to our community, to each other and to the project than ever before. This album is already underway, and it is slated for release in mid-April. We've got great momentum and we're going full steam ahead!
Indiegogo lets the artist KEEP what they raise, even if they do not reach their goal (they do take a significantly higher percentage of your funds raised if you do not reach the goal). This is one of the main reasons I chose to work with them in the first place.
So JOIN IN on the fun, get awesome exclusive stuff and be a part of this from the ground up!
Love,
Tania
crowd·fund·ing
ˈkroudˌfəndiNG/
noun
-
the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.
"musicians, filmmakers, and artists have successfully raised funds and fostered awareness through crowdfunding"
Short Summary
Hi! We are The Duhks!
We are a folk band from Winnipeg, MB (and now NYC and Hudson, NY).
We've been a band since 2001. We used to be signed to a record label and we had all sorts of people working to help get the word out there about our shows and new albums. We had many amazing experiences - we toured around the world, were nominated for and won a Juno Award and a Grammy Award, worked with amazing producers, met incredible artists, and had the most amazing fans a band could ever hope for!
We toured in a sweet Sprinter van that ran on Biodiesel and had a whole side project called GreenDuhks that worked with local and national environmental advocacy groups and helped raise awareness at our shows and online.
We ran ourselves to the ground chasing the dream though, and after 8 years of solid touring, we decided to take some time off.
Now that we are rested, we are ready to make the best record of our careers thus far!
We are so glad that crowdfunding has become the new way to fund so many fantastic projects. We LOVE that we get to co-create with our FANS and we don't have to worry about anything except for the music!
Having been through the machine though, we have LEARNED so much about how to make things successful, and we have a clear idea of exactly how we want to go about this. We are building a NEW TEAM and we want YOU to be a part of it!
We started the new record in mid-December 2013. We are aiming to release the album in mid-April. Before that happens though, we are going to spend 3 months promoting the album in magazines, blogs, youtube, facebook, radio and television. Only people who get onboard now will hear the album the same time the media does!
We are super duper creative people and we have so many great things to offer in return for your support - Read On!
What We Need & What You Get
We have several major expenses:
- Recording/Producing/Mastering/Duplication - This is a biggie. The expenses are somewhat fixed on this one - manufacturing alone will be around $14,000 - the total for this category is $37,000
- Living Expenses while making the Record - We will try and keep this as modest as possible! This is greatly aided by Mike & Ruthy letting some of us stay at their home.
- Photos/Album Design/Special Merch tied in with crowdfunding - The more funding we receive, the more deluxe the album will be! Tania will be designing everything! We expect that this will cost around $13,350.
- Publicity - we need to hire a publicist. The more we pay her, the more time and energy she can put into getting the word out there! We want to budget $15,000 for this.
- Travel Expenses - Some of us have to FLY, we have to rent a car.
If we make WAY above our projected budget, we will:
- Buy a new (to us - aka used) Sprinter Van and get it customized to be a functioning touring vehicle. Then we can tour on Biodiesel again! Yay!
- Make a music video - We will make a super cool video and invite you to come be extras in it!
- Make a new Website - we need a new website. Something very simple but professional.
The Perks!
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We have so many ways we want to thank you! Tania has designed super cool Tshirts, drink koozies, stickers, temporary tattoos, posters and more! We also have VIP packages, music lessons, House Concerts and more!
*Note: If we don't reach our goal, we will use whatever funds we receive, scale back our project and keep moving forward!
The Impact
Your contribution means the world to us! You are the difference between us scraping by and taking off in a flying "V" formation! Go Team Duhk!!!!
- We love making music!
- We have 11 years of experience in being a band and we're better at it than ever!
- You're getting the best version of us there has ever been. We are happier, more excited and better players than at any other time in the history of Duhkdom!
Other Ways You Can Help
Even if you can't contribute funds, there are other super important ways you can help!
- Get the word out and make some noise on Facebook!
- Email your friends!
- Use the special Indiegogo share tools!
NEWS
We realized that some of you might want to give some Duhks swag as a gift, so we've created a nifty gift certificate - we will custom make it for you, any dollar amount, with your own message on it!
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*Disclaimer - the characters in the videos are not based on any one person, but rather meant to illustrate the ridiculousness of what it is to be a musician! We are grateful to absolutely everyone who has helped us down this path!
