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My name is
Natalie Grace Alford and I am a Chicago musician. I was born in Brooklyn,
NY, but raised in Des Plaines,IL.
When I was 4 years old I began to teach myself how to sing, and by the time I
was 11 years old I was in Jubilate Children’s Choir. It was during these
formative years that I knew I was suppose to be a musician, and I frantically
went to the piano to learn how to write. I went to Carthage
College on many scholarships, and
studied abroad in England
for classical performance. After graduating in 2008, I was frantic to run to Chicago and pursue my
dreams of being a working musician so that one day I would finally sing for as
many people as I could.
Since then I have
played numerous venues in Chicago and the Midwest, such as the Double Door,
Reggie’s Rock Club, the Hard Rock Café, the Chicago Civic Center, and have
become a D-I-Y hopper of Chicago, playing directly to avid music lovers in this weird city. I have toured New York, Austin, New Orleans, and
here in Chicago
I opened for Nellie McKay at Lincoln Hall in 2009. All of which I performed original material
that I wrote and arranged. The biggest fault of mine out of all these shows is that I
never had any professional recordings. I would send them links to my
performances that were up on Youtube (Of which all were shot by my fans or
people I didn’t even know), and thru word of mouth I was able to book work.I also had the recordings I did in my mom's basement, and you can hear her dog barking in a couple of them!
The “Type of Wound” campaign is critical at
this stage of my career. I finally have enough time and gathered sound engineer
Jonathan Alvin and producer Gabe Liebowitz of Chrome Attic Studios located in Crystal Lake. www.chromeattic.com. Each day costs $795 dollars (This is to pay
Jonathan and Gabe.) We only need to record 3 more songs, which leaves us $615
for mastering (each song costs $100 to master), and for mixing ($300
a day). All other funds are being paid by yours truly, and we even have a video
lined up for one of the songs on the “Type of Wound” EP. If we don't raise this money, this project will be null and void. I work so many side jobs but it barely covers rent and food. This is critical for us to raise this money so that we can finish the recordings.
What impact
will this have? In all the years of my writing I have never been prouder of my
compositions than as of now. As a female artist in today’s society I find it to
be my job to point out all the bullshit that we frankly have to put up for as “music”.
I write fun, energetic, lively music with actual descriptions about what is
going on in the United
States for the 1980-1995 generation. (Or the
Boomerang generation as I would like to call us.) I use my flexible voice to
take on many different personas, while creating a beat from buckets and pans as
long as it sounds like people can dance to it. I have been performing professionally since I was 11 years old, and for the past 5 years I have been in pursuit of being a full time musician. So when I found out about campaign websites like this, I knew that I has to take a chance and start a campaign for my first EP.
In an age where
artists are encouraged to sell out and not put all of their talent and creative
energy into songs it is imperative that I at least get my compositions out. I
have tried working every day job from waitress, barista, teacher’s assistant, framer,
sales clerk, hostess, smoothie maker, shake maker, dog walker, teacher's assistant, art modeling (Current day job). I have been able to pay for 2 songs, but all my money is now gone, and I need some help! If you even donate a $1, it would be beyond appreciated.
And on a side
note, if you like the video of my performance and you cannot donate; sharing
this campaign is just as appreciated as a donation because it helps spread the
word.
https://soundcloud.com/nataliegracealford/type-...
