Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Help Give Amy Gore A Kickstart

Amy Gore & Her Valentines made the cut for my Best Records of 2011 post with their debut single, the excellent "Drivin' Around."  At the time, I wrote:
It's a solid chunk of whaddaya-wanna-do-tonight-I-dunno-whadda-you-wanna-do guitar rock, with a simple but insidiously catchy chorus and sound that holds great promise for a full album's worth of goodies from the band. Soon Amy?  Please?
Well, "soon" is now - or, at least, it could be, if we all pitch in and help.  Amy and her band have been working on shaping a full album, but doing so entirely on their own dime.  Amy put the word out on Facebook last week that the band is turning to fans to ask for support through the Kickstarter website:




Kickstarter has a great concept.  If you have a creative project of some kind, be it an art installation, a film, music, whatever, and you need funding, you set up a page on Kickstarter describing what you're doing and how much total funding you are seeking, with a deadline to reach that goal.  If you are willing to support creative endeavors, you can browse the various projects or seek out specific ones and pledge any amount from $1.00 on up.  If the project pulls in enough pledges to meet or exceed the funding goal, the artist gets the pledged amounts; however, if the deadline arrives and the funding goal has not been reached, the pledges are not collected and the artist gets nothing.

Often, those seeking funding will offer rewards to those who are willing to pledge, based on the amount of contribution.  Amy & Her Valentines, for example, offer everything from a "virtual high five" for a $1.00 pledge to a signed copy of the finished CD, early download access to the songs, and a hand-made button for a pledge of $50.00, to a private party performance by the band for a $10,000.00 pledge.

To make the new album a reality, they are seeking $4500.00 by May 10, 2012.  At the moment, the tote board sits at $835.00 with 26 days to go.

I think it's a great opportunity to help a very talented group of independent artists get their music out there, and I'm sure any amount you can offer will be greatly appreciated by the band.  Take a listen to "Drivin' Around" below, and if you like what you hear, please consider helping out.  You can follow the link to Amy's Kickstarter page here, or use the widget below the clip.





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