Earlier today one of the UK’s more interesting rock bands launched a crowdfunding project for their next album on pledgemusic.com In less than six hours the target for recording and manufacturing had been achieved. Visitors heard a stream of forthcoming new track ‘the bisexuality of distance’. Excitedly I pledged £20 in the first hour for a signed vinyl LP. Total fanboy move I know.
Ever since Future of the Left arrived on the scene with debut album Curses in 2007, the ghost of Andy Falco’s previous band cast a shadow. By 2012 and the addition of Julia Ruzicka on bass, live performances had surpassed anything their previous bands had done before.
In between that period the band released three albums on labels where critical acclaim usually follows – Too Pure, 4AD, Xtra Mile Recordings. If you’re looking over their full discography make sure to check out fan favourite, Polymers Are Forever EP. Their most recent album ‘The Plot Against Common Sense‘ didn’t pick up as much media attention as I would have expected, beyond the first single ‘Sheena is a T-Shirt Salesman’. It’s one of those records that you appreciate a lot more after you’ve heard the songs breathe in a live environment.
What’s a critically acclaimed band that pursues artistic integrity over commercial interest to do?
Indie labels, the ones who have so far survived the change in people not buying CDs, are becoming conservative by necessity. For that reason I can’t imagine there was a queue of labels wanting to put out the next Future of the Left record. Or maybe there was. What we do know from the band is that “We’ve had enough of labels (and they, to be fair (1), have probably had enough of us)“.
Keeping an eye on twitter during the day as I do, I watched the whole thing unfold throughout the afternoon. The tone of the tweets suggested that although the band didn’t see anything wrong with it – and they shouldn’t – there was that slight expectation of taking some stick for going down this route.
Scottish bands in the past have been cruelly slated for doing the same thing because that’s what some people enjoy doing, being dicks. The issue of crowdfunding is discussed in-depth in our latest podcast on the homepage. Although we chatted about documentaries, the principles are the same: why fund this project and what track record do they have?
I think it’s fantastic they’ve had the balls to do this and anyone who thinks otherwise has never struggled in a band. Obviously it’s not suitable for all artists. The fact that Future of the Left have put in many years of hard graft not only in this group but in their previous bands will have helped them build up a loyal following. And I’m sure they are delighted that they don’t have to put up with indie label politics.
The crowdfunding page will remain up for another while yet so you can still pre-order a bundle from the digital downloads, cd, vinyl, t-shirt commercial extravaganza.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT FUTURE OF THE LEFT PLEDGEMUSIC.COM PAGE
