Last week, I was fortunate enough to stumble across The Sons; a 5 piece indie-rock band from Derby, England. The band is made up of brothers Paul and Steve Herron, alongside Lee Blades, Stewart English and Roger Millchamp, and this year they have been working hard to get some of the recognition they deserve.
In 2012, their fan-base has increased tenfold, with many new fans coming from the US following a push to get their music heard there. The band quickly learned skills in filming, editing, acting and using green screens to produce a series of thirteen podcasts, which slowly but surely gained them some recognition in the United States. Following this, this, they had their tracks ‘Better Days’ and ‘Scientists’ featured on Pandora.com, were named Tuborg Beer’s ‘spotlight band to watch’ and were TAXI Music’s featured artist for September 2012. The two brothers, Paul and Steve travelled to America and played four acoustic shows across the country, marking the first time that they had played there. The Sons have also just finished their 5th tour of Europe, playing dates in places such as Switzerland, Austria and Germany.
Their most recent single, Better Days, is light-hearted and bouncy, and will leave you singing the chorus for a while. With the guitar picking and fiddle-based introduction, good choices of instrumentation, folky vocals and a slightly odd video, this tune has everything. It was released free worldwide, so there’s no excuse not to have it in your collection.
The band is currently trying to raise the funds to record and release their third studio album through Kickstarter.com. For those unaware of Kickstarter, it’s a ‘funding platform for creative projects’ website, where a target amount is set and people pledge money towards the cause in return for special rewards. In this case, they are trying to raise $25,000 by 30th December 2012, and people can donate anything from $1 (63p) in return for good karma, up to $2,500 (£1575) where the band will play at your wedding or other large party. Other rewards include a pre-release of the album either digitally or physically, your name and photo in the album liner notes, a chance to be a roadie, and recently added, a chance to go to the ‘Sons-set’ beach party in L.A where a DJ will play the album. The best value, and most commonly contributed amount is $85 (£54), where you receive a t-shirt, signed CD, ‘making of’ documentary and your name in the liner notes. Well worth it if you ask me.
Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing website, meaning that if they don’t hit their target, they don’t get anything at all. The band are asking that if people would buy the album if it came out to pre-order it so that it can actually be produced. The money will be spent on studio time at Snug Recording Studios in Derby, Mastering at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, 1-3 music videos to accompany singles, and a massive marketing plan to get their music played on radio stations, as well as features in magazines, blogs and newspapers internationally.
Unfortunately, I can’t help but feel like the $25,000 target was perhaps over-ambitious. With less than two weeks to go, the band has currently raised less than $10,000. Although an amazing amount which would surely benefit them hugely, due to the nature of Kickstarter, they could well end up with nothing. The Sons have quickly become a permanent feature in my playlist, and I sincerely hope that they receive the money they need, and that their fan-base continues to grow in the New Year.
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