Or, why I spent £2500 of my own cash on six videos and don’t regret a penny of it.
I’m putting an EP out at the end of August, which will be the last release from my second album “Little Battles”. Released last April, this record (which I remain very proud of) had to compete for my attention against such life changing circumstances as a massive relationship breakup, subsequent summer of couch surfing and housesitting, a pretty big relocation from London to Bristol in September, numerous gigs and tours, an exciting stint supporting The Human League with The Penelopes and various other fun but time- and creativity-consuming projects.
I’m ready to move on and start seriously working on my third album this Autumn so it feels right to draw a line under “Little Battles” for now and send it off with a big colourful bang. And so I bring you….The Butterflies Audiovisual EP.
Released on 26th August but available now for pre-order (for reasons I will explain shortly), the EP will consist of six tracks – a double A side single of “Butterflies” and “Delete”, two of my favourite songs from “Little Battles” + live versions of “Butterflies”, “Minefields”, “Exit Strategy” and “In This Boat” recorded on Lightship95, a pink boat moored on the Thames, at the end of 2011 with special guests The Hysterical Injury, Dana Jade, Kat Arney, Milly McGregor and Usuyak Bassey. Four performance videos accompany the live tracks and there will be full blown promo videos for the two lead tracks to boot.
You can get the EP as a CD/DVD set or USB stick, both bundled with a limited edition print and postcard set, or choose either of those plus tickets to the launch gig which is going to be at Rattlesnake in Angel, London on Thursday 29th August – check out the Facebook event here.
There will be a digital-only version available nearer the time, too.
So why pre-order now, you ask? To be honest, it’s a budget thing. I decided to put the release up this early because I fairly regularly get asked by fans / followers / friends when they’ll be able to support me again through a Pledge / Kickstarter campaign but I don’t feel this is the right project to make best use of either of those sites. However, I have managed to spend close to £2500 so far before I even think about designing or printing anything for the release itself, so it would really help things along to get you on board at this stage so I can make it the best it can be without my brain exploding in the process.
In true Pledge / Kickstarter style, I’ll send occasional newsletters to everyone who pre-orders with blog posts, video stills and previews too.
Just so you know, £2500 for two top quality music promos + four performance videos and a live recording starring paid musicians is pretty unbelievable value – it certainly helps that I direct and edit the videos myself for the love of making things – but as you can imagine when it comes out of one person’s pocket it’s a bit ouchy. Ouch!
Here’s how it happened – one of my very strong beliefs is that if I ask you, a fellow creative freelance musician / filmmaker / makeup artist etc, to work on projects with me you deserve to be paid in hard cash money or fairly traded skills swaps as opposed to being promised such airy fairy delights as “exposure” or “experience” or “something that’ll look rahlly rahhly great on your CV”. I pay people – crazy! Often people are kind enough to offer a slightly lower fee than usual because they like working with me, but as someone who also works freelance and likes to be paid fairly for my time and skills, I prefer not to haggle and to treat people nicely and so far in return I have been proven that this is a good way of getting the best results.
I’m also extremely careful to spend money wisely – I really wanted to be able to hire a publicist for this release and had found someone I was excited to have the opportunity to work with, but have had to take the decision to save that money (that I didn’t really have anyway) for more pressings matters like rent and food and train fares. Boring. But I’m pleased to write that I don’t regret a penny spent on any other aspect of the SMW project so far, and that’s a very nice feeling. I believe in what I’m doing so it doesn’t matter to me if money out = money in, but I am interested in building a sustainable model for this project going forward.
I have a lot of work ahead of me to get this EP ready for your ears and eyes, but I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in and making something really beautiful to present as my last offering to the world from “Little Battles”. It’d be lovely to have your support.
You can read the June edition of the She Makes War newsletter here and sign up to receive future mailings here.
Can’t wait to see the finished product, I’ve ordered everything (as usual where you’re concerned :D) and am looking forward to seeing you at Eppyfest. I love the fact that you always try doing things a bit differently to the mainstream acts, and as long as you make music you’ll always have support from this quarter.