Fear of humiliating failure aside, I'm trying to prevent myself from becoming a lesbian-coiffed aging rocker by writing music for "classical," "fine arts," and/or "serious" contexts such as amazing creepy zombie-esque Japanese modern dance forms!
In April, I held a performance of such a piece, ICHNEUMONIDAE, as a trio (guitar, violin, and dance/percussion). I like to think of that performance as sort of like a flag along the road of commitment to a larger-scale and more intensive work. So, the time has now come to try to expand this piece for a larger ensemble and actually make some killer media (album, film, yes!!!) out of it that people can enjoy at home. Ergo, a Kickstarter campaign to try to get this thing going...!
I would so so so greatly appreciate it if you could take a look at the project page and consider donating to support the production of this movie. I'm super-excited to finally take this first step into the realm of combining intrinsic visual elements with my music, something I have always wanted to do. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tdriver/toby-driver-and-michelle-morinaga-ichneumonidae
It took me a while to decide which one of my running projects to try to fund this way. I've got a whole bunch of things on my plate, such as a handful of solo songs, as well as new Kayo Dot stuff (in the style of Gamma Knife and hoping to do a real studio recording, what!) But, I decided to do Ichneumonidae here because it seems like the MOST difficult to fund through other means. Just to be candid for a minute here, you know there is a whole scene of musicians who apply for and receive grants/commissions to do stuff like this. I tried to get into that world a bit over the past couple of years and have had no luck with it whatsoever. Can't get anything funded through those means. Really, that sort of thing makes a guy start to get pretty dark on himself, to be succinct. And labels don't want to fund Ichneumonidae, it's unmarketable. Anyway, you guys are the listeners. You're the people that actually want to put this stuff on your iPods and have it come at you during a rainy train ride, instead of keeping it on a shelf in an archive of all the classy shit your organization helped produce and only pulls out of storage when it comes time to apply for more funding. So if you're interested in hearing/seeing it, please consider donating to the kickstarter campaign, that's the only way it'll happen! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tdriver/toby-driver-and-michelle-morinaga-ichneumonidae
Yeah, I know it seems like summer is kickstarter season and everyone's doing it. I felt a little bit weird about launching this at this exact moment just because two of my closest friends have also just launched their own kickstarter campaigns for their own incredible music. Just want you to know that we are not competitive. You can check their projects out at the following links, and also please consider donating. Their music needs to be out in the world and it gets my highest recommendation.
Tim Byrnes/Hazel-Rah: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1158799759/hazel-rah-the-full-length-album
Jeremiah Cymerman: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1767687795/purification-dissolution
And, this one: http://www.ifc.com/portlandia/videos/portlandia-kickstarter
In other news, the Kayo Dot west coast tour has been moved to August 16-September 1. We have some if it booked already but are still looking for dates. If you can help, please get in touch!
And - our most recent album GAMMA KNIFE is having its vinyl and CD release and is available for preorder at http://antitheticrecords.storenvy.com/products/327764-kayo-dot-gamma-knife-12
And - I've just put almost ALL of my recorded output up for streaming, buying, downloading, whatever, at http://kayodot.bandcamp.com - check it!!!!
Thanks for reading. Your support means everything,
much love
Toby Driver
