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Hello internet! Our video for Quest For Love is up, check it out! http://www.papermag.com/2013/04/premiere_james_deen_bend_sinis.php

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Some of you from Vancouver may remember a few heated letters that were exchanged between a Vancouver journalist and myself over an article about “Crowd Sourcing”. Both the article and letters were published in the Georgia Straight and the whole story surrounding the article turned into a bit of a spectacle. (Before I go on I have to stress that both this writer and myself are quite amicable together and have a great respect for each other’s work in Vancouver).

Needless to say, a year has passed and I’ve maintained a lukewarm defense for crowd sourcing. I.e.: I understand why bands do it, don’t think I’d ever do it myself.

That was until last Monday when our tour was seriously derailed by what turned out to be a completely destroyed transmission.
A quick little history on Bend Sinister. We tour. A lot. I mean A Lot. In the last 12 months we’ve completed 3 Canadian tours, 2 American tours and numerous weekend jaunts for festivals. A band at our level can’t sit back on royalty income. If we don’t tour we don’t make money, we can’t pay rent, insurance or pay for merch or video production. We don’t have a band. That’s why we’ve spent roughly 7 of the last 12 months on tour in some capacity. I’m in our van more than I’m in my apartment. And it’s great, I love it. But there is always the peril of living gig to gig, hoping you have enough coming in during the next 6 months to pay for expenses and hopefully put some away to make another record.

So a $3700 bill to fix a transmission is a serious swipe at an indie touring band’s finances. It’s enough to end a tour and almost enough to make one question “What’s the point when all the efforts of running a band wind up going into the gas tank or to the mechanic?” Get kicked enough times and even Cool Hand Luke goes down.

So we decided to try something. Crowd sourcing. We made a cheeky little video outlining our dilemma, added a link to a paypal account and put it up on our Facebook page. And really expected nothing. Maybe a couple bucks to act as a band-aid for our bruised van and bank account.

We were completely blown away by what happened. Within 36 hours our little video had over 1600 views and we’d received $3600 in donations. We had to take the link down to stop people from sending money. People from Europe, all through the US and Canada reached out to us and sent any where from $1.90 to $500.

Fans sent messages like “You guys gave me a free record in Austin at your show so helping you out now is the least I can do” or, “If you were in Alberta I’d put that transmission in for free! Get those wheels back on the road!”
Other bands and musicians reached out to us. Vancouver band the Matinee spread the word, songwriter John Pippus sent some dough and Ryan from the Sheepdogs flat out offered to loan us whatever we needed to get rolling again.
And it made me realize. While this is surely a “one-time-get-out-of-jail-free” technique, it’s not pandering or pleading for handouts. It’s about a community coming together to keep something alive. We spend all our time and energy travelling in an effort to entertain and bring joy to people. We don’t make much money, usually just enough to keep going. But when things get dark and difficult it’s amazing to know that we have a community around us willing to help out a little bit to make sure we get to that gig in Edmonton or El Paso or Halifax. It’s a very touching feeling and I can honestly say what was one of the most frustrating days on the road was turned into one of the most memorable.
I don’t want to get too sentimental wishy-washy over here so I’ll end by saying a truly sincere thank you to everyone who reached out. It’s a moment that myself and the band will not soon forget and once again we are truly indebted to our fans who come to the shows, share our music with other people and remind us everyday that we’re doing something worthwhile every time we get in that damn van.

Love all y’all!

Joseph, Dan, Matt and Dana

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We had a great time hanging out with Rob Reinhart and Ben Arthur in a make shift studio in Austin last week. The mission was to write a song from scratch and record it in 3 hours. Pressure’s on! Check out some still photos here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151517986522240.1073741830.82556817239&type=3&l=8f19408875

The full show should be out in a few weeks!

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