#corwin fox

a beautiful song.

On May 21, 2010, there was an incredible musical undertaking at the Dream Cafe in Penticton, Canada. 150 people participated in Ari Neufeld's live recording project. The project was hosted by Penticton's eccentric top music organizer, Pierre Coutor. Ari was joined by his incredibly talented brother and vocalist, Chris Neufeld. During their performance, there was a live portrait of Ari painted by Penticton's most sought after visual artist, Jenny Long. The project was recorded and engineered by Ari's favorite indie producer, Corwin Fox. The concert was all captured on film by a 3 man crew of super talented film-makers. Quite an event.

Now, Ari has taken to his friends and fans to help him immortalize the event and to create a multi-media package. Here is what Ari had to say about his innovative undertaking:

What was the inspiration behind the music project you are currently running on RocketHub?  Why is it important to you?

Short version: my fans have been haranguing me for an album that accurately exemplifies my live experience. Ari Neufeld Live at the Dream Cafe is a visual and audio document of how I do what I do. This project is something I've been trying to get off the ground for years.

Longer version: My project was very organized by a team of people highly trained at what they do. 

First of all: me. I've been performing on average 200 live shows a year for the last 8 years, slowly developing my diversity into a multi-faceted journey hewn specifically to the energies of whatever audience I find myself with. Throughout the years, I've recorded albums on very small budgets more as documents of some of my compositions, than honest depictions of my live energy. My audience, taken in by the visual as well as audio aspects of my performance, is always nagging me to release a project that effectively captivates the energy of full-body music-making, plus some of the humor and insight spoken about between compositions. 

My first priority was finding a venue that optimized both my abilities as a one-man band, and the interest of my audience. Consistently, the Dream Cafe has been voted as one of the top three live venues in Western Canada. After performing at the other two consistent venues, and finding neither of them even remotely comparable to the inspirational and vibrant environment that Pierre Couture has managed to create at the Dream, where I wanted to record my ultimate live record was pretty easy to solidify. After 3 performances in the Dream and many, many concerts Pierre let me sit in on (as "part of my education"), I felt ready to capture a night of performing, confident to render my compositions comfortably and - though in a moment of spontaneous inspiration - without any mistakes.

Corwin Fox is a genius. He is the mastermind behind several of my very favorite records, including Morlove, Scott Dunbar, Miss Emily Brown and NikTex. He was thrilled to hop on board and engineer the recording at the Dream Cafe. His tech assistant was Aaron Goodwin, a gifted musician and sensitive engineer with a quirky knack for sourcing "mids". 

The video crew that came together for the evening involved two prominent local filmmakers and a professional photographer, filming in broadcast quality.

My performance was augmented by my brother, Chris Neufeld's harmony (brilliant and intuitive, as we grew up singing together, and inspiring one another's art), and a live visual acrylic portrait (of my face) painting by local muralist and artist extraordinaire Jenny Long (incidentally, her portrait is the cover of my album!).

Finally, I dug deep and invited all of my favorite fans from near and far to be a part of my performance. Each audience member signed a release sheet to be listed among the collaboratives involved.

The booklet published with the album is a 16 page journal of the process, illustrated with many of my sketches, photos of some of my bigger projects, insights into some of the album's content and huge thanks to the community that participated.

On post-production, when I was trying to source out a line of credit to finish the job, it occurred to me that there were hundreds of people (on top of those directly involved with the night itself) that wanted to participate in the project, wanted to contribute to my career, were eager to get their hands on the product, so me and the production company I'm producing the CD/DVD with (Tribehouse, specialists in artist development) started looking for the right, organized system to effectively communicate my heart and channel funding for the project. Among the many companies that Tribehouse researched, Rockethub seemed the most slick and classy. Furthermore, Rockethub was set up to handle our 3 min explanation video, which gave us the opportunity to make the project look fun and personal, while getting all the information laid out. I also really appreciated the idea of being able to fuel the project through diversifying my creative talents into trades (many of them for physical art) for pledges.

Thanks guys!!

Wow, you have quite a creative and talented hive surrounding you. How has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of live music in Canada - how are your supporters responding?

Crowdfunding is something I'm not entirely new to, as I grew up working for the non-profit missions organization my parents were involved with. We were constantly trying to raise support for various mission opportunities. Obviously, back in the day, we didn't have the kind of slick opportunity that RocketHub provides. In those days, it was physically meeting with people, personally sending out letters and generating information through very physical means. I'm thrilled to see how my project has been inundated with interest already and clear support from people that care and want a piece of the creative process, with concise and yet not too-in-your-face advertising. 

The only set-back thus far has been educating people to donate to an online presence. This format of fund-raising is still very new to the market, and many people seem hesitant to install finances into anything online.

Aside from accruing donations through an actual, physical campaign, my efforts through RocketHub have been more effective than ANY other fund-raising project I've engaged in, to date!

Keep up the good work - education is key. Any advice for Creatives looking to crowdfund a similar project?

My advice for other Creatives interested in crowdfunding? Find a crowd of people with integrity and credibility to en-graft yourself to. This will diversify the project with deeper levels of creativity, expand your social influence, and increase momentum. The day that I launched my RocketHub site, the response was overwhelming, as people posted the video on their sites and facebook, etc. pages. Very cool, well-rounded push. Since launching the site, it is imperative now to keep the information flowing, let people know where the project's at, how much interest is still needed, and how much funding still needs to be raised.

Great advice - clusters of support are vital for crowdfunding success. Thank you Ari for your heartfelt and very honest perspective. Join the fun and support Ari, here.