(In excruciating detail)

7000apart is working on bringing their “Feel Your Feelings” message across the U.S.A., Sweden, and beyond with the goal to help destigmatize mental health.

THE PROBLEM

We know what you’re thinking. Didn’t 7000apart do a kickstarter for “Feel Your Feelings” back in 2021 and they haven’t even gotten all the rewards out yet. Why should I support this project? 

We know. As creators it can be really frustrating when you try to make big general promises about releases and then things get complicated behind the scenes. BUT, we promise our whole team has been working as fast as we possibly can to get the full album done well and to get the rewards out. Since it’s an album about mental health, we are really trying to put that first for our whole team even with our deadlines.

Both unfortunately and fortunately we hit a few snags with productions and our goals/plans for the album also grew. So, this is a completely different project from the album recording and the next chapter of our journey.

First, we realized that the best use of your support for the album would be to spread out the song releases on streaming platforms to give the songs the best chance at growing and to spend a proper amount of time promoting each song. Second, our amazing producer is amazing and so is, therefore, very busy. Like she had a baby and scored a movie busy. We LOVE the results, but it’s been a slow process to make sure the songs are just right to release. As a reference for you we’ve been working on each song for about as much time as we worked on the entirety of our first album, “We Are More”. Then the biggest “snag” and “change” to our plan is that everything has been going so well and we’ve been growing SO much in the last 2 years that we expanded our plans and need to expand our live show to keep growing! 

We moved to Stockholm, Sweden and have been working in Nashville as well a lot to find team members to help bring the vision of “Feel Your Feelings” to its full potential in both the U.S.A and Europe. In talking with coaches and mentors we realized that our goal for this album is to have a proper “show” and “program” that we can perform at clubs, theaters, festivals, and wherever else we can in order to continue growing into new States in the U.S.A. and to make more money to help funding everything. 

With performing over 235 shows from 2021 to 2022 we learned that we need to add an immersive experience at our shows to continue growing. Think color changing moving lights, smoke machines, strobe effects, stage blackouts, making it so we can add an orchestra and other sounds from our recorded albums into the concerts that we otherwise couldn’t. Performing shows where we had lighting and it was a proper “show” experience we’ve realized how much of a difference that has made for people connecting to the music. We have been working on an insane amount of things to help make each concert a better experience for everyone. Which we will explain down below.

We also want to bring this “Feel Your Feelings” concert as a “program” to different cities where we perform at Theaters, Clubs, and Performing Arts Centers and bring local non-profits to have a booth and speak at the events about mental health and how people can get access to resources in their local community. The goal is for us to also speak in schools in the local districts of the venues we will be playing about mental health and music. Speaking both as how music is a hobby with songwriting to deal with emotions and as a career; as well as how the music industry can be a legitimate career. We also want to make “events” that can gather the attention of local press and other organizations to get awareness out further. We want the “Feel Your Feelings” program to help destigmatize and bring mental health awareness to cities around both the U.S.A and eventually Europe and the world. 

When we did 144 shows in 2022 we didn’t have enough time or people on the road or off the road to sustainably continue doing as many shows, recording as much music, and promoting that music as we were at the level we were wanting to do them at. Like, we were working 10-14 hour days constantly on the road. We drove over 45,000 miles in 2022 alone. 

We’ve been driving a Volkswagen Passat for 6 years and ran out of space a long time ago for how much we’ve been expanding. So we had to borrow Jon’s parents' Toyota Sienna and we very quickly ran out of room in that too since we needed full sound/light equipment plus 4 people where we needed room for 5-6 people. 

To pull back the curtain a little bit, as artists we currently make 3/4ths of all of our yearly income from tickets/what venues pay us and 1/4th of all our income from selling merch/tips at shows. Around 2% of our income currently comes from online streaming platforms and online income. This means that we rely essentially 100% on money we make from performing in order to make money to record and make music videos, as well as for our personal living expenses. We try to live as cheaply as possible in our personal lives in order to spend the money we need on the music we make. The other HUGE benefit of these upgrades is we also can charge more money at venues which means we will have more money and time throughout the year when we aren’t on tour to invest back into making the music!

Which is where the next step comes.

THE PLAN

We need a van, man; a big van, here’s the plan. 

We need a lot more space to grow for the next 6 years. More space to fit all of the people, lighting, and sound system upgrades that we’ve been recommended and learned that we need in order to grow. We are needing to bring a tour manager to make sure we are on top of the admin tasks for each show and help set up equipment/film for social media who can also help running sound, and to bring a separate sound person to the bigger shows. 

A venue owner sat us down in 2022 and said, I’m paraphrasing here, “you all can’t get any better talent wise, but what you’re missing is production value at shows”. They said that people and venues care about lighting and about the concert “experience”. The thumping of the drums. The strobe effects and smoke on the stage. The blackouts at the end of songs. Moving lights. 

It’s psychology. If the music “sounds big with bigger looking speakers” and “looks big with interesting stage lighting” then venues and audience members will assume that the music is better. Those are things that the venue owner said make a difference for artists to be hired at more venues and for really expanding with shows at the professional level we have, amazingly, grown to be at. 

A big part of us moving to Sweden was also to find help with a manager, music industry support, and to make sure we can do shows in the U.S.A. at a higher level too when we come back. We want to do concerts that are a really entertaining experience for everyone and great lighting/sound can help to make an emotional impact as well. 

So, we’ve been working incredibly hard on building a system for all of our shows. We are getting professionally programmed lights for every song in 4 hours worth of material that we regularly perform at venues. The system includes a new bigger sound system and full professional lighting to take our shows to the next level. We have photos and videos to show you what we’ve been up to that we will be posting.

We’ve had to record 60 songs worth of songs that we have played live over the last 6 years in order to program the lighting for the system. We are then programming the lighting in a software that we can also run backing tracks with. That means that we will be able to add in extra instruments like strings, synths, and other sound effects that we don’t have the ability to bring to shows otherwise, but are in the recorded versions of the songs. We are also able to perform in a professional way by playing with a metronome in our in-ear headphones to make sure that we will sound even better. 

The huge benefit of recording these 60 songs and building this sound/lighting system is we will be able to use it for the next 5+ years and it’s very expandable. It is set up so if we bought or rented the same equipment in Sweden we could tour with tracks/lighting across all of Europe in the future too. This system also allows us to practice recording and experiment with recorded music in a way that will also really help future albums and projects we create. 

The van that we are wanting to get is big enough that we will be able to continue growing for years and the computer programs are set up so that we can buy more lighting as we grow and as the venues demand more. With this system we could even add in video for songs on a projector/LED screens for our shows, which means we could have music videos playing in the background or other visuals from videographers, animators, or photographers. 

All in all, we will be able to tie together the recorded versions of our songs, the music videos, and live concerts in a way that will be incredibly entertaining for everyone that comes to our shows. PLUS, it’s expandable and will let us be able to grow further and help us make more money while we tour to afford to spend time writing/recording/and releasing more songs when we aren’t touring on the road. 

Ever since we quit our other jobs 2 years ago to pursue doing music it has been step after step of taking leaps of faith. Hoping that people will support us in the dreams we’ve been dreaming and the mission behind our music. And you have supported us every step of the way. Even when we are terrified at times that “why would anyone care about what we do” and the negative voices in our own heads that we drown out through music. We are so thankful for you and so happy that you love the music we make as much as we do! 

Having done this business for 2 years full time we can say it can be very challenging at times, but we have learned quite a lot about how to be sustainable while continuing to grow. It can be scary, but more than that it is incredibly exciting and it’s all because of your support! Thank you!

Choose a reward that you like the most. Help by sharing with friends, family, businesses, and nonprofits that you think might be interested in supporting our mission with spreading mental health awareness as well as removing the stigma around getting help.

We have a lot of packages and also are creating a fan club where you can support us monthly that will have behind the scenes things for what we do including new songs, videos, live-streams and more. This is perfect for fans or even aspiring songs-writers, artists, or producers to see how we do things.

REWARDS

We have specific merch packages you can purchase to feel your feelings, but we also have other packages and options for potential business or non-profit sponsors, as well. So, if you have a connection to a lighting/sound company or theater who might find the events interesting, please let us know.

Does the program we are making sound like a good fit for your theater? Write us an email and let's set something up. You can help support us now so that we can bring this program to you later. 

We took a lot of leaps of faith to quit all of our other jobs to do music full time over the years and every step of the way we’ve been able to trust you, our fans, family & friends, to help fund it. We literally can’t do anything without your support.

Since we knew we would need time to work on this project we’ve been working on it since October when we moved to Sweden. We’ve been recording “Feel Your Feelings - Side B”, working with an incredible live-sound/lighting engineer to make sure we buy the right equipment and putting together a professional light show, and we’ve been recording all the tracks for the live show. 

It’s been a lot of working as we are recording over 60 songs including covers and original songs for live and 5 new songs for release on streaming platforms, but we know that the show we’ll be able to put on is going to be incredible! We’ve been working on programming everything in Ableton Live and Lightkey and we can show you examples of where we are at already. 

It has been a leap of faith because we also knew we would have to take time off of touring to move to Sweden and also to work on this project. We’ve been working almost non-stop for 2 years, so having a relatively “normal” schedule recording and working on this project has been very different. But, we’ve grown so much and are so excited to show you what we’ve been creating.

Our team has continued to change and expand in different ways. The main person we’ve been working with for this particular project is Jesse from Harmonic Productions on figuring out what we need to buy for sound/lighting equipment. He’s also been helping us to program a professional light show in Ableton live and Lightkey. Plus, on top of that he has experience with transporting equipment to and from events so he’s able to help us decide on what vehicle we need to get.  

We're also getting help from our band members Charlie & Thomas, and are working with Carley as a tour manager and social media help during shows. 

As we mentioned, we are working with the Nashville-based, Grammy-award winning producer, FEMKE, for the production of “Feel your Feelings”. She really understands where we are going with this new project & is bringing our vision to life. It has been a blast working together & we really think she's perfect for "Feel Your Feelings".

Our main photographers are Christopher & Patience Eastman from Snap Studio in Green Bay. They've be in charge of the visuals for the album & so far they've blown us away with their talent. Our stylist for this tour and for “Feel Your Feelings” is the incredible Chicago based Maggie Mae.

We are also working with Jake Vierra and Jocelyne Berumen on crafting music videos and visuals for each of our releases. 

TIMELINE

We are coming back to do a U.S.A tour from May-September so we are going to need to start upgrading equipment in May and preparing for touring for the Summer. Our goal is to get the whole sound/light system put together and the “wrinkles” ironed out by the end of 2023.

Our goal is to start performing at Performing Arts Centers, Theaters, and schools starting in 2024 with our “Feel Your Feelings” program and to bring better production entertainment value to all our performances.

BUDGET

We know we can’t ask for you all to help fund everything completely, especially with having to get a new vehicle, but we can’t do any of this without your help. We are aiming to pay for the van over the next few years, but we need a big down payment for it to help reduce the monthly costs. We also need to make sure we get a safe vehicle because we drove nearly 150,000 miles in 6 years in our Volkswagen Passat and we know we will drive at least that much in a van over the next 6 years. 

This is the third time since 2018 that we’ve asked for your help with funding and the reason is we would much rather get the support of our fans than a record label for funding because labels want the money back (it’s a loan). We are also wanting to do this crowdfunding on our website because then we won’t have to give 7% of the money to Kickstarter. 

We raised nearly $7,000 for our first crowdfunding, nearly $20,000 for the second crowdfunding, and now we are asking for at least $7,000 for starters to do get a down payment for the van, start getting the equipment, and continue marketing for Feel Your Feelings. 

Our budget for “Feel Your Feelings” has been around $30,000 in the last 2 years and we estimate for these upgrades for live performances we will need around $15,000 to get the basics with the total cost being around $70,000 over 3 years, depending on the van we get. 

We estimate that if 400 of you help to back this project at $35 each we will be able to hit our goal of $15,000. The average for our second crowdfunding per person was $116, which is crazy!

Lighting ($3,300) 

Sound upgrades (in-ears, microphones, etc) ($2,000)

PA Speakers ($4,200)

Software to run the lighting: ($490)

Budget for gear upgrades: $9,990 

Van Upgrade: $60,000 (depending on what we get)

Total Price: $70,000

Thank you for considering to support this project, we are so happy to have you on this journey with us.

Risks and challenges

Although this campaign isn’t an “all or nothing campaign” like the Kickstarter campaigns were (we will get whatever money you give us). If we don’t raise at least $7000 we won’t be able to afford to do these upgrades and won’t be able to properly tour this Summer the way we’ve been planning to or for the next 5 years the way we need to in order to be able to expand. 

We are sure that because of all the amazing people in our 7000apart community we will be able to hit our goal & who knows…maybe someone/some company even wants to sponsor the entire van?

Life is hard. The pandemic was hard. Coming out of 2020 through 2022 was hard. We’ve been working our butts off and we want to prove that you can follow your dreams and they will pay off. To prove to ourselves and to everyone. We want to help people feeling their feelings and know that they can succeed in whatever dreams they have.  

Thank you again for your love and support!

Hugs,

Amelie & Jon - 7000apart