Who are we?

Since 2009, The String Contingent have composed, recorded and performed music across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Five years on, we are continually grateful and amazed that our jobs are exactly what we have always wanted. The ethos that brought us together was valuing and showcasing the unique strengths inherent in each individual musician. Thus the music we create is the unique sum of Holly, Graham and myself (Chris). We come from vastly different musical backgrounds and have learned so much from each other while melding our skills to form a band. Three albums in and we feel we have arrived, somewhere, somehow, with a sound that we call 'ours'.                                                                  

What is this project all about?

You may think that now would be a good time to sit back and enjoy the results of all our hard work. However, the seed of an idea took root during many long discussions while diving up and down the Hume Highway (our favourite trip, never a dull moment!) We agreed to continue stretching ourselves musically, while revisiting some of the genres that shaped our respective musical development. We made a crazy, ludicrous list of Australian musicians whom we would love to collaborate with and who would stretch us musically - all so high profile, so brilliant at what they do, the list became laughable.  As the idea crystallised, we realised we had nothing to lose, and summoned the courage to ask the artists on our list if they would like to play music with us...Within a week they had all said yes. Small amounts of panic, and large amounts of exhilaration ensued!!


The Short Story

And so this project was formed: a six track album, each piece written with or for our guests, all top artists from the classical, jazz, folk and contemporary music scenes in Australia. The music will be as unique and varied as the artists involved. Some pieces will be fully composed, some improvised, some completely free. We are opening ourselves up to new musical possibilities, and to exploring the musical worlds of our guests. It's risky, scary, exciting, inspiring and challenging. Just the way we like it!  

Who will we be working with?

But who are these fantastic guest musicians, I hear you cry! Rather than spill the beans all at once, we will be releasing a name a week during this campaign. We will introduce each artist individually, with information about them, their music, and the music we will be recording together. The first guest will be announced very soon, so keep an eye on this Pozible page to find out all the details.  

Why do we need your help?

But why are we crowd funding, you ask? We never have before, so after recording 4 self financed albums, what's changed? While the opportunity to record with our fantastic line-up of guest artists is just too good to miss, it's an opportunity that comes with costs... lots of costs! For instance, studio time for this album will be double that of our last album, 'Talk'. Add to this our guest's fees, increased tracking and mixing time thus increased engineer fees, etc. Having written a budget for the whole project, the total was large enough to clean out the TSC coffers and necessitate a loan from someone's mum... and that's not how TSC likes to do business! So, we are turning to you, followers and fans of TSC, new and old, trusting that you will be as excited about this project as we are, and help us get this music from our heads to your ears.   

To make the most of this opportunity, we are working hard to ensure that the quality of this album is second to none. We will be using two of the best studios with the necessary top line gear, fantastic sound engineers, our favourite graphic designer and high quality disk printers - the estimated budget breakdown is as follows:

$4,005 - Guests pay (9 guests) 
$4,800 - Studio hire 6 x 4 hour sessions 
$1,080 - Tracking engineer, 24 hours 
$1,440 - Mixing engineer 32 hours 
$1,000 - Mastering engineer 
$1,000 - Graphic Design 
$1,419 - Initial album printing (1000 copies) 
$  737 - Pozible hosting fee (5%) 

Total = $15,481

While this figure will allow us to complete the album production, that's really just the beginning. Once complete, we will be doing everything we can to share the stunning talents of our guests. To give this album the amount of promotion and exposure it deserves will cost us a pretty penny. Any money pledged over our target amount will help to promote this project beyond what we can fund ourselves, making more of the talents, time and money invested. If you are keen to support The String Contingent financially, now is the time! This project has the potential to open many doors, and extend the reach and impact of our work. Your support and generosity right now can make that happen.

The logistics involved in composing, rehearsing and recording with 6 individual artists/groups, all based in different cities, all with high profile, busy music careers, has it's challenges. In addition, Graham won't be in Australia until early June, Holly is in full time study, and I am attempting to finish building a straw bale house - the complexities quickly compound! However, after months of pre-planning, we have ironed out the creases, and can now focus on the music, which after all is the point, right? Sometimes the logistics of being a full time self-managed band can be all consuming, and the music seems to come last. This project has definitely felt that way at times, but now, only a few weeks until Graham arrives and we hit the road, we are starting to realise how much fun this project will be. It's actually the dream project, with the dream team! We have certainly worked hard up to this point which means... it's time to play hard!