Who Am I?

My name is Sophie Rose Blackman and I’m looking for help to finish off the story of my latest album; Reawakened.

I’m a singer-songwriter from Rockhampton in Central Queensland and making music is my passion. I have been performing on Central Queensland stages since I was 11 and have already independently produced several CDs. In order to make music and get it out there I even went as far as making my own drum and string instrument tracks using my mum’s iPad. It has always been my dream to share my  music with the world.

I have spent the past year working on producing and releasing my latest album and I am unbelievably proud of what has been produced. I went on an incredible journey to record it with the great Bill Chambers; a hero of mine since childhood. A journey that turned out to be so much more than I could have ever imagined.

Thanks to working with Bill and some of the best session musicians Australia has to offer I can safely say that this is the album I have always been working towards. The highest quality recording equipment and distinctive classic instruments bring out the clarity and warmth of the message that I want to spread with my music.

This has been a year of self-growth, acceptance and love. These songs represent who I am now as a person and I desperately want to share them with the world. I hope that they can reach the people who need them just like other people’s music has helped me.

However, I need a little bit of a hand with the final process of distribution. In the process of doing this album justice we have completely exhausted all of our own personal funds. Between the travel expenses, the fees for recording and the hidden post-production costs such high quality mastering we have put everything we have into this album. Now we have some incredible sounding songs which we are so proud of but are unable to afford distributing them properly.

Simply put we have run out of money and patience and this is where you come in. With your help we can raise the funds that will allow us to use the highest quality replication and packaging methods to ensure that the final CDs are flawless and representative of the music they hold. We will also be able to use existing paid distribution networks which will give the album the greatest possible chance of success on radio and digital platforms.

There are a range of different pledge options available if you would like to support me. Any amount puts me a step closer to this album seeing the light of day and if you are unable to support me financially then even just sharing this campaign on social media would be a huge help and extremely appreciated.

The Journey

This whole adventure began at Kasey Chambers’ Rockhampton concert on October 31st, 2017. I have always been a huge fan of the Chambers family and luckily her father Bill was touring with her resulting in an amazing show with the two performing together. After the show I waited around to congratulate everybody on such a terrific show which ended up with me having a chat with Bill about my music. I told him I was about to start working on my next album and he gave me his details and told me to send him what I have so far. He told me that if he liked it then he would be happy to help us record it at his studio. A dream come true.

So I got to work. Previously all of my music has been fully written by myself, however, in the process of writing this album I have embraced collaboration with other talented people as the path to self-growth as an artist. So I started working on writing the album with my boyfriend. I was not used to collaboration and this resulted in more than a few sleepless tense nights at home. But in doing so with the combination of our experiences and abilities we ended uo writing lyrics that truly spoke to us as representing our life together.

So then we were off the Chambers Avenue studios which is located in Central New South Wales. A long way away from our little home in Rockhampton, Central Queensland. This was after just getting back from a huge New Years Eve party in a small Western Queensland town called Ilfracombe.

We embarked for Sydney and in doing so we went from this in Ilfracombe:

To this in Sydney:

We planned to spend a few days, including our anniversary, in the city before traveling by train.What an eventful few days they were!

Between sight-seeing, hunting down my second passion in life (snowglobes) and testing the bonds of friendship by sleeping on a blow up mattress that took up half of the living space of a friend’s apartment; we already had plenty of stories to tell. But then my boyfriend surprised me. I think the video says it all.

This album had now become the adventure of a lifetime and we hadn’t even started recording yet.

It was then that we embarked up to Chambers Studios in Central New South Wales. After battling through transport strikes, rail maintenance and even an unexpected run-in with Sydney’s Annual Elvis Festival (which inexplicably turned out to be held in peak hour in central station on the very day that we were heading up to record) we finally made it. We were at our new home for the next few days; the house of Bill Chambers himself.

For just under a week we were welcomed with open arms into Bill’s house. We met his lovely family and were treated to beautiful homecooked meals. We simply do not have enough good words about how wonderful the Chambers family is. We felt quite at home and it was a terrific environment to record in.

Which was much appreciated as the few days we were full of super hard work. We worked from 8am-8pm most days. Some incredible times were had within those recording and mixing rooms. My partner and I learned so much from the experience and Bill was all too happy to teach. I was able to play some of the finest examples in Bill’s guitar selection. These superb classic guitars added a unique tone to the album which I just love.

Bill himself provided most of the lead guitar, bass lines, slide guitar, mandolin and even his trusty harmonica. He also had the connections to ensure that some of the best session musicians in Australia collaborated on the album with us. Michael Sparrow provided terrific male back up vocals to accompany me while Paul Novosel held it all together with his incredible work on the drums. Both of these musicians were absolutely incredible and the album wouldn’t be where it is now if it it wasn’t for their hard work and talents.

After just under a week of intense work we were all done. We had a lovely last meal with the family and then boarded the train back to Sydney and onwards to Rockhampton. We had achieved so much over the few days that we were there and I am so proud of the work that everybody has put into it.

Unfortunately though the work and expenses weren’t over yet. We still had to have the songs mastered to a quality that we were happy with and distribute them. Unexpected personal and medical issues arose throughout the year and while we were eventually able to afford to have them mastered with one of the nation’s premiere post-production teams we have yet to be able to afford the distribution costs.

Thanks to the incredible people at Blue Eagle Productions we were able to produce a music video for the title track “Reawakened”. It’s a terrific piece of work and I hope that you watch it and enjoy it. It will give you a small taste of the album itself.

I have also been performing the new songs at local gigs around my area such as the Rockhampton River Festival.

Thank you so much for reading our story but it doesn’t yet have an ending. If we can raise the funds through crowdsourcing to see this journey off the right way then it would mean the world to myself and everybody involved.

Oh and you can find me online at https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSophieRose/ and https://www.instagram.com/sophieroseblackman/

The Album

1. The Little Fears - The first message of the album is one that I care deeply about. This song is about overcoming insecurities and self-sabotage. These are issues that have plagued me before but the recovery from them has led to this. The song features some quirky and twangy slide guitar courtesy of Bill which adds to the nice relaxed tone of the song.
 
2. Hero - One of the most important lessons I've learned. Not everyone is going to do everything for you. Sometimes you need to be your own hero. The song itself is very rock & roll and something that is sure to light a fire in you.
 
3. Reawakened - The realisation that I am not alone and I am loved dearly. This song is catchy and uplifting. You’ll have it stuck in your head for weeks.

4. Constellations - Coming out from underneath my little rock on this big rock and learning about myself, love and the world in a very different light. Very upbeat and you’ll likely catch yourself bopping along with this quirky number.
 
5. I Am A Warrior - The things I have gone through do not define me, I acknowledge them and I move forward. I am worth more than I thought. This song is a powerful and punchy call to anybody out there who needs a little strength.
 
6. Home - A home is the experiences, the love and people you surround yourself with. You can take home wherever you go. This song will serenade you with slide guitar riffs that will remind you of the little things and the big things in life. Whatever keeps you going.
 
7. Kindness - If we all showed a bit of kindness to each other the world would be inundated with it. That is the kind of place I want to live in. The chilled out beat of this song will have you grooving while the message will have you thinking about how you can improve the world around you.
 
8. Army of Two - Learning to love through hard times, choosing each other over and over no matter what. The funky guitar in this song has a unique ‘60s surfers vibe to me which always gets me swaying.
 
9. Heaven Seems Nice - Dedicated to all the loved ones we have lost. We will never be without you. I have written a lot of songs about loss and mourning in the past but this one is different. This is all about coming to terms with loss in a way which honours the deceased rather than taints their memory with sorrow.
 
10. Lovely - This is a song about self-acceptance. Acknowledging your flaws and personality quirks is an important part of loving yourself. It took a long time for me to stop trying to be somebody who I am not and I hope this song helps others on that journey.
 
11. Breaking Free - This track is all about finding freedom in self-love. Harmonic back up vocals by Michael Sparrow really bring out the beauty of this song. It also gave Bill an excuse to bust out the harmonica.

12. Skin Deep - This is a song about disconnecting from social media and reconnecting with yourself. Yet another song about self-love and acceptance. I make no apologies. This has been a terrific year for me personally and these are the messages that I want to share with the world. It was inspirational music like this that got me through some tough times so I could end up where I am now.

The Budget

After careful consideration of all of the production distribution and branding expenses, plus the additional costs involved with running this campaign such as site fees and pledge incentives, we arrived at the conclusion that we will need to ask for $4000 AUD. This is as low as it can be without compromising on quality. Which would be a tremendous shame after everything that has been put into it already.

This is the budget for the campaign:

High quality CD Replication, packaging and distribution to backers - $2400

Creation and delivery of campaign pledge incentives - $700

Digital and radio distribution - $500

Campaign Fees - $400