MF RUCKUS PRESENTS:
THE FRONT LINES OF GOOD TIMES
Concept Album and Graphic Novel
36 Chapters in 3 Parts
ON PATREON
For those of you who missed the announcement and Q&A Session last night on facebook live, we brought a very exciting new project to the awareness of the world.
MF Ruckus will be spending the next few years toiling away on our most ambitious effort to date. The project: A serialized concept album and graphic novel known as "The Front Lines of Good Times".
Imagine your favorite concept albums, maybe The Wall, Tommy, Operation Mind Crime, Lust in Space, etc.; Combined with your favorite dystopian/sci-fi/futuristic/apocalyptic fantasy comics, Walking Dead, Prophet, Days of Future Past and give them the character and story development of your favorite original series' like Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, etc.
That's what we are setting out to do with The Front Lines of Good Times.
We have teamed up with Brad Smalling at Evergroove Studios, Italo Ganni at ChamberPiece Films, Joshua Finley of Cabal Gallery, Alex Tyler of Alex Tyler Music and our Record Label, RodeoStar Records in Germany to bring you an EPIC, Serialized, Concept Album and Graphic Novel. We will be releasing 36 Chapter in 3 parts in digital downloadable format over the next few years, eventually creating 3 full length vinyl records and (if funding allows) a hard-cover compendium of the comics.
The story follows MF Ruckus on our quests through the pre-apocalyptic, dystopian landscape of the year 2040 following a major near-extinction event on Earth. A harsh and tyrannical military fascist regime know as the New Order of Fundamentalist Utilitarian Nationalists (NOFUN for short), has outlawed all forms of communication deemed to be subversive including art and music. MF Ruckus find themselves wrapped up in a world of violence, chaos, intrigue, the supernatural and the philosophical in their quest for a new life in a better world. The overall story has been created following the writings of comparative mythology and the heroes journey by the late Joseph Campbell (The Hero with 1000 faces). The same basis George Lucas modeled in his creation of Star Wars.
If funding goes well, we hope to drop the first chapter, song, video and narration track by mid April.
The initial instrumental tracking for the first 12 songs has been completed thanks to a generous advance from Brad Smalling at Evergroove Studios. Our label, RodeoStar, has signed on for print, distribution and marketing of the first album (here's to hoping it goes well and they sign on for the other 2!). Joshua Finley has nearly completed the first comic in his very limited window of spare time between projects for his gallery and design contracts which pay his bills. Alex Tyler has been excitedly building the narration and soundscapes for the first audio version of the first chapter. Italo Ganni has been working closely with us to storyboard ideas for the first video. All of these highly skilled artists have very generously been working on contingency simply because they believe as strongly in the project as we do.
Realistically speaking, this all costs a lot of money. Add up the cost of studio, illustration, video, marketing and include the high cost of touring, even on a shoestring budget and it breaks down to about $5000-$7500 PER CHAPTER over 36 Chapters. Even still, we are not deterred in the slightest. We are on a mission and we know in our heart of hearts that this thing is going to be THE SHIT!
That is why we are inviting YOU our, most ardent and enduring supporters to stake a claim in this epic and, hopefully, Iconoclastic work of art and literature. We have officially launched this campaign on Patreon in an attempt of fully funding this project. Patreon, if you don't know, is very simply a way for fans, friends, family and philanthropists to support their favorite creators and their works via a small recurrent contribution. In exchange, creators offer exclusive content, special rewards and other unique benefits afforded only to these supporters known as "patrons".
We have set a goal of $7500 per creation which we can easily hit if only 1500 people pledge $5 or more per creation. That will pay for:
- Illustration of the comic book ($1000 per issue)
- Recording, Mixing and Mastering at Evergroove (around $1000 per song)
- Recording, mixing, mastering and sound sampling for narration tracks ($300-$500 per Chapter)
- Video Production ($500-$1500 per song)
- Marketing and touring (press, travel, meals, lodging, equipment rentals, vehicle rental, etc)
In exchange, we are offering these and many other rewards to our patrons at varying pledge levels:
- Get drawn into the comic book
- Credits on the album/comic book
- Guest list/VIP
- Advanced signed copies of the album
- Stems of original tracks
- Previously unreleased and rare material from previous projects
- Original sketches
- Monthly chats on google hangouts
- Behind the scenes video
- Extra side/backstories with narration
- Educational drumming, guitar, writing and "How to be in a band" videos
- Much, much more...
As always, thank you so much for your support! It means so very much to us!
Thank you,
Aaron, Tony, Parker, Ty, Logan, Josh, Alex, Brad, Italo, RodeoStar Records