MarchFourth Marching Band OFFICIAL WEBSITE: homepage.

Hello, this is John, bass player and bandleader for MarchFourth. I am on every tour, so I feel intimately connected to our bus. Every time we go on the road I pray that we make it home safely and don’t miss any shows. It’s a small miracle that even though the bus broke down a few times last year, we managed to make every date (we were a couple hours late for the Strawberry Music Festival, but they found room for us to play anyway and we arrived to streets lined with cheering festival-goers). Our 9th Anniversary shows this past weekend marked the end of our busiest year to date, and the band is finally taking a much-deserved break to develop new material before we hit the road again in late April. We will also use this break to buy a new bus and start the process of customizing it to our needs. Thus, the Kickstarter campaign.

Last night I wrote a little piece that we were going to send out this morning as a last-minute promotional push. I awoke this morning to discover that we’d already reached our goal. And, as icing on the cake, a big fan has stepped up to match the next $1000 in donations before it all wraps up at 6:57 PM PST today. Such good news! Here is what I wrote last night, which still holds true the morning after.

1. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. I am grateful and amazed that so many people want to help. The reason we started this Kickstarter campaign is because we obviously don’t have the kind of extra money we’d need to buy a bus. I have to credit Nayana Jennings (along with Andy Shapiro and video wiz Kevin Balmer) for spearheading this Kickstarter thing, which came on the heels of a year of being mostly on the road—over 200 days—and recording, releasing, promoting, and touring a new album (Magnificent Beast). All the money we make on tour pays for the tours themselves, and the biggest expense of touring is payroll for 23 people. Some bands have used Kickstarter to raise money to produce their albums. I am proud of the fact that our latest record, which cost approx $17,000 to produce, was paid for entirely by our merchandise savings. But, a new bus is a much bigger project, and we need the bus sooner than we can save enough to pay for it. So, in some ways, this truly is a “kickstarter” campaign because the money is literally going to kick-start the project.

2. Why did we ask for $46,064 exactly? The truth is that $46,064 is about half of the amount it will actually take us to purchase and renovate the kind of bus we want. After Kickstarter fees and the cost of sending out all those incentives, we’ll probably end up with about $40,000, which is close to what a 1995 MCI coach goes for (we’ve been looking at busses online for almost a year now). That’s the cheapest bus we can buy that would still qualify as an upgrade. When all is said and done we will spend closer to $100,000, but we felt that requesting that much was too steep a number for us to raise on Kickstarter, so we lowered the amount to $46,000. Then, just for fun, we decided to make that number a palindrome (46064 backwards is 46064, heh). But really, the amount is kind of arbitrary. Our goal is to purchase a bus within the next month, and the Kickstarter money will at least make a solid down-payment.

3. What’s up with Razzle Dazzle? Our current bus is not broken, but it is at that critical point where we don’t know when the last trip will be. It is a great bus, and with $15,000 we could install a new engine and drivetrain. But, it’s a size thing: we’ve outgrown the 40-foot bus. A 45-foot bus with a more powerful engine will be able to pull a gear trailer, which will not only free up more space on the bus, but will allow us to bring more equipment and put on an even better production than the one we have been touring with. Also, 45-foot bus (also 6″ wider and 12″ taller) will be easier to build-out 24 bunks so we can all sleep comfortably (our current bus has 10 bunks). As anyone who has toured knows: sleep (and personal space) are in limited supply, and Razzle Dazzle (although a worthy steed) is just too small for all of us to live in.

4. The big picture. I have to say that when we put the band together nine years ago, there is no way I could have predicted our journey and the way it has unfolded. When we started this thing, there was no business plan. There was no “ultimate goal.” The idea was “do what you love” and share that with other people in the form of an event. Then we played the streets of Portland prior to the invasion of Iraq two weeks later (March 20, 2003), and there was this sense of purpose that emerged among us. It seemed that there might be an actual need for the project, that people in a post-9-11 world could be uplifted by our collective energy somehow. I feel grateful that the band is still together and moving on an upward path, and that we’ve had so many opportunities to share this artistic experiment with the world. There have never been investors or sponsors or record labels backing our tours or projects (there still aren’t). The people who’ve invested in M4 are the musicians, dancers, drivers, crew and hosts who were willing to donate their time and energy so that we can show up and put on a show. What happens if you create something with a group of people, and try to make that ambition and momentum sustainable? In other words, sacrificing almost everything else for the remote chance of succeeding as an artist? That is our experiment.

This project is far from being sustainable, but we’re just keeping the faith and continuing to work as long as people continue to want to hire us. When I think about this project as a business, I fantasize about all the things we could do and develop if we had some kind of financial backing. Believe me, there are a lot of other things we could spend $46K on (new gear, marketing, videos, staging, a sound and light tech, maybe some kind of health plan, etc etc), but right now it’s all about the bus! The bus is one step towards ensuring that we will be able to fulfill our touring obligations. Beginning in late April, we will be on tour throughout the summer (and most likely through November), hopefully trekking to a city near you.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for supporting this crazy thing.
John

Explore the MarchFourth Marching Band 9th anniversary show at the Crystal Ballroom on 3/4/12. This gigapixel image captured by photographer Bruce Ely was made from stitching more than 100 images from the show and is not intended to represent one moment from the show. There are numerous stitching “errors” which are usually caused by a person that is partially in a picture moving to a different location by the time my camera made another pass. See if you can spot any familiar faces!

On our way to Tahoe after a quick stop at Trader Joe’s in Petaluma. The North Bay sun is burning off the foggy night, coffee press is steaming, whir of the engine beneath me in the back of the bus. Ah, mornings. I wake easily, which allows me to be the one who wakes the rest of the band. My style is gentle, “Morning sleepy heads, half an hour ‘til the bus rolls.” I go room-to-room,  and then out to the bus to give the late sleepers a chance at the bathroom before we leave. My grandma always said, “You can’t hoot with the owls and sing with the morning birds.” This M4 life is just that: stay out and blow clubs up ‘til closing, catch a wink, wake up and hustle to the next town.

Last night was unusually inspiring, we played a benefit gig for Petaluma High School’s music programs. They have school funding of $10,000 but need 35-40k to actually do the job. And what a job they are doing! The PHS Jazz Ensemble opened the show, all 25 or so of them, under their director Cliff Eveland. People danced to their up-tempo numbers, and sang along with their version of “Peg” by Steely Dan. M4 knows exactly how hard it is to get 25 players to sound tight, that’s why we play with 15 these days. I was tempted to recruit the shredding saxaphone and clarinet soloist after the gig. “Hey kid, if you hop on the bus, you could be 21 tomorrow, the ladies will love you, and you’ll be famous…whaddaya say?…” If USC and the Jets can do it, why shouldn’t we? Ha! In any case, there’s not much that makes you feel as good as watching young people make music together, except maybe seeing them get down to the music M4 is laying down! Teens are a notorious hard sell, but we all got down together!

In March of 2007 MarchFourth Marching Band bought a 1984 MC9 coach, with at least a million miles, for $10,000 on eBay.  Since then the band has logged over 134,000 miles (54,000 miles were clocked in 2011 alone) and that’s taken a toll on our bus. About a year and a half ago, our bus mechanic said the engine had 1-2 years left, so good ol’ Razzle Dazzle is on her last legs. We’d like to retire her in style (as opposed to abandoning her on the side of the road after a breakdown).

We need your help to buy a reliable bus that can go the distance bringing all of us to YOU!  We’ve shopped around and the bus of our dreams is a MCI DL3, which goes for a cool $42,000.  Check it out. After the Kickstarter processing fees, we should end up with just enough to buy that bus. Then the fun starts.

Retired stilter, carpenter and bus manager Nathan has a plan for the remodel (step one: remove all seats). Welder, drummer and drum-harness designer Richard will weld custom “transformer” furniture that converts from booths into bunk beds. The new bus will be outfitted to comfortably hold/sleep/feed 23 people (in 45 feet or less!).

All of this so we can continue to bring to you our brand of foot-stomping, joy-making fun. We can’t do it without you, so let’s do it TOGETHER. Pledge your support today!

Occasionally on driving days, I stare out the window, and think about where we’re going, and where we’ve been. Life on Razzle Dazzle becomes normal, even comfortable to us, by this point in the tour, yet I imagine that to outsiders, it is unimaginable. So, I thought maybe I’d sit down and pass some time giving a peek into life on the road.

Today is the 21st day of tour, and as we drive through rural Georgia, I am seeing fall colors for the first time in a long while. It is always a bit surreal to travel through so many states in so little time. We’ve felt the extremes of very cold nights in Aspen, to sunny days spent swimming in the bath-water ocean in Florida. The climate is not the only widely diverse element. Observing the many different cultures in the US is fascinating, and I must remind myself (and occasionally others) that we are the strangers here. I enjoy the encounters with fascinated truck drivers and store clerks at the various locations we pass through, it seems we are the most bizarre thing to happen to some of these small towns in ages. We are really far from Portland.

Seeking out the local flavor, literally, is a good way to break up the monotony of bus-made sandwiches, grilled sausages, and cold cereal. It seems many people in the band have their favorite food quest in the cities we’ve been to: pizza in Chicago, Po Boys and beignets in New Orleans, Cuban food in Miami, or a box of crisp organic Colorado apples. Eating out gets expensive though, and on a tight schedule, we cook “at home” often. Today Alex made stir fried veggies and rice for twenty people, a time consuming task for sure, but many days, we have a lot of time. I admire the continued innovation of food preparation on the bus. I am researching the rice cooker revolution, which brings the potential for making soups, pudding, cakes and breads- imagine the possibilities! The newest appliance is the “magic bullet”, a single serving blender which enables smoothie making. People have gotten pretty creative with their ingredients, not always with the best results. But I am happy to say the requests for fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and nutritious foods has increased, and we are buying less junk food on our shopping trips. This has proven challenging in some places, I am amazed at the limited and often wilted produce selection. I miss Portland grocery stores.

So often, we are asked how we survive life on a 40’ bus with 24 people. That ratio just seems impossible to imagine. Perhaps if we toured third world countries, where many people often live together in small dwellings, it would not seem so strange. One guy asked me if there were a lot of orgies on the bus. I laughed, as that is about the furthest from the truth. I responded that we cultivate a family-type experience here (though not necessarily family-friendly), including all the challenges that come with family relationships. The occasional spats and annoyances have an almost oppressive quality, but fortunately most moods pass. One important thing I have learned, and have actually gotten pretty good at on this tour, is holding my tongue. Very little good comes from complaining, and in such a small space, it can be incredibly invasive. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” really is helpful. But I am continually impressed by the love and concern people show for each other. Lately I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback, encouragement, and gratitude. Positivity is essential, and has dominated the mood on this tour. For that I am thankful.

We use an online scheduling service called Team Cowboy, designed for sports teams (it’s cute that the gigs appear as M4 vs. Athens, GA, etc.) to juggle the touring roster. The analogy is actually pretty fitting. Much of what we do requires teamwork. On stage, there is no one personality that drives the show, everyone does their part. And behind the scenes, it takes a lot of work to keep the machine running. In the early years of touring, those responsibilities often fell on just a few people, but I’ve noticed tremendous improvement in cooperation and willingness to engage in the tasks at hand. One remarkable day was November 1st. We left New Orleans in the early afternoon, after a late and wild Halloween night. Before the long drive to Florida, we had a lot of chores to do. While half the band shopped for groceries, the rest cleaned the bus in the parking lot. Then we stopped at a rest area to empty the grey water, do the dishes, and take out the trash. Everyone did their part, and despite the low energy post-New Orleans, spirits were high. I think even the former slackers have learned there is something really satisfying about participation.

This is the fourth year of touring, and by now we have cultivated a lot of relationships with host families. It is such a pleasure to visit people we know, in the places we’ve been. I think most of our host families get as much out of our invasions as we do. New friends have put us up too, sometimes on the spot, like the haunted house we stayed at in Rock Island, IL. We met our hostess at the merch table, and she left immediately after the show to go home to clean up, set up the bar, and order pizza. Then she made a mountain of pancakes for us before bus call in the morning. These people make touring possible for us, and allow us to form real connections in the places we go. The road family keeps growing.

One consistent thing I hear, from all kinds of people, is how moved they have been by our show. I love that this band gives their all, whether there are thirty people in the crowd, or thousands. There is enough energy on stage to fill a room, no matter how many people come see us. This tour has included stops in a lot of new towns. I like stepping in to the unknown. Some nights, like Jacksonville Beach, where only two people had paid when the opening act started, and I counted twenty-four by the end, might seem disappointing. But even at the small shows, the people that are there are enthusiastic, and want us to come back soon, promising that next time their town will know about us, they’ll spread the word. In the towns we’re returning to for the second, third or fourth time, have seen growing crowds and growing support. I love looking in the audience and seeing people wearing marching band attire, even when it’s not Halloween. I love hearing people request a favorite song, even if we haven’t played it in two years. This kind of enthusiasm and support keeps us going.

As we pull up to the curb, and prepare to load in to another city we’ve never played, I’m filled with optimism for things to come. We are doing good work out here in this huge land, and I can honestly say it is worth the effort!

MarchFourth Marching Band’s fourth album, Magnificent Beast was released October 25, 2011. M4′s Magnificent Beast tour is on now and features shows around the country. Check out the tour calendar and come see us in a city near you.

Magnificent Beast was produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and features a wide array of genre-mashing groove-based material that incorporates more vocals and guitar than previous albums. Magnificent Beast is a full-blown big-stage brass-rock-funk assault peppered with moments of swing, jazz, bollywood, ska and metal.

A limited vinyl release will be available in time for the 2011 Holiday Season! Details coming soon.

Cover artwork by EMEK.

Over the years we’ve been asked time and time again, “Do you ever have auditions?” We’ve never done it before, but our vigorous tour schedule this year has proven to be more than many of our members can keep up with, so we’re putting out the call for some new performers (and CDL drivers) to add to the mix. Even our most reliable performers still need a break every now and then, so that’s where you come in! We’ve designed a handy little form for you to fill out, so we can start to get to know what you have to offer. If you seem like a good fit, we’ll be in touch about the next step. If you’re interested, click here to apply and tell us a little bit about yourself.

In September 2010, MarchFourth Marching Band embarked on an ambitious adventure to Germany, to participate in the STAMP festival and Mustiktage, among other events. Kevee, one of our drummers, made a great short documentary about our trip. Watch the trailer….

Was Ist Das? MarchFourth Marching Band in Germany is an up-close and personal ride along with Portland Oregon’s most colorful musical export, MarchFourth Marching Band! Described as eclectic mix world music, imagine Duke Ellington meets Sgt. Pepper in an international big-top Fantasia. Shadow the gigantic 25-member band closely on the 9-day German leg of their most recent 2010 European tour and bear witness to the joyous impact of their infectious show in various locations across Deutschland.

Was Ist Das? MarchFourth Through Germany (2011) 30min.

Shot in Germany from September 3rd-10th, 2010

Starring the MarchFourth Marching Band

http://marchfourthmarchingband.com

MarchFourth Booking Info Contact:

Mark Lourie, VP of Development

mark@skylineonline.com

866-531-2172 ext. 104

Produced and Directed by Kevin Balmer

© 2011 Diggable Monkey Productions

http://diggablemonkey.com

• Percussion
• Choir
• Guitar
• Trumpet*
• Trombone*
• Saxophone*
• Flute*
• Hula Hooping
• Stilting/Circus Arts