We've added 12" VINYL PICTURE DISCS and CUSTOM SOCCER JERSEYS! Both are available as ADD-ONS now and automatically included in all tiers $379 & up! (If you're already an Executive Producer or higher, you're good!!!)
We're still finalizing stretch goals but one of the first will be the proposed "I WILL NOT BRAKE"/"I WILL NOT BREAK" bumper sticker! VOTE IN THE POLL AND LET US KNOW HOW TO SPELL IT! (This will be one of the first stretch goals so we anticipate everyone will be getting one for free!)
We're gonna do a new edition of the THUNDER-ASS-SPLOSION HOT SAUCE CHALLENGE LIVE STREAM! (Yes, we're ripping off Hot Ones...come get us, Sean Evans!) This time the full band will be joined by producer Kevin '131' Gutierrez since we'll be recording that day! MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THURSDAY JUNE 18TH AT 7:30PM EST AND SIGN-UP HERE: https://www.youtube.com/live/s1w6ppgKEYo
Official stretch goal announcement is imminent! We're taking all of your comments into account!
There will be additional artwork for single covers & new t-shirts. We're reading your comments and have already chosen an artist that you recommended! There will likely be more! Plus we can confirm JOSEPH SCHMALKE will return for a new piece of art!
CUSTOM SOCCER JERSEYS - CHOOSE YOUR NAME & NUMBER! NOW IN THE ADD-ONS ($80) & PLEDGE LEVELS $379 & UP.
12" VINYL PICTURE DISCS - NOW IN THE ADD-ONS ($30) & PLEDGE LEVELS $379 & UP
FREEBIE! Should we spell it this way....
...or should we spell it this way! ANSWER THE POLL!
CAMPAIGN-END LIVE STREAM NEXT THURSDAY JUNE 18TH @7:30PM ON YOUTUBE
That's it for today, Legion! We gotta get those stretch goals sorted because starting Tuesday night we're back in the studio to finish the album! Thanks so much for your support that makes all of this possible!
- Nina, Josh, Jesse & Justin (Josh on the keyboard today!)
Hey all, Josh here with another update to tell you about our friends in Seven Kingdoms:
Not a lot of people know that Seven Kingdoms and A Sound of Thunder go back over 15 years together. I first became aware of them when we had just started ASoT and Nina took me to see Blind Guardian. 7K was opening and put on a great show!
Before long we were up and running and breaking out of our local area and had the opportunity to play with 7K and meet everyone. I'm not sure Camden Cruz knows this but DeLand Rock & Metal Festival was the one and only time my dad saw me play live. He was already in his 70s and really had know concept of what we did until that night but he was incredibly excited and proud when he saw us play. That memory means the world to me. And so I'll always be grateful to Camden for booking that great show and inviting us to play.
It was also around this time I became aware that Nina Osegueda and Sabrina Cruz are possibly the two shortest people I've ever met, somehow harboring immense voices within their tiny bodies. Seriously, if you stacked them up in one trench coat you'd have the single most powerful metal vocalist of all time *and* they'd be allowed on theme park rides.
ASoT ended up being first to adopt crowdfunding, running our first campaign for Time's Arrow way back in 2012. After a lackluster experience with a label crowdfunding was not just a light in the dark but a path to bigger and better things. It's allowed us to be exactly the band we want to be with no compromises for the sake of fitting into any niche like labels usually want. (Are you all ready to hear my pirate metal rant for the 37th time?) Our fans allowed us to do and make so many great things that no label would have ever funded (animation, comics, art books, etc.) and just be weird and unique.
And that brings me to "The Great Goat Rodeo", 7Ks single and video from 2020. It's just one piece of their impressive catalog, but it always stuck out in my mind as a perfect example of 1) something a label would never let a band do, and; 2) the exact reason why crowdfunding is awesome for bands. It's such a bizarre niche-shattering title for a band that is nominally power metal. Labels hate this kind of stuff. Fortunately, the fans went for it. I love to see bands being weird and unique and not giving a fuck about what people want or expect from them.
Cam and I have been in touch fairly regularly over the years sharing crowdfunding ideas, comparing notes on what works and what doesn't, etc. For me it's all underlined with respect for long-timers who have stuck to their guns, insisted on being true to themselves, and continually leveled up as players & performers.
Seven Kingdoms has a new album called Sono Sola on Kickstarter right nowand you should go back it. They deserve your support. More importantly you deserve good music & quality merch and they always deliver. So go get your face melted, cover your buns in their sweatpants, and help grow the 7K legend.
There's only a week left but we're still hatching new stretch goals, merch...and art!
We are going to need potentially up to 6 or 7 single covers for the new album, so the point of this post is simple:
LEAVE A COMMENT AND LET US KNOW WHAT ARTISTS YOU'D LIKE TO SEE DRAW AN ASOT SINGLE COVER!
And hey, just a heads up we've already contacted Joseph Schmalke from The Krimson Kult and Queen of Hell and he's in!
But who else should we call on? Keep in mind these single covers could also end up being t-shirts and even free art prints/stickers/patches/pins if we hit enough stretch goals!
WE DID IT! Thanks to you the campaign has now reached its initial goal and the album is officially funded! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!
Under normal circumstances we would get together as a group to shoot an official thank you video. However we have brought back what we're dubbing "The Cheese Flu" from Mad With Power. Every single one of us except Jesse is currently sick. So we won't be gathering as a group today, but I wanted to get something out right away so I filmed this on my own:
https://youtu.be/zSIQICTfzKw
The long and short of it is that your support allows us to live our dreams of making a cool metal band with cool professional sounding albums, and that means everything to us! Give yourselves a hand!
Now that we're past the initial goal we'll be putting together the official list of stretch goals. We're not done shouting from the rooftops, so watch out!
Cheers,
Josh Guitarist & Metal Mailman ASoT
P.S.: Also because of the dreaded Cheese Flu we've just officially pushed back the start of our next recording sessions from this Wednesday to next Monday, so hang on just a little longer for more photos and videos from the studio!
Welcome to all of our latest backers who just hopped aboard! We're within striking distance of our goal now! WOOOO! (You can read that in Rick Flair voice or not at your discretion.)
Don't you love that we're "Music & Theater"!! lol Maybe it fits...
We are officially in the dreaded mid-campaign doldrums where the campaign inches slowly but steadily towards the goal. That's totally normal but it would help if you all would spread the word in whatever metal & music communities you interact with! Spread the gospel of Thunder!
We're still hoping to get into multiple stretch goal territory. You guys have probably figured out we're planning some digital bonus tracks (8-bit & 16-bit versions crushed that poll!) for one of those stretch goals, but we want to know...
WHAT KIND OF *PHYSICAL* STRETCH GOALS WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?
It's tough on a campaign like ours because we set a high goal and already included many upgrades which could have been stretch goals: - gatefold vinyl - full-color inner sleeves - vinyl slipmats - keychains - bonus pins, etc.
All of those things have been worked in already! We racked our brains for those, so now let's put it back on you...what else could we do?!? Foil stamping on the vinyl, new custom jersyes (but what sport?), A Sound of Th-Underwear?! Let us know in the comments!
We're getting ready to hit the road for Mad With Power Fest on Thursday, so you may not see another update until we're back. Then next week we're back in the studio going full bore to finish the album! We'll have lots of updates for you then!
We wanted to encourage you to vote in the poll on the community page because we are definitely going to do the winning option! It will be included for all backers and available nowhere else! Campaign exclusive!
Hopefully the campaign will continue doing well and we can get into further stretch goals, but for right now consider this your vote for the one and only of these options that will happen! What's your favorite?!
Thank you early backers and welcome new backers!
You all probably know running these campaigns is a full-on sprint for the duration, especially in the first week, so thanks for your patience while our focus was on trying to get the word out!
This campaign is a first for us because we have multiple live shows *and* will be pulling full days in the studio starting June 10th while the campaign is still running. So on the bright side you will hopefully get more fresh photos & videos of us actually doing musical stuff, but on the down side we will not be as available to post and respond directly.
That being said right now we are:
prepping for this weekend's show in Wilmington, Delaware at Symphonic DemonicFest II;
awaiting the arrival of our Mad With Power fest exclusive posters today (to be signed by the band - leftovers will be added to the campaign here, along with the fest shirts & comics),
racking our little brains for new creative ways to promote the campaign, and;
prepping vocal harmony guides and guitar solos for the upcoming studio sessions!
So we're busy as all get out!
Most of all and as always, thank you all for your incredible support of this album and our strange little band of metal adventurers over the years! You rule!
How about a straight up downloadable instrumental version. The multi-track thing sounds interesting but a "bit" more technical than I'm interested in. Thoughts?
Nina said you were all hmm what was it geeks/dorks? One of those. Hopefully geeky enough to know what I mean when I say I'd love a bonus track inspired by Dungeon Crawler Carl. Maybe titled the Apocalypse will be televised or something related. Yes this is a very weird request. No I don't have enough money to throw your way to make it happen but a geek can dream. First though when I saw that sword prop was "they probably play D&D". Anyways good luck on funding. Had fun tonight even with the crappy weather and having to work tomorrow.
