While there’s been no shortage of media sneering over the respective efforts of Rob Thomas and Zach Braff to raise funds for new film projects via Kickstarter, I did recently propose the hi-tech begging efforts on behalf of the proposed Dino Costa “documentary” (read : fluff job) as an especially desperate measure. That said, it would take a very, very sad project to out-suck Mr. Costa in the overall scheme of things, and it would appear that such a fundraiser has come to public attention. SF Weekly’s Katy St. Clair chronicles the shakedown attempts on the part of Fight Club, a budding schlock rock combo with a rather fearsome lineage ; the group includes the sons of Neil Schon, Greg Kihn and Sammy Hagar.
The son of tequila entrepreneur and rock star Sammy Hagar, worth an estimated $120 million, was starting a grassroots campaign to get his band off the ground. “Unlike the perception you may expect,” Aaron Hagar wrote on Indiegogo, “We do not share in the lifestyle and success of our parents. We need your help to fulfill this dream.”
The band is trying to raise a whopping $103,562 to cover recording costs. Which, WTF? The concept of raising cash via crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo is au courant, but needing that much money to put out music seems a concept stuck in ’70s stadium rock. All you need now is a good Mac and, better still, good music. Unfortunately, the demos FightClub has released so far sound like something that would play during the credits of Porky’s Revenge, or during the montage from an ’80s teen flick, where a nerd transforms himself into a stud to shock everyone at the prom. It’s hard rock reminiscent of Sammy Hagar, with booty-bass drums, high-pitched vocals, and sah-weeet guitar licks behind lyrics about fast women, all with zero irony.
FightClub has promo videos of the project on the Indiegogo site, along with exuberant messages from Aaron. Goal: $103,562. Raised as of press time: $21,006. “I’m speechless,” says Aaron in a YouTube post. “We’re not even a week into this thing and we’ve reached over $10,000.” Judging from the comments, most of the early contributions seemed to be from friends, which might explain why they soon fell off. (The campaign began at the end of April and will go until May 9.)
Not that the boys aren’t trying to sweeten the pot. A $25 donation gets contributors two digital song downloads, but $2,500 gets you dinner with FightClub: “Imagine the stories we have to tell?” the pitch goes. “All travel and accommodation expenses to L.A. need to be paid by yourself in about a 45-day window while we are recording. Limited to 4 guests per day. We cover dinner bro.” But wait, there’s more! If you throw in an additional $2,500 and bring your donation up to $5,000, you get dinner with the band plus a day in the studio. Mas tequila!