Protest the Hero Have Crowd-Sourced $125,000 for Their New Album in Less Than 24 Hours

Canadian prog-metallers Protest the Hero have completed their contract with Vagrant Records and have decided to crowd-source funding to record their fourth album using IndieGogo. That in itself is news worth reporting on, as Protest the Hero seemingly came out of nowhere in 2008 to take the prog metal world by storm and have been near and dear to our hearts ever since.

But what’s even more impressive is this: in between right now and the time late last night when no less than five Suckalos emailed us about the project, the amount the band has raised so far has jumped from around $60,000 to $108,000 out of the $125,000 total they’re seeking! When I first looked at the page at around 10:30pm last night they were already up to $55k; by the time I’d finished watching the 5-minute pitch video and reading through the packages they’re offering the total was already up to $58k! For shits and giggles I hit “refresh” again right away, and the total jumped again by around $300. And in the 15 minutes it’s taken me to put this article together the total has risen another $1,000. So, uh, yeah, these guys are going to have NO PROBLEM at all raising the funds they’re seeking and then some. By the time you read this they’ll probably have done it.

But here’s what’s a little odd: towards the bottom of the IndieGogo page, Protest the Hero lay out their expenses by line item in an effort to explain how they came up with their goal of $125k. And when all is said and done they plan on spending $93,000 on the recording of the new album alone.

Wait… what??? I’ve never heard of any metal band in this day and age spending more than $25,000 to record an album these days, and that’s at the absolute best facilities in the land. Perhaps the total could jump a bit if they hire an A-list mixer or mastering engineer, or they stay in really nice hotels. But $93,000? That’s fucking insane! That’s a major label budget. I understand they want to record in one of the best studios in Canada, but man… even if they recorded the album for half the cost (which would still be a ridiculous budget) that studio better have friggin’ gold flakes embedded in the house toilet paper and this album better sound like the aural equivalent of a thousand simultaneous orgasms. Not even included in their budget: hiring a publicist to promote the album, printing merch and CDs to sell beyond this pre-order, a budget for a music video, etc. How are they gonna pay for all that stuff? But hey, I guess if they can easily get away with raising $125k to record in the studio of their dreams… well, more power to ’em.

Anyway, the pitch video the band together is typically hilarious and well put together, as is every piece of video content the band has ever released. The packages they’re offering to supporters are pretty neat, too, ranging from digital album downloads for $10 and exclusive CD digipaks (available only to crowd-funders) for $25 to invites to the album listening party, a series of post cards from bassist Arif Mirabdolbaghi and a pizza party at Tim’s house for you and your friends. So far two people have paid $5,000 each to have a vocal or instrument part on the new album. Contribute here and watch the video below:

Thanks: Daniel D., Alejandro4891, Isaac G., Bob H., Michael C.