REUNITED BYZANTINE REACH THEIR KICKSTARTER GOAL AND THEN SOME
If you believe your band is underrated, all you have to do is break up, wait a few years, then get back together and suddenly you’ll have tons of fans who think you’re legendary. Just look at Byzantine. Four years ago when I constantly wrote about Byzantine’s then-new album Oblivion Beckons on this site no one gave any fucks at all about these seemingly obscure West Virginians, and their break-up shortly after that album’s release resulted in a media outcry about as loud as a fart passing through an anus the diameter of a baseball bat.
But now that Byzantine have reunited with all four original members after much line-up hoo-ha-ing, people are seemingly in a tizzy that this “legendary” band is making new music.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for them (and happy for me because I get to hear new Byzantine music!), but where the fuck were all of you four years ago? Byzantine’s newfound popularity is so great that the Kickstarter campaign they launched last month to fund their new album has already surpassed its goal of $5,000 with 25 days still to go.
What’s perhaps even more amazing is that Byzantine were able to reach their goal with only 75 pledgers. While the majority of the backers pledged $25 for a signed CD and pre-release digital download, EIGHT backers pledged $250 or more accounting for nearly half of all funding. I wonder if those eight people are Byzantine superfans, family members, or what?
Just goes to show how cutting out the middle-man and going direct to the source can be a great revenue model for bands. Now the question becomes whether Byzantine will earmark some of that money for a proper marketing and PR push, the incredibly important stuff record labels offer that naysayers overlook, or else this album will just be released into a vacuum of people who were already Byzantine fans.
Of course, I’m overthinking things as usual. Bottom line is I’m stoked that Byzantine were able to reach their goal and I’m PUMPED to hear new music.
-VN
