On November 22th, 2011, Five Iron Frenzy fans visited the band’s website with extreme excitement and trepidation. What could this new announcement they had awaited so long be? Could they be releasing a new song? Were they starting a URL shortening service? Or could it be, they wondered (hoping against hope), that the band was really, truly coming back?
A few months earlier, fans who still checked the fan-run Five Iron website (fiveironfrenzy.com) noticed that the usual message boards and pictures had been replaced with a simple logo and countdown, leading to November 22. Word spread like wildfire through the grapevine (assisted by Facebook and other social networks) and pretty soon old fans who had resorted to other music in despair and new fans who had discovered Five Iron Frenzy too late were eagerly following the new status updates of the band and counting down the minutes excitedly. To build the suspense the band had begun posting links on their various social network accounts in the week before the anticipated date to puzzles such as “Find the Blue Comb”, a reference to their song “Blue Comb ’78”, and clues spanning many webpages that required the reader to find hints to the next webpage and a password to unlock it when they got there. The page theme was Zombie Brad, a reference to the song “The Untimely Death of Brad”, but also a hint at what was to come.
With Five Iron Frenzy fandom reaching a fever pitch, the moment came and every fan’s dream came true. Five Iron Frenzy was coming back from the dead! They had recorded a new song, available for free download on their website, and launched a Kickstarter page (www.kickstarter.com). Because they had never had much luck with record labels and wanted to do their own thing – fans agreeing with this – they chose to go independent, raise their own funds and record the album on their own. Kickstarter is an organization that provides a fundraising venue to various endeavors, artistic and otherwise, looking to get their feet off the ground. The goal was to raise $30,000 in 60 days to fund the new album with anything given in excess going towards a potential tour.
Five Iron Frenzy raised all $30,000 in 55 minutes.
In an age of digital media, music piracy and enormous record labels controlling the industry, the people stood up and said, “We want this.” A lot of great artists are not appreciated until years afterwards, and when Five Iron Frenzy left, their fans (and a lot of people who disliked them, like me) realized what a gaping hole had been left in music, and now that they have the opportunity to bring it back, they’ll put their resources towards it. People are willing to support a good thing. Five Iron Frenzy is a good thing.
On January 21st, Five Iron Frenzy finished their Kickstarter fundraiser, and raised over $207,000. They have booked 3 shows to date and are looking to book more, to the gratification of their loyal supporters. The opportunity here is huge. The ramifications extend beyond just one Christian rock band and into the whole music industry and beyond.