New album “Family” being released via Patreon subscription campaign
NEW YORK, NY – New York City progressive/alternative rock group JOLLY has teamed up with PopMatters.com to launch the first clip in a series of animated shorts called The JOLLYSHOW. In this first episode, entitled “JOLLY Kills Steven Wilson,” things get messy when the lovable but naïve JOLLY unknowingly meets its progressive rock idol, Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree). Spoiler art: it doesn’t end well. Check out the hilarious clip exclusively via PopMatters.com
Commented JOLLY drummer, Louis Abramson: “The progressive rock community is truly a special one. There are so many nuances that only those on the inside could understand. We decided to pay homage and show our love to the prog world in the best way we know how – by making fun of it. The beauty about the prog community is that everyone could take a joke, or at least we hope! But really, we do believe that people will see our nonsense as an act of love. Any fan of JOLLY knows that Steven Wilson is a huge influence on us.
“We are very excited about this cartoon beyond the cheap laughs. This cartoon is 100 percent created by the band, from start to finish. The same goes for our music, and all our other video content. Our aim is to show the world that the only thing it takes to make quality content is heart.”
The JOLLYSHOW is launched in conjunction with the band’s innovative, subscription-based album release model for its upcoming LP, Family. JOLLY Patreon subscriptions start at just $1 and patrons who sign up immediately get the first three songs off Family, as well as a bonus B-side and alternate version. After that, JOLLY will release a new Family track each month to all its supporters along with additional media content, sheet music, lyrics and more. Other Family ‘perks’ for larger contributions include autographed CDs, Skype instrument lessons, personal video messages and more. Head over to: www.jollyband.com/family to learn more.
Louis Abramson reflects on the idea of forgoing the traditional record label release for a completely DIY approach: “Some artists might be thinking ‘well, I don’t have a mixing engineer in my band, and I don’t have a video editor in my band, and I don’t have someone who does animation in my band, so I can’t possibly do this stuff, too.'” We call bullshit on that. Louis’ music production background is JOLLY, Anthony’s animation background is JOLLY, Joe’s web design background is JOLLY, Anadale’s video editing background is JOLLY. The point is that we all stepped up to the needs of our art. We did not come into this prepared. We feel that any artist or group of artists that loves what they’re doing is able to step up to any challenge their art poses before them, as long as they are willing.
“If you put your heart into something (that is love, and sweat), then you’ve got all the tools you need. We hope that we could inspire other bands to think outside the box and to engage their fans in more unique ways in this new age of digital content. JOLLY is following this mantra even in the way we release music. We feel that if we put our heart into our content (like we always have), then we only need our fans. There is no longer a need for record labels in modern times. If you’re loud enough, and determined enough, then people will find you and people will like you.”
Stream the first Family single and music video “Ava” on YouTube