By Brandon on January-22-2012 | Filed under News | Tags : FIF, Five Iron Frenzy, Punk, Reese Roper, Ska | Share 
The Five Iron Frenzy kickstarter campaign has come to a successful and triumphant end with their goal of $30,000 being met and then some. They raised a little over $200,000 in total from the campaign. Money will go towards creating, producing, manufacturing, merchandising, touring, and all other associated costs with being in a band. Plus I hear stock in Mayonnaise just went up! Don’t believe me? Watch video below.
Brandon Jones is a 34 year old male living in Orange County, CA. with his wife of 14 years, 2 sons, 1 daughter and a bunch of animals. Brandon enjoys living a life for God, Family, Passionate music, the ocean, the mountains, and working in the Machining industry (Real Job). Brandon is extremely pleased (and excited) that Five Iron Frenzy have begun again. (Check me out on Twitter @brandonivm )
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Music Inspired By: The Story 
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I’m so dang excited!
they should just make 6 albums obviously
LOL. This will be an amazing album… a $200,000 album:D
As much as I like these guys, I don’t respect what they’re doing with the extra cash. It makes me sick.
A record label could easily make $200,000 off a band’s album sales/merch and no one flinches but when an independent band comes out in the open and raises $200,000 on their own, it’s suddenly an ethics debate. I don’t understand why some people have an issue with this “campaign”. Would you rather have a Record Label make that kind of money or have it go directly to the band? If you take the $200,000 and deduct all production costs, manufacturing costs, merchandise costs, instrument costs, etc. then you divide up what’s left among 8 adults (with families no doubt), how much is truly left over to live on? Not much. Yeah $200,000 may seem like a lot of money up front but after taxes are paid, kickstarter fees paid, and all those other essential costs are covered, they aren’t going to be living extravagant lives as rockstars like some people may assume.
I honestly didn’t think anyone would have an issue with people giving money to their favorite band to record a new album and do shows. Even when they were playing shows they used the extra money from church shows to do secular shows. This band has shown to be financially responsible.
I flinch at both. I’d rather the extra money go to neither a band or a record label, but to the poor and afflicted and everyone else Jesus commanded us to care for. First of all, this is not the money they’re using to live on. This is extra money, provided by fans on the internet. I’m pretty sure they have other means of providing for their families.
In addition, their minimum goal was 30,000 dollars. If that amount wasn’t sufficient they should’ve set it higher. Their poor decision making here aligns them with the greed that they so often rally against. Imagine the derision a megachurch would (rightfully) receive from this kind of thing.
When it comes down to it, FIF is entertainment. Any additional “production costs, manufacturing costs, merchandise costs, instrument costs” are complete fluff. Does some band REALLY need a more ornate tour or better merch or better instruments? There are plenty of independent bands with no external funding who I enjoy and respect way more. I just wish they would’ve meditated on their own lyrics a bit more and used that additional 170,000 for something truly meaningful.
That amount may not be a whole lot when it comes to music, but it can go a long way in organizations like the IJM (Sex Trafficking) or Compassion Int. (Orphans, poor children)
@JayTholen Wow, you pulled the “give the extra money to the poor” card pretty quick there. Here’s the thing. IF they were going to use the extra money to buy cars, houses, golden chains, and other things they probably don’t need, then yeah, I’d have a problem with that too. But if they’re using it to tour then I think thats great! As you said there are tons of bands out there struggling to make it. Gas ain’t cheap! The more money they get more touring they’ll get to do. As for your spiritual concern, FIF was and is one of the most spiritual bands out there. The more shows they’re able to play, the more people they’ll be able to reach for Christ.
in my opinion, Five Iron Frenzy is a ministry in and of itself. i believe all of us that frequent this site realize the importance and the impact of music, and to doubt it’s possibility for ministry would be kind of silly. to think of the lives that will be touched of their new album in 2013 is pretty awesome, but to think they’ll be able to minister to tens of thousands through touring and festivals is pretty awesome to me.
The fact is Jay, you have absolutely no idea as to what the individual members of FIF or the churches they represent contribute to the poor. Quit judging by mere appearances. You don’t have all the facts, therefore you have no grounds to make a judgment.
I don’t buy any of that. Very poor excuses for a bad decision. And give me a break with the ” they’re reaching people for Christ!” stuff… It essentially boils down to some band you like having a lot of money to put on a tour and make an album. As far as I can tell, FIF does very little to propagate the Gospel these days. It’s super transparent when you shove God into an equation that he’s barely a part of.
And I’m not judging people, I’m judging a decision made by a band. That said, though I’m disappointed, I still like FIF.
“As far as I can tell” is a very important admission.
Excuse my ignorance but where has there ever been any information on whether they have given any of this money away? For all we know, they might have given 10% of this away (using an OT biblical quantity) or more! Jesus taught not to let your right hand know what your left hand is giving, so if they have used any money raised to bless others then we technically might not know about it.
I’m not saying they have given anything away or not because we don’t know… but that’s the point – we don’t know!
well said brandon.
Also, jay, u say that they are greedy? They asked for 30k because that’s what they needed. WE GAVE them 200k because we believe in them and want to support them. We are also buying tours and albums. You make a donation, u get something out of it. Say you go to the store for milk, hand the cashier money and she says “well the money you gave me for the milk is going to the poor. And since now there’s money to cover the milk, you can’t have it.” That’s my .02.
What do you mean “these days”? They’ve been gone for 8 years! :unamused:
@jay you don’t make sense dude.
Oh and you sound old and like you shouldn’t even know what indie vision music is
jay, you are fighting an (unfortunately) hopeless and losing battle.
i agree with you though.
Who are any of you to judge what FIF does with this money? Everybody that gave money will get the product/service that matched their giving level. They didn’t NET $200,000. After expenses, they might have some money to roll back into the band. As to the level they set their campaign at, they picked a level they felt was attainable. If the goal isn’t reached, they wouldn’t get any funding for their album or tour. Some Christians are so quick to throw stones and remain clueless as to the costs incurred to bands. Do you realize that some bands never realize a profit and break up because they end up in debt to their record labels? Shame on all of you who are slinging mud at the band.
I’m sorry if I’ve offended you guys, that wasn’t my intent. I’m just kind of sad about the whole thing. I really feel that it would’ve been an incredible example to the rest of the independent christ-centered music scene if they would’ve invested it directly into the lives of the hurting. What could be better?!
beej: Yeah, I guess that was a poor choice of words. I was primarily referring to the fact that 2(+?) members of the band are no longer believers, which sort of puts them in a difficult place ministry wise.
Tim: They’ve already said what they’re using the cash for on Kickstarter. And I’m not really talking about a tithe here. That’s a decision they have to make personally.