Tonight we made $9. It's a Sunday night at the Luna bean, a small but devoted venue in Wilson, NC. The owner, Max, is actually one of the most genuine and kind-hearted people we've ever come across, but like many struggling venues he can only afford to pay you for how many heads you bring in the door. Four. And they had a great time - so did we.
The venue is tucked in a small strip mall behind a Bojangle's, the air always smells like a mix of exhaust and discarded fryer grease. I'm reminded that earlier in the night, Tawnya the drive-thru girl took pity on us and gave us a box of slightly stale BoBerry biscuits for the ride home.
As we start to pull away, I hear a tap on the window. It's Max-he thanks us again for playing, then reaches into his wallet and pulls out a $20. As I brush off the biscuit crumbs he shakes my hand, slips me the bill, and says with a light southern drawl "Y'all were great tonight. Promise me you'll keep going." Max doesn't know it, but he is a member of the Hotspur Underground Society.
Hotspur has been my full-time job for over three years now. It's the first thing I think about when I wake up. It's usually what I'm doing until I finally fall asleep. I spend at least one night a week working through the night, editing video or writing or putting final touches on the new album, finishing with just enough time to iron my shirt and hop on the metro to catch a quick nap before work.
It's exhausting, and it's kind of a ridiculous lifestyle at times, but I can say with absolute certainty that there's nothing I'd rather be doing. And I know there's four other guys in this band that feel the same way. We all live this band - all we want is to keep going.
Hotspur has sold almost 10,000 copies of "Beta." Eight out of the 10 songs on that album have been placed on various MTV shows including The Hills, and Next, and My Super Sweet Sixteen. We've toured in 33 states. We're on our third tour van (and I think it's gonna need a new transmission soon). We've played countless benefits and charity shows and shared thousands of memories with fans and friends. We've spent our past two summers on Warped Tour playing and hustling CDs, weathering the torrid heat and long drives to share our music with people and to pay off some of the debt that has been adding up over the years.
We managed to scrape together enough to start the process of making this new album, and we've come a long way; the record is almost finished, and it's without a doubt the best music we've ever made. But we need your help to finish it. There's an excitement and energy surrounding this album-and we all sense it. And we're putting everything we've got into it because we believe in this--but we can't do it alone. We're competing with labels that have huge budgets for marketing and tour support. What we don't have the money for we try and make up for with creative ideas and guerilla marketing, but that can take us only so far: we need help from the whole Hotspur community. The people whose floors we sleep on. The people who just want to see us keep going. The Hotspur Underground Society.
We're not asking for huge donations. Every little bit really helps. In return we offer you our undying love and eternal gratitude. Seriously--you all are the only reason it is possible for us to do what we do here, and we will be forever grateful for that. But if that's not enough, see the "Goodies" section to find out about some other, well, goodies.
-Joe, Dave, Scott, Coop, and Evan
