Why Our New Album Could Fail

May 21st is a date that scares me. If you didn't already know, "Great" to the End will release on that date. In just over a week, I'll be putting on the final touches and submitting to release it. It feels like a dream to me. We've been plugging away at making this album for around 4 months (time actually active). It's both surreal and exciting to me, but in the back of my mind I'm always aware of what could become reality: "Great" to the End has a significant probability of failing.

Mark your calendars. 

So what does failing really entail for us? There's no doubt in my mind that "Great" to the End is an amazing album. There's no quality dip or loss of vision here. Great accomplishes everything we set out to do, and I'm damn proud of that. The problem lies in how much we've put into it. Great was a huge effort and time commitment. In addition to all the blood and sweat, it is also going to be a costly album for us. We're all pitching in here to ensure that Great can stand up after releasing.

So why is this a problem for us? It comes down to a simple fact: we haven't been profiting off of this. Up to this point, all that has driven us is our love of the music and entertaining the listeners. We've gotten to the point where this needs to change. For three teen guys, this is a lot of money we're dumping into releasing, making physical copies, and making sure this album gets heard. Now that's all fine and dandy, but people sometimes fail to realize that the only way to guarantee a product's success is to vote with your wallet. If you aren't willing to spend your money on it, don't whine when they stop making it.

It would be a really bitter pill for me if Great failed on release. All that time spent, and then it's over: nobody listened to it. That would really hurt me. I believe that we have something special here, and dammit, it needs to be heard.

The opening to Great, "Final Aurora", is an echo of my past failures as an artist. It starts with loud thuds, like hitting a brick wall, then eventually evolves into something chaotically beautiful. This is a revolutionary album for myself as an artist, and this is the moment where it needs to change. If Great does not succeed, this is the end of the road for myself as a serious artist. I'll be done putting in the struggle, effort, and fight that I've known for so long now. It will all be significantly scaled back because if this release doesn't succeed, then I don't know what will.

-Nelson

"Great" to the End releases digitally and physically May 21st, 2013. You can preorder yourself a copy by using the link below:

Preorder "Great" to the End Here