public

The Brian Shields Memorial Fund Band Submissions Are NOW OPEN

Artwork and shirt design by Mike Graziano. We’ve come a long way since the humble idea of honoring Brian Shields‘ memory. We managed to raise a fair chunk of

9 years ago

Artwork and shirt design by Mike Graziano.

We’ve come a long way since the humble idea of honoring Brian Shields‘ memory. We managed to raise a fair chunk of change in his name, we’ve got shirts being shipped out pretty soon, and all perks will be fulfilled in due time. For more on perks, however, here’s where you need to be, because this post is all about getting YOUR BAND ON TOUR.

To find out how The Brian Shields Memorial Fund band submissions work, hit the cut!


I’ll try to keep this brief and simple, as to not confuse anyone. What follows are the rules and regulations for submitting your band for the possibility of winning a loan from The Brian Shields Memorial Fund and Heavy Blog is Heavy to be used to take your band on tour. It is a shortened, numbered version of the official contract that winning bands will be asked to sign in order to receive the funds to use for their tour.

THE GOODS

Major details:

  1. The Brian Shields Memorial Fund and Heavy Blog is Heavy agree to provide you with an interest-free loan to use for a tour across a part or the whole of North America.
  2. At least 75% of your band must be located in North America (that means the United States or Canada).
  3. Your projected tour must last a minimum of three weeks, with at least five shows played per week (or equivalent).
  4. You must have at least one album’s worth of material recorded with “professional quality.” This does not mean that you had to record in a fancy studio, but it does mean that it must be recorded and mixed well.
  5. You must have at least one album’s worth of material easily attainable by the public, either physically or digitally.
  6. You must have at least ONE unique item of merchandise representing your band (i.e., shirts, hats, wall scrolls, shot glasses, physical copies of your music, etc.). Funds from this loan are not to be used to purchase merchandise.

Upon winning the competition:

  1. The winning bands must provide a tour route, including: Location (City, State), Venue Information (Name, Address, Phone Number), Name and Contact Info for whomever booked the show, Guaranteed Payment Amount. “Door Deals” should have their specifics written out.
  2. Proof of the acquisition of a vehicle for this tour.

Miscellaneous:

  1. Bands must identify as a “metal” band or present clear stylistic influences of other metal bands. Any style of vocals are acceptable. Instrumental bands are also acceptable.
    Bands must not be affiliated with any sort of professional record label, booking agency, or management.
  2. The band’s projected tour dates must take place in consecutive fashion starting anywhere from their winning of the competition (August 15th, 2015) to the end of the current year (December 31st, 2015).

Legal stuff:

  1. You will have to pay this money back. If you don’t pay it back by the request date, or misuse it somehow, we will seek legal action. Please don’t make us do this.
  2. Full details are available in the contract.

Click here for the full version of the contract in PDF form.

Big Question: How much do you get?

If you’ll recall, we had a funding goal of $6,500 when we ran our IndieGoGo campaign in March and April. The original plan was to give each band $2,500 to use for their tour, but since we didn’t make it even halfway to our goal, we unfortunately don’t have that much to give, after fulfilling perks, buying and printing shirts, and with having to ship them out really soon.

That said, the two winning bands will each receive: $850 USD.

Still a pretty decent chunk of change to use for a tour! Should this be an even partial success, the current plan is to run another fundraiser next year to gain even more funds so that we can either give bands more money to use or send more bands out on tour.

Still sound good?

if you’re into what we’re doing, fill out the form below! Just a few simple questions and you are then entered for consideration by our selection committee (list of committee members).

If the above form is not displaying correctly, access it via this link.

How Selection Works

Upon closure of the submission period, all bands will be randomly assigned in equal quantities among our committee members. For example, if we get 90 submissions, each committee member will get ten (10) bands to consider. Of those ten (10) bands, the committee member will select their top one (1) to two (2) acts to be placed in a smaller pool to be disclosed to the public. A poll will be made on Heavy Blog is Heavy where members of the community (THAT’S YOU) will vote on which bands they like best. The two (2) bands with the most votes will be chosen from this final pool and contacted via the official Tour Fund email or by a representative of Heavy Blog is Heavy.

Note: The third and fourth placing bands will also be contacted in the event the top two bands are unable to tour.

Band submissions close on July 15th, 2015 at 11:59 PM EST.


If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email [email protected] and we can help clarify.

If you’re confident, I would suggest starting to plan now!

Thank you for being with us on this incredible journey! If you decide to enter, good luck! Tell your friends about this! It could be an incredible opportunity to get on the road!

-KG, Heavy Blog, & Wings Denied

Kyle Gaddo

Published 9 years ago