After touring as one band with Pete Francis of Dispatch, playing over 30 colleges plus their first national dates and major festivals, the only disappointing part of 2009 for Barefoot Truth is that they could only put out two new EP’s. Delays in the recording process (perfectionists?) meant the release of their brand new full length, Threads is being pushed to February 2010. In the mean time, BFT are hitting the road this fall to debut some songs from the upcoming release.
Fortunately, anyone who signs up to join The Barefoot Collective – Barefoot Truth’s free rep/fan community – won’t even have to wait that long to get actual previews of Threads. On October 1st, the band will post the first half of the album to stream for 24 hours in The Barefoot Collective section of http://www.barefoottruth.com/.
Furthermore, on December 1st, BFT will post the full album to stream for a day, letting its closest fans hear the record months before it goes on sale.
Since its inception in 2005 BFT has gone from a dorm room acoustic duo to a five-piece rock band including Weissenborn lap guitar, upright bass, lead harmonica and didgeridoo, keyboards, plus a drummer who sings lead vocals. The groups studio albums and outlook has grown from stripped-down optimistic sing-a-longs to the environmentally themed songs of their most recent full length, Walk Softly; Barefoot Truth are members of Rock The Earth and 1% For The Planet.
As Barefoot’s sound has changed, their relationship with fans has remained consistent. “It was the people closest to us who convinced us to record Changes In The Weather [their 2005 debut album] in the first place” says Will Evans who fronts the band on drums, vocals and sometimes guitar. “From the beginning we always had this network of people who were willing to spread our music throughout campuses handing out sampler CD’s, putting up posters for shows and generally keeping the buzz going.”
In late 2008, the band worked closely with its growing team of supporters to harness this enthusiasm, forming The Barefoot Collective. The BFT designed a free, reps only “portal” of their website featuring exclusive news, blogs from band members, free download links, access to promo materials, and a sign up to help sell merchandise in exchange for free tickets. Members of The Collective were regularly updated about the track listing, recording and release dates so, as Evans puts it, “When we decided we were no longer going to release it on October 6th, we all said ‘there is no way the Collective is waiting that long to hear it.’”
Besides hearing Threads months in advance, fans that join the Barefoot Collective will be treated to a free download of the band’s newest EP Life Is Calling.
Click here to sign up: http://www.barefoottruth.com/index.php?s=reps
See Barefoot Truth at 7PM this Friday at
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