The Stifftones EP and Van

The Stifftones:  Who are we, and why spend your hard earned money on us?  We are a husband and wife Americana/Folk/Rock singer songwriter duo, with a flair for the dramatic, in the trappings of a modern day Johnny and June Cash love story, with grit.  If the cliche wasn’t distasteful enough for you, please keep reading!

All donors will have a chance to be selected as an extra in  one of our upcoming videos. 
All donations of $5 or more also include a free download of our EP when it's complete.  

If we are able to raise $5,000 donors will receive the following:

-$5 or more will receive a free download of our 5 song EP plus bonus cover track.  

-$50 or more The Stifftones Care Package plus free EP download

-$100 or more Deluxe The Stifftones Care Package and free EP download

If we reach $10,000 donors of $500 or more will receive

- Deluxe The Stifftones Care Package, free EP download, and Private show at mutually agreed on date and location.

We have chosen the path less traveled.  We are either brave, or crazy enough, to leave the comforts of home behind.   We are willing to live on ramen noodles, cheap hot dogs, and the kindness of strangers.  We have risked everything, to reach for our dreams, and risk ridicule for our past, and present lives at 40+ years old.   That being said: Our support has been nothing short of AMAZING, and frankly, humblingly so! The friends and family we have made throughout the country, while sharing our music, is what keeps driving us forward.  

As people who have given away nearly everything they own, we do not measure our successes, or failures, the same way as many folks.  At the end of our day, we do not sleep better, or feel more accomplished because of an imaginary number we could have in account somewhere, or the number of nice cars etc. that we own, or the giant televisions in each room of our house that are selling us fear.  I live in a Toyota Camry, with my wife, and her service dog, all of our band gear, and a few changes of clothes. We do this by choice, and we love it. We are successful when someone hears our song, and says: Hey, I really loved that song! When we play for a small room full of people, and they came to hear us play and sing, that's our kind of success.  Speaking to others through our music fills our souls with joy.  Relating with people on a personal level, gives our lives meaning.  You can’t go out to your local box store and buy that.

We have not expected the responses that we have received, and we have had a great journey so far. Unfortunately, our gear is really beginning to fall into disrepair, and being amateur entry level gear, was never really meant for playing some of the venues we are playing now.  We need some dependable equipment. We would love to find a van that preferably gets decent gas mileage. We would love to build a bed in it, so we could sleep horizontally. We have more music to share, but we need some studio time. There are a lot of expensive parts to being in an original band.  It would be cheaper, and easier to just bring you ‘Mustang Sally’. Aside from all of the costs associated with licensing etc., we spend countless hours writing, practicing, discarding, and rewriting guitar parts, lyrics, melody lines, vocal harmonies, etc. to bring you something as simple as ‘Midwestern Town’.  The point is, this takes arguably a LOT more work, time, thought, and in the end, money, than being in a working ‘cover band’. There is a much more personal investment in an original song, than others. If someone doesn’t like a cover, it wasn’t your song anyway, right?

As a band, we ARE asking for more support than your average local act.  We ARE trying to make a name for ourselves, and our community, on the national and international level.  We have made a great many inroads on all fronts, thanks to the great people who have purchased our shirts, hats, tickets, downloaded our songs, etc.  We believe in paying forward, we always have. We believe in giving back, we always will. We love to donate our time, services, money, and even offer free advice ha ha.  We understand the value of a hard earned dollar and equally understand the selflessness of donation.

It is a scary thing to ask for help, at least it always has been for me.  As a general rule, if left to my own devices long enough, I will screw something up at least three times over, before I ask for help, maybe more.  At some point I begin to understand enough, to ask the right questions. We have learned so much, that I am not afraid to ask for help, because I know we can't make it without it.  We need your help getting to the ‘next level’. For us the ‘next level’ is getting our chance to record our first EP and album (which is written already).  To us the ‘next level’ is dependable gear, and a dependable vehicle to tour, and live in.

In closing, I’m asking for your money, time, resources, expertise, you name it.  We have met the best friends on this journey that anyone could ever ask for. We have learned so much about ourselves, what we are made of, and who we want to be.  We learned how to live and what it means to feel alive and connected to others. We have learned the value of friends and family and those yet to become friends and family.  We are 40+ years old and are running for it. We are chasing our dream. We are not major country recording stars, we’re not selling out stadiums full of rabid rock fans. We are homegrown, grassroots, real, and at times loveable, regular joes.  We are asking for the opportunity to keep sharing our music and our lives with you. We need $5,000 to finish our EP for release, this will include gear maintenance and necessary upgrades. We also need $5,000 to purchase and modify a van for our traveling and sleeping on the road.  Our first priority is our gear and EP release. 

Check us out on facebook to see our latest news, reviews, and monitor our progress! 

Thank you,
Shaun (and Rachel) Stief
The Stifftones

We also have a patreon account for those wishing to support us on a monthly basis and receive more personalized incentives and bonuses.  Here is the link to our Patreon account
Check our bandcamp page to listen to Midwestern Town and check out additional merchandise for sale
Link to our single Midwestern Town