Maryland rockers Ballyhoo! have announced a campaign with PledgeMusic to fund their next studio album. We caught up with lead singer and guitarist Howi Spangler to get some details regarding the Pledge and new album…
“We’re really excited to work with PledgeMusic on our new record,” says Spangler. “We did something like this for ‘Pineapple Grenade’ a couple years ago and it was really fun. It’s a chance to connect even further with people that are buying our music.”
Ballyhoo! fans (a.k.a. Hardcore Hooligans) expressed lots of enthusiasm when the band launched their crowdfunding campaign for Pineapple Grenade in 2013, and have done the same for this new album, 
having already funded twenty-five percent of the project goal in its first weekend. Fans who donated to the first Hardcore Hooligan campaign received a deluxe version of Pineapple Grenade that featured a collage of all the donor’s faces, early downloads of new music, and exclusive behind the scenes insights into the making of the album.
As awesome as those perks were, the band has kicked it up a notch with their PledgeMusic campaign, and are offering rewards, along with behind the scenes insights, such as: autographed posters, CD’s, and tour instruments, handwritten lyrics, guitar lessons via skype, a songwriting session with Howi Spangler, the opportunity to hang out with the band in their studio, and even a 75-minute full band acoustic concert at your house.
“Now that we’ve launched, I can’t wait to finally start posting updates to our pledgers. We’re also giving away our single “Fast Times” as a free download for all who pledge,” says Spangler.
When we spoke with Spangler regarding their single “Fast Times” in May, he alluded to some musical changes in this album compared to the band’s last few releases. For starters, this will be the band’s first album with new bassist Nick Lucera, who took over for J.R. Gregory last year. The album will also feature an abundance of lively, summertime songs compared to the more deep and mellow tunes that were largely featured in their last two albums.
“We got to be known as a party band, writing songs about drinking, smoking weed and shit like that, and we kind of got away from that with ‘Daydreams’ and ‘Pineapple Grenade.’ Which is fine because I’m really proud of those records… I guess [our music] has always had a really upbeat feel no matter what, but we really want to accentuate it now with our next album.”
This will be the sixth full-length album from Ballyhoo! and is tentatively scheduled to be their second full length album to be released on their own Right Coast Records. According to Howi, there are no guest appearances planned for the album, but the band plans to announce which producers they’ll be working with in the near future. The album will be released in early 2016, so fans that are anxiously waiting for new music can get a regular fix by pledging and checking out all of the up-to the-minute updates.
Click HERE to Pledge.
Related Links:
Ballyhoo! MP3 Massive (FREE MP3)
Ballyhoo! Website
Ballyhoo! Facebook
Article By: Andrew Aroche
Photo By: Kit Chalberg
Watch: Ballyhoo! PledgeMusic Intro Video
Watch: Ballyhoo!- “Fast Times”