Funk band 20 Grand raising funds for debut album

Whitefish funk band 20 Grand recently recorded its debut album and now is turning to a crowdfunding campaign to help bring the album to fans.

20 Grand recorded the album at SnowGhost Music studio in Whitefish. Having already contributed some of their own money, the band is trying to raise the additional funds to cover the remaining mixing and mastering, along with pressing of discs.

As of presstime, the band had pledges for $2,600. The band has a deadline of Jan. 1 to reach its goal.

“Mostly our costs will be for the studio,” drummer Vinnie Rannazzisi said. “We wanted to keep it local, and there are only a handful of recording studios with enough isolation for an eight piece funk band to track live. In addition, SnowGhost Music is one of the only studios around that records with analog tape and that was a very attractive feature to us. We are also keeping it in house for the mastering process.”

Estimates put the total cost for the album at around $6,400.

That also includes flying their trumpet player Nick Simko from Ohio, who is finishing a music degree at Ohio University. Since 20 Grand’s inception five years ago, Simko has been an integral summertime member of the band whose horn sound is one of its hallmarks.

Members of the band include Jamie Simpson, Vincent Rannazzisi, Rebecca Nelson, Eric Gates, Nick Simko, Toby Ferguson, Eric Kanter and Dan Brua.

According to the band’s Kickstarter page, they have finished laying the tracks for 11 original funk/rock/hip-hop songs.

“We are proud of the quality of the recordings, and feel that we’ve captured an energetic and authentic picture of who we are and how we play,” the band writes. “We can’t believe what our band has grown into over the last five years since its inception, and are excited to have this audio memento for fun, posterity, and of course to share with our friends, family and fans.”

If the funding campaign is successful, the band hopes to have the album ready to distribute by Jan. 21, 2014.

20 Grand’s Kickstarter campaign has several backer levels that offer a plethora of rewards. Depending on the dollar amount of the contribution, they offer copies of the CD, music lessons, homemade pies, a board game night or pot luck accompanied by a funk DJ set and private snowboarding lessons. For the highest premiums, the band will arrange to play weddings or other events.

Two new unmastered tracks can be heard by clicking on the updates tab on the Kickstarter page.

Because of Kickstarter’s rules, 20 Grand’s album will only be funded if they reach their goal of $3,700 by their set date of Jan. 1, 2014 at 1:54 pm. If the goal isn’t met, existing contributions will not be processed.

For more information visit, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1414315812/20-grands-first-album.