Fueled by a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, James Dewees and company are back!
by Matt Kelchner
“It is amazing and exhausting, but more amazing. It’s completely worth being sore and tired in the morning only because I haven’t done it in so many years. I’ve just got to get my body back into ‘Reggie’ shape,” James Dewees explains as we discuss the triumphant return of his solo project under the moniker Reggie and the Full Effect. Indeed quite some time has past since we last heard from the genre-blended, goofy band.
In the beginning of last year, Dewees launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund his return. The end goal was to raise enough money to help release his new record, No Country For Old Musicians, on his own. The Kickstarter campaign ended with more than 1200 fans pledging enough money to not only meet his goal, but gain almost $10,000 more. “The love that I’ve gotten from all the Reggie fans makes me feel like I should have never stopped doing it,” Dewees tells me as we reflect on the process behind it.
Looking back on his campaign, Dewees begins to unravel it’s beginnings. “Well it was weird. I really did the Kickstarter to see if there was any interest in me bringing ‘Reggie’ back, and it turns out there was. I was little taken by surprise that is succeeded.” As the fan support continued to pile on and number of orders rise, so did the amount of work that would soon follow.
One of the hardest parts in any successful Kickstarter campaign is meeting the fulfillment process of every single pledge from each backer. Dewees was not exception to this rule, “it’s sort of like running your own record label/merch company/songwriting company/production company all in one”. It was a process that, as Dewees explained it, took over much of his spare time. “Since it has succeeded, I have lived in front of my computer,” he tells me, “every hour, I’m answering a question”.
Despite the almost overwhelming amount of labor behind it, the entire process has been enjoyable and beneficial. If the campaign turned out to not be successful in reaching the monetary goal (a self-chosen goal that dictates the success of any Kickstarter campaign), Dewees had other, less desirable plans. “I would have ended up having to sign something which would’ve taken a lot longer.” He continues to go over the alternatives and jokes, ““I probably would have just continued to post songs online, maybe start another Kickstarter and ask for way less money”.
The fruits of his labor having been paying off time and time again. As we talked about the current tour that he is on, supporting No Country For Old Musicians, Dewees shared stories of fans coming up to him and showing pictures the two took from years ago. Other fans have been coming to the shows with their children and introducing a new generation to Reggie and the Full Effect.
All of this might not have been possible without the success and support of his fans. “I think the big thing that would have been different [if the Kickstarter campaign did not work] would be that I probably wouldn’t be on tour right now”. The fans did not stop at the Kickstarter either. The tour has been extremely successful for Dewees, successful enough that he is making a second stop in Philadelphia after selling out the first show in the beginning of the show. More shows are on the horizon as well. After this tour comes to an end, Reggie and the Full Effect will go back out on the road in April and again come the summer time.
