Overview

Hello world! My name is DREADDs and I'm a singer-songwriter here in the beautiful city of Philadelphia, PA.

I’ve been playing music and performing for most of my life: jazz bands in middle school and college, performing in the Rose Bowl Parade with my high school British military style band, touring Italy with my college choir & performing in the Vatican. While I’m grateful for all of these venues, it wasn’t until the pandemic that I realized something was missing. I had been performing other people’s art and had gotten pretty good at interpreting their messages and stories. But I wasn’t performing my own stories. That’s why in early 2020 I began to take up songwriting and music production, experimenting and self-publishing all sorts of styles with all sorts of different messages.

After 5 years of exploration, I realized that the best genre to tell stories is through country music, so I started writing songs from someone else’s perspective since I didn’t think I fit into this genre. Through this process however, I’ve learned just how diverse the themes are in country and that there is space for me to carve out my own sound and share my own stories which was why I got into songwriting in the first place! In the past year, I’ve done just this: written up my own “country” stories, harmonies, and melodies.  Now the only thing left is to share the sounds in my head and heart with all of you.

The material is ready, and the musicians are waiting -- this Plaid Dog campaign is the final step toward creating my first ever, professionally produced studio album.

This campaign is raising funds for my professionally recorded EP with Ryan Gallagher  in Boston, MA. Ryan is a seasoned Boston-based producer and engineer with experience working with both established and up-and-coming musicians. Together,  Ryan and I are digging into my original material, writing arrangements, and reaching out to local musicians to bring the songs to life. 

We’ve been able to cover the costs of recording and producing one song, which is ready for you to check out right here on this page and wherever you listen to music. This first song is called “Country Manual,” and you can check it out below!

While I’ve been able to fund the recording process for "Country Manual” on my own, to create an album of songs of this quality, studio costs add up quickly. With that said, this campaign can give us a unique opportunity to collaborate and make great art together. Your donation will cover the following costs of my project:

1. Pre-Production: This is where everything starts.  and I will start crafting the arrangements for each song slated for the album. We’ll hold rehearsals to fine-tune the songs and arrangements and talk through new and exciting ideas for how to approach the recording process.

2. Recording: This is when we enter the studio and start capturing the music and where the songs become what you'll hear on this album. This campaign will play a huge role in making sure we have enough time to capture great performances for every member of the band.

3. Mixing & Mastering: Each track will get mixed to create the right balance between instruments, texture and color that make up a track. As a final step, the album will be mastered from beginning to end so that the listening experience is cohesive and carefully choreographed from start to finish.

And what will you get for your generosity and support? So many awesome things!

I am so appreciative and grateful for any support you can lend to this campaign. In exchange for your generosity, I've put together a really exciting group of gifts that are available exclusively through your participation in this campaign.

Check out some examples below and a full list to the right!

It’s hard to express how much this project means to me in what I believe is my life’s work to help people.

Until recently, I thought advanced medicine and scientific research were the only way to heal someone. As I’ve seen in my own life and others, that’s obviously not true. Music has an equal ability to heal, unite, and inspire hope through moving lyrics or beautiful melodies that wake up some transformative process deep within one’s soul.

I’ve tried doing this on my own, self-publishing music that I hope some will empathize with or be able to laugh along with learning not to take life too seriously. But like good medicine and scientific research, quality matters to get this healing effect. And most often better quality comes from collaborations and working in teams. While I’m proud of the music I’ve published on my own, it’s not what I’m hearing in my head and doesn’t have the biggest impact that I think it could. So that’s why I need some help from my producer Ryan, professional musicians, and you!

I’ve never made music at this level before, but after working and honing my style for the last several years and even longer as a musician, I’m ready to take the next step. Together we have the opportunity to touch more people with amazing quality music, and carve out a unique sound not heard in modern country music.

If you're ready to contribute, just click the "Back This Project" button on the top right of this page! Every little bit counts, and I’m so grateful for all your support

If you have folks in your network that would be interested in supporting me, please feel free to share this page with them.

Thank you so much for checking out my campaign page. I can't wait to share this music with you.