Crowdfunding Campaigns of the Week: Cheap Trick, Seal, and Oteil Burbidge

If you’re a successful artist, it’s easy to just play it safe and keep doing the same thing that brought the audiences to you. But many artists like to branch out, to challenge themselves with some different styles and genres. This week’s edition of Crowdfunding Campaigns of the Week features three artists doing just that. We have a hitmaking vocalist exploring the standards, classic rockers celebrating the holidays, and one of rock’s most successful sidemen stepping out to the front.

Cheap Trick- Christmas Christmas

If you’re like me, early October is not the time you want to be thinking about Christmas. Despite what the big box stores think (many have had their Christmas displays up since Labor Day), many of us are perfectly content to let one holiday pass at a time. But Christmas albums are a different animal. They have a short window of sales, albeit one that returns annually, so holiday album pre-orders tend to come about this time. One of this year’s most intriguing is from Cheap Trick. The classic rockers best known for their high energy stage shows and hits like “Surrender” and “The Flame” are releasing Christmas Christmas. The album will mix Cheap Trick originals with classics like “Run Rudolph Run” and The Ramones “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight). Of course, this being Cheap Trick, there are plenty of irreverent backer rewards, including a Cheap Trick ugly Christmas sweater, a Cheap Trick ornament, a beanie, and Cheap Trick Christmas socks.

Seal- Standards

Seal came to prominence in the ’90s with his soul hit “A Kiss From a Rose.” Since that time, he has established himself as one of the most distinctive voices from that era. Now he’s ready to tip his hat to his influences with an album of standards appropriately titled Standards. Recorded in the famed Capitol Records studios, where many of the artists Seal pays homage to recorded some of their most iconic works, Standards finds Seal taking on everyone from Frank Sinatra to Nat King Cole to Ella Fitzgerald. There are no special backer rewards for this pre-order, just standard and deluxe editions of the album on CD and vinyl.

Oteil Burbridge- Water in the Desert

Oteil Burbridge is a name that many roots music fans won’t be familiar with, but it’s a good bet you have some of his basslines in your record collection. Burbridge has recorded and toured with roots music royalty. He is currently a member of Dead & Company alongside John Mayer and three original members of The Grateful Dead, was a touring member of The Allman Brothers Band for over 15 years, and has also worked with Tedeschi Trucks Band and Aquarium Rescue unit. For his new solo album, Burbridge tapped a stellar group of musicians including Kofi Burbridge, Dave York, Lil John Roberts, and Sean O’Rourke, as well as Alfreda Gerald and Mark Rivers on vocals. Backer rewards include signed copies of the album on CD, a VIP concert experience, and a handwritten lyric sheet.