For those of you who know me, you’d know that surfing has always been a major part of my life and I have spent much of my life as a professional surfer. Those who have met me recently will know musical performance and songwriting is also a big passion of mine.
I am really proud to say that in 2014 I successfully turned my passion for music in to my main source of income and now days, any weekend in the year you’ll find me performing to audiences in Pubs, Clubs and Restaurants all over the east coast of Australia.
2014 was also a great year for my surfing. After an 8 year absence from international competition I entered my first event and surprised many, myself included, when I took first place in the Open Men’s Division.
The event was the Newquay Boardmasters In England, one of the world’s largest Surfing and Music festivals. I had always intended to return to Newquay to defend my Boardmasters Title in 2015 and I began to dream about how amazing it would be if were able to perform as part of the music festival line up also. The dream was realised in early May 2015 when the Boardmasters confirmed a place on the line up for me.
Ever since I wrote my first song I have dreamed of sharing my passion for surfing and music with a worldwide audience so needless to say this news has got me quite ecstatic.
The Boardmasters with 7 stages, 50,000plus patrons daily over 5 days is a one of a kind festival experience, which has been known to showcase the world’s biggest musical acts. I am hugely honored to be sharing this year’s line up with such acts as Groove Armada, Faithless, Rudimental Live, Bastille, The Darkness, Arrested Development, De La Soul, as well as Australia’s very own Tora and Kim Churchill.
So I have been doing everything humanly possible to be ready for this opportunity and the music and surfing is there but unfortunately my muso wages haven’t allowed me to meet the budget I need to make to the trip viable at this late stage. But it aint out of lack of trying :)
I have sold my car and even one of my guitars in an effort to ensure I will make it safely to England without having to paddle there, but with a month to go I am still coming up short and this is where I need your help.
I have a dream to take my surfing and music to waves and stages all round the world and I am asking for your support and generosity to help this fantastic dream of mine to come true. This is my first opportunity to take my passions to a world stage and I am hoping that you will see it in your hearts to help me to live this dream out, as it would be a real shame to pass up the opportunity purely down to finances. I am hoping this will be the first of many opportunities like this for me and I would love you all to be with me at the ground level on my new journey.
There are range of options and rewards for you to choose from to show your support, starting at $10 all the way up to personal sponsorship and endorsement of me during the event.
As rewards for your generosity I will be giving away my debut EP due later this year, musical performances at your home or event as well as my surfboards from the event and much much more. I would also like to make mention that I am not currently endorsed by any brand for surfing or for music.
So if you own a small business or a brand that you feel can benefit from brand awareness within the UK and European youth culture, please take the time to look over the various sponsorship and endorsement opportunities that I am offering here. Your business, logo, name etc can come to the boardmasters with me!
If you would like to discuss any one of these opportunities in further detail I encourage you to contact me on jockbarnesmusic@gmail.com at your earliest convenience.
Lastly guys, thank you so much for taking the time to review my pozible campaign, I will be forever grateful for any and all support that you are willing to offer to help me to live out the dream. So come along on this crazy ride with me.
Much Love Jock Barnes
the Budget:
– Flights return $2165.85 – including guitar and surfboards as check in luggage
– Accommodation $800 – for the time I will be competing and performing at the Boardmasters
-Travel – Fuel/Car hire etc $700– for the time I will be competing and performing at the Boardmasters
– wetsuits $600
– Surf Boards $1920
– entry fees $250
– Insurance… with my track record I think I will need it
If I reach over the $5000 goal I will be able to put this towards Competing in WQS events during the 2015 Euro leg whilst I am there… just the change of a ticket and I could be back in the game.
In the mean time I have sold my car and one of my much loved guitars already to fund this project, I’ll do what it takes to get in the air, on the way, in the waves and on that stage!
This is a long way to travel and a short amount of time to get the funds raised, especially when I am away from home and haven’t got the usual income flow whilst I will be traveling.
I also think a big challenge for emerging independent artists is building up a following and being able to reach them. The Internet has made it much easier but there is nothing that compares to live performance. To perform live and reach out to fans on a personal level is what really drives me. The budget I have put forward is a very modest one; there will still be obstacles to build this dream to reality but I am prepared to put in the hard yards.
Merging my Surfing and Music isn’t always going to be so accessible in this day and age in surfing I’ll be seen as the ‘old guy’ with so much youth talent moving up the ranks to compete with but I know I’ve still got a lot to offer especially with my music and surfing together.
I’m asking for $5000… that’s something around 167 supporters at $30… mix that up with a few sponsors and we’ll be well on our way!
I have under a month to attracted support of my music, surfing, local and international networks and I will be doing my all over this time through social media to reach out and keep you all engaged.
I will be releasing a new blog every few days of my surf writing. Most of these will have already been published throughout the years in Australia Surfing Life magazine and I am really looking forward to sharing these writings with you.
I know we can make this happen and I am throwing it to the wind, my friends, families and fans mixed with a lot of hard work!
Lets do this!!