John French and the Bastilles

In one short month, local pop group John French and the Bastilles raised $11,000 via a Kickstarter campaign to fund the recording and production of their latest album, What Wakes the Night.

“The Kickstarter process was simultaneously the most encouraging and most stressful month of my life,” says French. “It was really very moving to see my friends move to support us in a really big way… and then people that I had never met give me a ridiculous amount of money.”

Incentives weren’t limited to simply showing faith in the band. Rewards spanned from copies of the album to live covers of any chosen song to a date with the entire band. (For reasons unbeknownst to French, no one bought the date.)

For French, the writing process is cathartic. “By the time I am finished with a song, even if I still don't understand what I am writing about fully, I feel that I have gained some sort of foothold,” he says. “I never deem a song finished until I sing it, and [then] I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”

French’s love of lyricism is not limited to the songs he writes. He explains that he has always loved lyrics, poems and words in general. A vivid demonstration of this occurs as he nurses a beer and, as if in conversation, recites every lyric to a Drake song.

“There is always a best word, and you have to work to find it,” he explains. “Drake calls it the flow; I call it lyric poetry. He says he runs it for hip-hop, and I am just trying to do the best I can in the folk-rock world.”

By the way: the album is funded and finished, but for $200, the offer to go on a date with John French and his band still stands.