After Viral Fame, Homeless Musician Asks Internet to Fund Album
Daniel “Homeless” Mustard needs $15,000 in spare change.
The musician, whose cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” went viral in 2009 when he was homeless, is asking for money to fund an album. Mustard no longer lives on New York City street or in parks, having found temporary housing at homeless shelters and Internet access to mingle with fans at Apple stores.
“When you are homeless you usually have lost some sort of your will to live,” Mustard tells Mashable. “A big part of me getting my shit together has been getting that back.
“And in a big way, getting exposure from the ‘Creep’ video (listen below) and all the support I’ve gotten on social media, and the making of the new record, has helped me get that back.”
“When you are homeless you usually have lost some sort of your will to live.”
This month, Mustard launched a project on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to pay for the cost of producing and distributing his Fragments of Bone EP and supplemental merchandise.
Mustard’s Kickstarter page lists unique rewards for people who pledge money to his project. So far, 92 people have given $2,903 in four days. There are 46 days left to meet his $15,000 funding goal
He will perform via Skype for backers who dish $110 or more and create cover song videos for at least $250. He’ll also do a live performance anywhere within a 120 miles of NYC for $1,500 and one anywhere outside of that distance in the U.S. for $2,500 or more. At $450, he’ll give a “homeless walking tour” of lower Manhattan.
“Well, in my mind, the things to be showing people are the places I used to sleep,” Mustard says.
“Washington Square Park was a huge part of my life, and talking about how the park has changed over the years,” he adds. “It’s more about telling the stories than the actual places — places where we got hassled by the police, attacked, all that fun stuff.”
He has many stories to tell, the narrative of being homeless with mental health issues and a drinking problem.
“Getting sober, staying sober, is a process, not an overnight thing.”
“Getting sober, staying sober, is a process, not an overnight thing,” he says. “I’m also going back to school and doing other things to better my situation.”
People will hear tinges of his struggles, recovery and dreams in his new music. The yet-to-funded EP, Fragments of Bone, is named after a lyric in the forthcoming song “Vanity Plate”: “Like fragments of bone, scattered across the sky.” The line describes the sky’s stars.
Having gained Internet fame with covers of other people’s songs, Mustard has established a flexible strategy.
“When I think about covers, as far as what I would like to do, is covers of songs that people would never think I would actually sing,” such as “Hit Me Baby One More Time” from Britney Spears, he says.
Mustard performed the Spears single and “Creep” on The Opie & Anthony Show in 2009. The clip of his “Creep” performance made the rounds across social networks and now has nearly 8 million views. His success lead to the release of his first five-song EP in 2010 and 10,000 Likes on his Facebook page.
Since then, he’s had no shortage of song requests from fans — everything from Ray LaMontagne tracks to hits that make him say, “What the f**k are you talking about?”
“I don’t even know the names of them, but I would think, ‘I wouldn’t sing this song if you paid me.’ But apparently now I would.”
Daniel Mustard Videos on YouTube
Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/23/homeless-musician-kickstarter-album/
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