Hello and an early Merry Christmas to everyone out there! In appreciation of our fans because it is the season to give, we have decided to release our Par Avion EP to noisetrade.com where it will be completely free to download (www.noisetrade.com/highflightsociety)! We also wanted to give everyone an update as to what has been going on in the land of High Flight Society before 2010 comes to an end.

As many of you know, back at the beginning of the year, we officially signed with Word/Warner Brothers and immediately began the task of writing songs for our major label debut. We were all very excited about all the possibilities that this deal presented for us. We wrote somewhere between 50 and 60 songs, both by ourselves and with some very talented writers in Nashville, Tenn.

Just as discussions about who would be chosen to produce the album really began to gear up, the president of Word decided to leave and focus on producing records full time. A new president came in and apparently wanted to shake things up. Before we knew it, our A&R guy had been let go and several bands at the label had been dropped. Unfortunately, we were one of those bands.

We got the news back in September and have been trying to figure out the path our career should take through prayer and discussion. Should we call it quits? Should we press on? Or is there something in between those two we could do? Since that time we made a tough decision to part ways with our rhythm guitar player, Jerad. Soon after that we played an amazing show in Sacramento, Calif., all the while pondering what our next move should be. Anyone who is familiar with our career knows we have had some great successes but also some disappointments. This turn of events with Word obviously falls into the latter category.

The response to some of the new songs we played in Sacramento inspired us to at least make an attempt to record an EP of the songs we wrote during the process of being signed to Word. We believe these are some of the best, if not the best songs we have ever written and think it would be a shame if they were never recorded. For those who might not know, our last project was an independent EP (Par Avion 2009). The strength of those songs and the radio success they had are what landed us the ill-fated Word deal. Our self-titled debut came out in 2007 nationwide on Rocketown Records.

We knew we wanted to do (perhaps) one last EP but did not necessarily know how we could accomplish it. That is when we found out aboutkickstarter.com. Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world and every month, tens of thousands of people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields. On Kickstarter, an artist sets the amount of money needed to do a project and the funding goal must be reached before time runs out or no money changes hands.

This is where you, our fans, come in. We have figured out that through our contacts and the amazing people we have met over the years in the industry, we can record a six song EP for $5,000 that we will release on Itunes and other digital formats and also release a few songs to radio. Anyone who wants to donate any amount to help us reach this goal would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

For those of you who are able to donate we are offering a number of incentives to help us reach our goal. Here’s a quick rundown of how we say thank you for your support:

$15 – A signed Par Avion poster

$25 – A signed debut album + Par Avion download card

$35 – A signed t-shirt

$50 – A signed t-shirt (or signed CD) + a phone call from a band member

$100 – A signed shirt, CD, Poster + your name or organization listed in the thank yous

$500 – A Skype chat with Jason and Michael with an acoustic preview of an EP track

$1000 – A signed guitar with customized HFS art by the band. HFS will also record with this guitar on the EP!

$2500 – A professional photo taken with the band. YOU are the frontman (or woman).

$5000 –You hang with the band in the studio for a day + all our merch

THIS ENDS JAN 31st @ 11:59 PM! So Donate NOW!

As you’re considering donating to our cause we’d like to remind everyone that this project is bigger than what four guys want to achieve musically. You’re donating to a ministry with songs that have been written to speak to the hearts of people - to change lives through the power of Christ. We want all of you to join us in this mission to help impact our world for God.

Artistically speaking, you will also be donating to support creativity and artistic freedom that is all too often snuffed out by record labels and the music industry itself. So many bands and artists like ours are silenced simply because they do not have funding. What are we not hearing because of this? We’re just one of many out there but together we can all stand up and say our message will be heard in spite of the decisions of executives and their money.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read our letter. Thank you for all the support over the years from all over the country; our lives have been greatly impacted because of you. With your help, we look forward to bringing new music to each one of you.

Go here to Donate: www.kickstarter.com/projects/highflightsociety/new-6-song-ep-high-flight-society

Blessings,
Jason, Michael, John, Scotty

For more info on High Flight Society, visit the JFH Artists Database.