Jesusfreakhideout.com Music News, April 2013: Jason Dunn Hosts FaithLauncher Campaign To Fund New Album, Abandon Progress

Jason Dunn Hosts FaithLauncher Campaign To Fund New Album, Abandon Progress

NEWS SOURCE: Jesus Freak Hideout / Jason Dunn / EOS AM
April 11, 2013

Former Hawk Nelson vocalist Jason Dunn has been hard at work on his first solo project, Abandon Progress, for months now and the singer has started his own FaithLauncher.com campaign to help fund the album. The goal for FaithLauncher's first-ever music campaign is $20,000 ($5,854 of which was donated in the first 12 hours!), with any proceeds raised over that amount being donated to Jason's ministry The Jason Dunn Diabetes Foundation -- a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance and change the lives of children and young adults living with diabetes.

Check out the details of his campaign as he lists below and visit the campaign page here to consider pledging!

Hey, I’m Jason Dunn, you may know me as the former lead singer of Hawk Nelson, but as of last April, I’m just me, “A Band in Progress”. I think the number one question people like to ask me is, why? Why did you leave Hawk Nelson? The short answer, it was time. The longer answer, I'll get to that later. The next chapter has just begun; Abandon Progress my new album is due out in May. How this next chapter is written depends on the support of people like you. First I want to tell you a little story about one of my biggest life struggles that turned out to be one of my biggest life motivators.

The Beginning...
I have always wanted to be a musician. I started playing the piano at the age of four, and by eleven had taken up the guitar (much cooler) and started my own band. I had decided I was going to be BIG! A year later, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. In my mind, I had basically been issued a life sentence. Sleepovers at friends’ houses…OVER; school trips… NOT FOR ME; eating junk food… FORGET IT! Every birthday party I went to, instead of cake, I was chewing on a carrot or eating a granola bar. I was embarrassed of my life!

My passion for music kept me moving forward and at seventeen I started a new band. We played anywhere and everywhere; two years later that band became Hawk Nelson and in 2003 we signed a record deal with Tooth & Nail Records out of Seattle, WA.

Life Changing Event...
Everything came to a screeching halt in 2005 when I went to bed one evening and woke up in the Emergency Room the next morning. All the touring and un-scheduled living had taken its toll, my diabetes was winning. This was the final straw for my doctor, who had seen me dealing with sugar lows much too frequently. He gave me an ultimatum, “Get a pump or quit touring”. With a $10,000 loan from my record label, I got a pump. The pump finally made managing my diabetes while on the road possible.

My years with Hawk Nelson were incredible! I toured non-stop for ten years, travelling all over the world and selling over half a million albums. I was featured on television and in a movie, won numerous awards, and played to packed arenas.

In 2011 a simple conversation with a boy and his mother shook my world. They stopped me on a cold December night after one of my shows, and the mother shared with me that I was her son’s role model. He had been recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and, like me, he felt like a write-off; but when he discovered that his favorite singer had diabetes, he knew he could do anything he put his mind to, just like me.

For my entire teenage years and much of my young adult life I was angry at God because of my diabetes. What did I do to deserve this? Why would He allow something like this to happen to me? That night, through that woman and boy, God answered every question I had ever screamed up at Him. I decided to stop being angry and embarrassed by my diabetes and instead use it to help other young people, just like that boy.

The following year we (Hawk Nelson) wrapped up our 5 record deal with our label 'Tooth & Nail' records. For me I felt it was the perfect time to start something new, to build something from the ground up. It was an exciting and refreshing thought, and I felt the need for change, so in April of 2012 I set off on a solo adventure, leaving Hawk Nelson behind.

A New Beginning...
So here I am, almost one year later, with an album ready to be released; and a passion like I've never felt before. In January of last year I announced a project under the name “Lights Go Down”; after a month of intense studio work, I realized it wasn’t working. I recorded an entire album trying to be something I wasn’t, an acoustic singer song-writer. I scrapped that album, and lost my $20,000 investment, only to realize that I was the voice of Hawk Nelson for 10 years and I shouldn’t be running away from that, but instead, embracing it.

I started over and spent much of 2012 writing and recording my debut album, Abandon Progress with GRAMMY® nominated songwriter and producer, Aaron Rice (TobyMac, Mandisa, Rachael Lampa).

Big Passion Of Mine...
I also made a long time dream come true, I started a foundation to support children and young adults with diabetes, The Jason Dunn Diabetes Foundation (www.jasondunnfoundation.com). I took my diabetes story on the road last fall, playing shows to support my foundation; meeting young people with this disease; and using my story to encourage them. I want to be a role model, someone these young people can look up to, to bring them hope.

The Reality...
Recording an album is an expensive proposition and, for this album, I wanted to do it independently. Though my music stays true to the style of my former band, writing for this new project has been a refreshing season of not worrying about satisfying band-mates, labels, or fitting into genres. The downside is the cost. Most people do not realize what goes into making an album. An artist has to pay for the producer, musicians, mixing, and mastering; not to mention the costs of album artwork, packaging, creating the physical CD, and shipping. Needless to say, I am asking each of you to help support my album so I can pay off all this debt.

Here Are the Perks...
I would never ask you to do this without a great deal of thanks and some epic perks. Those of you who support me will have the first opportunity to receive my awesome new line of merch, AND my even more awesome new album! Oh, and did I mention, I will get to spend quality time with several of you; whether it be when I sing you a song on Google+; hang with you at my sweet online CD release party; hit the greens at my local mini-golf course; or even party with you in your living room at your own private acoustic show.