The Bedlam Bards are Browncoats!
Recorded in a studio that resembles the bridge of Serenity--right down to the plastic dinosaurs--the Bedlam Bards' third album, On the Drift, is a musical expression of our enthusiastic support of the Browncoat revolution. Buy it now, from cdbaby!
For those who don't know, a "Browncoat" is a fan of the short-lived but much-loved television show Firefly and the movie that grew out of it, Serenity, both created by Joss Whedon, the mind behind such media hits as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Toy Story.
Now, usually we don’t get passionate about TV shows. Not that passionate anyway. But Firefly was different. Never before has a show so witty, so insightful, so rich been mistreated so grossly by a network, and then cancelled out of hand. As independent musicians, we got angry about it--as did thousands of other fans around the world.
But in our case, something strange happened. Cedric's muse became a Browncoat. Over the course of one summer, he started writing songs about the show, the fans, the phenomenon, and ultimately the movie. These songs have been collected on an album titled On the Drift (release date January 2006).
One of the amazing things about Firefly and Serenity is the grassroots, guerrilla marketing efforts that the fans have undertaken. To do our part in that effort, the Bedlam Bards released two of our Firefly songs as FREE MP3-Postcards, which you can check out at the links below:
Both songs reached thousands of listeners on the Internet. ("The Ballad of Joss" had two thousand in its first two weeks; "Big Damn Trilogy" had ten thousand in the same amount of time.) We'd like to think that these songs were a part of the massive fan-based effort that brought Serenity in as the number two movie on its opening weekend, despite running in a relatively small number of theaters.
Hear more of On the Drift
Read the lyrics of these songs
As a result of having written these songs, the Bedlam Bards have traveled around the country, performing for Firefly fans (also called "flans") at Dragon*Con and the Houston Browncoat Serenity Premier Shindig, to name a few spots. We were interviewed about the album on The Signal, the world’s top Firefly/Serenity podcast. Also, our music is featured in Done the Impossible, a documentary about Firefly fans. We're looking forward to playing for many more Shindigs. (To inquire about having the Bedlam Bards at your Shindig or sci-fi convention, click book the bards.)
One thing we've found during our journeys is that Browncoats help each other out, and the cover of On the Drift is a good example. Out of the blue, a BedHead named Joshua Horner designed it and sent it to us. Ain't it shiny?
Another great thing about Firefly fans is that around the world, they've stepped up to raise money for various charities, especially those championed by the show's creator and stars. The Bedlam Bards have often contributed CDs to those fundraising efforts, but we also have decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from On the Drift to Equality Now, Joss Whedon's favorite charity. For those not familiar with it, Equality Now works on a global scale to combat gender discrimination; it is a noble organization in the finest sense of the word. We're proud to do what we can to support it.
If you'd like more info on Firefly, Serenity, and Browncoat fandom, check out the links below.
Brandon Klassen's website (writer of Sail the Sky)
The Sci-Fi Channel
Firefly Fans Dot Net
The Signal
Done the Impossible
The Big Damn Board
The Original Board (OB)
The Official Movie Site
The Universal Browncoats Board
Fashionably Brown
misteruniverse signal: http://live365.com/stations/mr_universe
http://serenitystuff.com
Canadian Browncoats
Finally, we'd like to say thanks to all those Browncoats around the world who have encouraged us by posting our lyrics to their blogs and discussion groups, praising our songs online, forwarding the MP3s to their friends, playing the songs on their podcasts, organizing group-singing of "The Ballad of Joss" at advance Serenity screenings, emailing us with kind words, attending our performances, and holding riots on our account. Thank you and xie-xie.
To show our appreciation, here is a FREE MP3 of the karaoke version of "Hero of Canton," in case you want to sing it at church, or in a bar, or on a street corner, or wherever . . .
