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New APX Vehicle: Please Help Us With Bus Fare
Tue., Apr. 3. 2007 12:55am EDT
Karl Messner, lead guitarist/producer for ApologetiX here.
In case you haven't heard, we're in a terrible van. It's not just a line from the opening song on our "Adam Up" CD, it's our daily reminder that we live in a fallen world. Over the past few weekends, the van reminded us all the more that it needs some down time. How about driving through the windy hills of Virginia at three in the morning and the headlights periodically going out?
Saturday in New York, it wouldn't start. Next thing you know, I'm under the van hot-wiring the starter with a jumper cable. Don't try this home especially if you have long hair.  |  | The Terrible Van in its
natural habitat. | Overheating... again. |  |  | Antifreeze in exhaust
= blown engine | I don't have the hair for this. |
It's time to move on. But what do we do? Get a new van? There are inherent problems with using a van. We spend 20-50 hours a week inside the van. It's hard to get work done even though we've wired the van for internet and power (the only stable wiring in the van!). And you can't stand up, move or get comfortable.
We could keep fixing up our terrible van until it finally leaves us stranded (or worse). We could buy another van, but we've decided that we're really towing more than consumer vans can comfortable do (we overheat on hills while towing our sound system). We know we want something built stronger. Something diesel.
What about a tour bus? We've been working very hard on this. There are several reasons that a tour bus would be great. We lose lots of time on the road with stops. If we had a way to not have to stop for lunch or every time someone has to use the hall pass, we could play more concerts farther from home.
Also, if we had more table space and stand-up/walk-around space, we could get more work done in the full work week of time we spend trapped in the van. We already do plenty. We've even recorded in the van. A tour bus, with facilities, a galley and better workspace would revolutionize our ability to reach more people. It would literally mean that places we seldom can visit (west of the Mississippi) are now drivable. And we can bring full production. But where do you start?
Lots of research and discussion. Bands that tour with tour buses rent or lease them for the tour. They cost about $1250 a day. Wrong answer. They cost 500k to a million to buy new. Strike two. But in our research, we've discovered that lots of folks buy used Greyhound-sized coach buses and convert them into family RVs or even homes.
An idea is born. I can buy a used bus, gut it, and build the ultimate ApologetiX tour bus. We can get more work done, record on the road more, eat healthier and not feel like we're trapped all weekend, six men in a box. Several hours on the phone, and searching the universe, and it's actually possible. I brought my vision for the design of our tour bus to the guys this past weekend, and we're all very excited.
The best news is I can do it for about 65k instead of ten times that. We'll do all the work ourselves and we can save a ton of money. We're so excited. And that's where faith comes in. We don't have any money. We just have a dream and a big need. I believe that God has opened doors for us in the past and we've boldly walked through them, and I believe He might just be opening a door for us in the near future to take the ministry of ApologetiX to a lot more people and I believe He's getting us ready/
Through the amazing love of a small handful of generous fans, we've already been able to greatly improve our ministry. We've replaced our creaky p.a. with a top-notch sound system (Thanks DL!), removed the screechy floor monitors and replaced them with in-ear monitors (Thanks SS!), and have finally sidelined our completely insufficient lights with a stellar laser-light show that will debut very shortly (thanks BL!)
We didn't even ask. These people came to us. Many people have asked how they can help the band, and this is the first time we really really have a concrete answer. We're moving full steam ahead knowing that God has always taken care of us. If you love the ministry of ApologetiX and want to help us, we greatly appreciate it and now is the time. Since we're off the road for Easter, we're ready to get started as soon as we have enough to buy the "shell", which is about half the budget.
We've already had a great supporters pledge over 10k to this project (thanks, JS and RA!), but the vast majority of the fuel is likely come from all our friends who've suffered along with us over the years, who can only help out with a couple hundred dollars. Or even a couple dollars. Anything you can help with is going straight into this project. It's going to increase the cities we can physically reach, and improve the quality and timeliness of our CDs. We might even be able to put a new CD out this year :)
If you don't think enough people know about ApologetiX, here's your chance to help. We're not a tax-exempt ministry. We survive with God's providence through His people supporting our efforts to reach the world. Please prayerfully consider helping us out. Click to donate:
$5,000
$2,500
$1,000
$500
$250
$100
$50
$20
$10
$5
$1
If you'd prefer to write a check, please make it out to ApologetiX and put "Bus Fare" in the memo and send to:
ApologetiX
3251 Conway Wallrose Road
Baden, PA 15005
Thank you so much for being there for us, and we're looking forward to coming to play for you and get you a new CD as soon as we can. And we're ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work on the bus! We'll be posting pictures of our progress!
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