hello there, potential new friend! we are…
The Western Civilization
otherwise known as Reggie O’Farrell and Rachel Hansbro
we are a couple of best friends that have been making music together as The Western Civilization for over 15 years. you might call what we do ‘indie rock’ or ‘indie pop’. over the years we’ve released some music, done some touring, played a number of festivals such as SXSW, Vans Warped Tour, and the Halifax Pop Explosion, and even shared stages with a number of our favorite artists
…and now we want to send you a CD + Download (and a signed picture with a personal thank you)…
you read that correctly. you can pay something for it if you want, but we are fully willing to give it to you for zero dollars.
“OK, but nothing is really free, what’s the catch?”
– you, maybe…
no catch. we just want you to have it. ok, so you do have to pay $5 for the shipping or else we’d go broke shipping free CDs, but the CD itself is totally free.
it is actually not something we’ve previously released. it’s not and never will be for sale, and we likely won’t make more of them. we’re calling it ‘mixtape #1’.
it’s just our gift to you, new friend. an introduction of sorts. it’s a mix of some of our favorite songs from our upcoming album, “Fractions of A Whole”, and our previous album, “Letters of Resignation”. every package will also include a signed photo and thank you note
“OK, but why exactly would an independent artist be giving away a CD for free??”
– you, probably…
so it turns out that trying to reach new people as an independent artist these days is quite hard. it’s all about endlessly posting on social media, making lots of short videos to try to grab people’s attention, and basically just hoping for some kind of miracle.
it really just isn’t our style. it feels incredibly inauthentic and frankly, we’re totally burnt out on it. so we decided to try something different….
we’d like to send you a little package with some music, a picture of us, and a thank you note. ya know, like a real physical thing… and hope that it brings some joy or comfort into your life. and perhaps, you might like it and become a fan. then we could meet you at a show. it could be a whole thing. you could even write us a letter. we’d love that.
“That’s cool, but but who the hell are you two really, ya know?”
– you, definitely…
thats fair, well… we both grew up relatively broke in the far northern reaches of houston, tx.
we weren’t all that far away from each other really, but we didn’t meet until later. rachel is a native texan and reggie’s family moved from new jersey when he was 7.
we’re just a couple of best friends who love making music together. we hope that other people will like it, but it’s much more important to us that WE like it.
⬆️ outake from our first real photoshoot circa 2005 ?
we stopped for a while and realized that making music together is about as important to both of us as air or water. so here we are again. we don’t even live in the same city anymore, but we are making it work!
we don’t do this alone of course. we have a full live band and an extended group of friends and collaborators that help us make this thing we call The Western Civilization happen.
aside from doing the band thing…
reggie is a live/studio engineer and producer. he also writes code part time. He moved to austin about 12 years ago while the band was taking a much needed break, got sucked into the busy muisc production scene in austin, and never came back.
rachel still lives in houston where she teaches private music lessons as well as teaching music in underserved schools through a non-profit. she’s also involved with girls rock camp there.
“Alright, I’m rooting for you. What’s the deal with this free CD thing?”
– you, we think…
So look, being skeptical of paying any amount of money to a random people on the internet is normal – even if you like us and/or our music. so let us lay out everything you get when you do this…
the cd
“Mixtape #1” is a limited edition compliation of some of our favorite tracks from our upcoming album “Fractions of A Whole” as well as some of our favorites from our previous album “Letters of Resignation”. It is not and never will be available for sale and we likely won’t print more of them. It’s just our curated gift to you, new friend.
you’ll get a signed picture with a personal thank you
we truly to appreciate you wanting to check out our music and this is just a little extra personal touch we want to throw in to say thanks!
you’ll get immediate mp3 and wav downloads
as soon as you complete your order, you’ll get sent to a page where you can download the album
it’s just $5 to ship!
you can pay something if you want, but it’ll literally just be $5 to get the cd sent to you. it’s literally that simple!
“WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE ?!?”