Rich Howells

Scranton punk band The Menzingers launch Patreon with weekly music content for fans

Scranton punk band The Menzingers launch Patreon with weekly music content for fans
Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

A few live streamed concerts just aren’t enough to keep working musicians in business during the coronavirus pandemic, so artists are finding creative ways to generate income and stay connected to their fans.

Last year, Scranton/Philadelphia punk band The Menzingers recorded and released a whole new version of their 2019 album “Hello Exile” that stripped down and reimagined the structure of each of the 12 tracks. All four members recorded their parts separately in quarantine, so it was appropriately titled “From Exile.”

This week, they launched “The Regulars Club,” a Patreon campaign that includes access to private chats with the band, rare songs, acoustic videos, audio and video podcasts, live streams, behind-the-scenes access, exclusive merchandise, and more. Fans can pay $5, $15, or $25 a month for access to this weekly content produced by the band themselves.

“What a hell of a time to be alive. With our best-laid plans smashed to bits and an entire album cycle of touring erased from the calendar, we needed to find new ways to keep this operation runnin’. Thus ‘From Exile,’ a DIY self-recorded revisioning of ‘Hello Exile,’ was born. It was an incredible learning experience and a beautiful way for the four of us to connect albeit from a distance,” the band wrote on Patreon.

“We’re at it again, this time launching a Patreon and calling it The Regulars Club. For many people, this was a year of self-reflection and prioritization. We are no exception. We’re taking a deep dive. This is a way for us to stay connected to you guys, to each other, to our music, and to the journey that got us here. There are countless stories we’ve yet to tell. We’ll be telling them here. We’re writing, filming, recording, drawing, and shaping the whole damn thing ourselves.”

$5 a month “Good Things” membership:

  • Early access to all news and announcements
  • First access to all vinyl pre-orders
  • Acoustic video per month
  • “Tellin’ Lies” – a monthly podcast hosted by Tom May and Joe Godino with various guests
  • Behind-the-scenes content, photos, exclusive blog posts, etc.
  • Access to private discord community server

$15 a month “Nice Things” membership:

  • All benefits from tier 1
  • Monthly “Song Exploder”-style podcast breaking down various Menzingers songs
  • Additional monthly acoustic video (two videos)
  • Monthly song play-throughs and gear rundown videos
  • Vote ability on upcoming content
  • Video version of “Tellin’ Lies” podcast
  • Occasional live streams
  • Access to Patreon exclusive vinyl variants (when possible)

$25 a month “All Things” membership:

  • All benefits from tiers 1 and 2
  • Rare song drops, demos, B-sides, etc.
  • Monthly Q&As
  • 15 percent off merch coupon per month
  • Exclusive and rare merch drops
  • Random snail mail surprises (make sure to include your address)
  • Lots of fun surprises
  • Special limited time offer – sign up for an annual “All Things” subscription and receive a personalized postcard from the band.

The Menzingers are one of the most successful bands to come out of Northeastern Pennsylvania, so 375 patrons have already signed up, including locals eager to see them again in any way possible. Their last live show in the area was an acoustic set at the Gallery of Sound in Wilkes-Barre on Oct. 6, 2019 to celebrate the release of “Hello Exile.” Soon after, they decided to take a break from their annual Holiday Show at the Scranton Cultural Center and plan something special for 2020, but then the pandemic put the entire music industry on hold.

As Greg Barnett and fellow vocalist/guitarist Tom May noted during their Gallery of Sound show, they always enjoy coming back to the area, seeing family and friends, and writing songs that reflect NEPA’s past and present.

“It’s so fucking awesome to be home. Thank you so much for having us back. And we wanted to do this show last of all the in-stores. Being from this area is pretty great, and I really like a lot of the quirks that we have that you don’t realize when we get to travel everyone else, like, ‘You mean every restaurant isn’t an Italian restaurant?’ and things like that,” May told the crowd.

“I think it’s kind of an interesting place to grow up in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with all the coal miners and the flood that happened in the ’70s and stuff like that and those kind of things that we still see the effects of today, but we still have such a cool, fun, and positive cultural place to be in.”

“This is a really, really big deal for us to put out this album. It really means a lot to us, and it means so much to have everybody in our hometown come out and support us like this for all these years,” Barnett added. “It’s been amazing.”

See NEPA Scene’s photos and video of The Menzingers’ acoustic in-store appearance here, photos of them playing the 2019 Vans Warped Tour in New Jersey here, and check out our review and photos of the band’s 2018 Bethlehem concert here.