Business & Tech

Riverhead Native Launches Kickstarter Campaign for Rock and Roll Project

Donations for the Kickstarter campaign are being accepted through June 6.

Call him a diehard fan on a mission.

Riverhead native Sean Rayburn, who grew up in town and graduated from Riverhead High School in 1990, not only works with, but is  a loyal fan of, the alternative rock group, The Pixies.

A writer who spotlights the music industry, Rayburn is .working on a two-volume visual history of the band, incorporating unearthed and rare photos spanning the group's career, from the 80s to the present.  

The group, formed in Boston, disbanded in 1993 and reunited in 2004, with loyal fans not only in the United States but also Europe -- and is considered by many to have sparked the success of alternative rock as a genre in the 90s.

The Pixies, Rayburn said,  "are one of the most revered and influential bands in rock and roll history. Even though I work with the band, I am curating this project as a fan."

Although Rayburn has had what he deems some "real interest from publishers," he has decided, in do-it-yourself fashion, to fund the project and get the book published himself.

To that end, he has launched a Kickstarter campaign, which runs through June 6. For more information on the effort, click here.

So far, Rayburn has reached $76,541 of his $150,000 goal.

One of the band's videos was produced by South Jamesport's Exit 73 Studios.

"I decided to go through Kickstarter to fund this project as it is a very popular way to raise money for projects," Rayburn said. "Crowd-funding a project allows me to have complete creative freedom in my vision for this book, and if people believe in my vision, they will fund the project."

His goal, Rayburn said, "is to create a high quality coffee table art book that fans of the band will want to have. Any time I work on something, whether it is producing an album or working with bands or even a book like this, I always bounce it off myself: 'Is this something I think is cool?' 'Would I spend my my money on this project?' If the answer is 'yes,' then I figure there have to be at least a few thousand people like me out there who would enjoy this, which makes it a worthwhile project."


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