Lantern’s Kickstarter-funded North American Tour set to begin Sept. 30th at Voyeur, new 7″ now available for pre-order

In keeping with our non-official policy of, “We have very mixed feelings about Kickstarter, and we’ll only post about Kickstarter-related news if it involves your pledges getting you something cool that is actually worth the money,” The Key brings you this approved bit of Kickstarter-related news:

Back in early August, the members of the local rock trio Lantern—which was featured in a Key Studio Sessions post the previous month—asked their fans to donate money toward the band’s planned 2011 North American fall tour via Kickstarter. In exchange, the band offered an unreleased mp3 for every $1 pledge, a CD for every $10 pledge, a personally screen-printed t-shirt + CD for every $20 pledge, two limited cassettes + a t-shirt + a CD for every $50 pledge, and five lessons with guitarist Zachary Devereux Fairbrother (pictured above) for every $100 pledge. (By our estimation, all of that equals a pretty good return.) With more than a week to spare, the band has already raised $2,241 from 69 backers—$241 more than the original $2000 goal. So, earlier today, the band sent out a newsletter thanking the fans for their support, and letting them know about the upcoming tour—which will kick off Friday, September 30th, at Voyeur and wrap up on November 11th in Baltimore (full schedule after the jump).

We are overjoyed, we thought it might come down to the wire but thanks to you it’s not! It is a big relief to hit the road knowing you have a $2000 purse. Of course if you were thinking of donating and would still like to, please consider and visit the page! We could always use more and we have some great gifts! We are excited to be launching our own imprint as well called Mean Streets. For the $50 donation you get our first two releases;  the Bootleg of the Dirty Beaches/Lantern set from Glasslands  last spring and a collection of Zachary’s bedroom recordings from 2009 to early 2011 called, Burned Youth. Both are being burned to just 25 tapes and CD-Rs for now. So get those super limited tapes!

The trio also announced the release of its first 7″, which will come out on Mammoth Cave Recordings on September 30th and is now available for pre-order. The single features the track “I Don’t Know” (video by MIke Spano below) from the six-song Stranger I Come, Stranger I Leave cassette released earlier this year, with “Out Of Our Heads” on the B-side.

Lantern “I Don’t Know” from Mike Spano on Vimeo.

Sept 30 – Philadelphia, PA @ Voyeur backing Dirty Beaches
Oct 1 – Asheville, NC @ Broadways w/ Cave
Oct 2 – Atlanta GA @ 529 Club
Oct 3 – Memphis TN @ The Frame
Oct 4 – Oxford, MS @ TBA
Oct 6 – New Orleans, LA @ Siberia w/ the Jonesbirds
Oct 8 – Houston, TX @ The Big Top w/ Psychic Palms & Dune TX
Oct 9 – Austin, TX @ 29th Street Ballroom
Oct 13 – Phoenix AZ @ Yellow Canary Dance Hall w/ Acid Dawgz
Oct 14 – San Diego,CA @ Tin Can Bar w/ Ancient Crux + the Cosmonauts
Oct 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ KXLU and Pehrspace
Oct 16 – Fullerton, CA @ Burger Records w/ Haunted Tiger
Oct 17 – San Francisco, CA @ The Knockout w/ Burnt Ones
Oct 20 – Portland, OR @ The Tonic Lounge w/ White Fang and Woolen Men
Oct 21 – Seattle, WA @ Cairo
Oct 22 – Vancouver, BC @ 360 Glen w/Defektors
Oct 27 – Lawrence, KS @ The Replay w/ Living Ghost
Oct 28 – Iowa City, IA @ TBA w/ Wet Hair
Oct 29 – Chicago, IL @ Mortville w/ Wet Hair + Heavy Times
Oct 30 – Detroit, MI @ The Garden Bowl
Oct 31 – London, ON @ Black Shire Pub
Nov 1. Toronto, ON @TBA w/ Omma Cobba
Nov 2 – Ottawa, ON @ TBA
Nov 4 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
Nov 5 – New York City @ Shea Stadium
Nov 8 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Station
Nov 11 – Baltimore, MD @ TBA