of Montreal has launched a Kickstarter campaign in an effort to raise money to finish the first ever feature-length documentary about the band, Song Dynasties.

Directed by filmmaker Jason Miller, Song Dynasties will be a comprehensive look at the band from their humble beginnings as part of the Elephant 6 scene in Athens, GA during the mid-90s to present day.

The Kickstarter project will run for the next 30 days and offers a wide variety of rewards for backers including an exclusive vinyl release, Young Froth / Taypiss, that will feature 14 previously unreleased songs pulled from old 4-track cassette recordings made by Kevin Barnes. The collection will be pressed on 180-gram colored vinyl and is only being made available to campaign backers.

THE STORY BEHIND SONG DYNASTIES

After the release of Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? in 2007, Barnes had the idea to record of Montreal　performing back-to-back nights in Los Angeles at the Avalon.

With the help of friend Craig Zobel (Compliance, Great World of Sound), a crew was assembled and the first　multi-camera professional quality shoot was attempted of the band. The following fall, filmmaker Jason Miller　began documenting the Skeletal Lamping tour. With a show featuring just as many non-musical performers as　ｍusicians on stage, this tour was far and away the biggest live production of Montreal had ever attempted to
that point.

Miller rode on the bus for the first week of the tour, capturing moments on stage and off, and was in attendance　for the now infamous show where Barnes took the stage on horseback. Following his week on the road, Miller　assembled a crew and filmed of Montreal’s entire set at the Tabernacle in Atlanta.　Then they just kept filming. The band had cameras rolling everywhere they went: music festivals (Bonnaroo,
Lollapalooza, Culture Collide), on the tour bus, backstage, in the studio — nowhere was off limits.

They even just discovered a box of old camcorder tapes that date back to the very early days of the band. This　is the earliest of Montreal footage known to exist.

Earlier this year, the band realized that they literally had 100s of hours of footage. As 2012 comes to a close, of　Montreal are finishing what has developed into a comprehensive, feature-length documentary showing the group　from the beginning to the present date.

This project is 16 years in the making and now of Montreal are asking for backers’ help to finally bring this film to　life.

In order to finish the film, which has been titled Song Dynasties, the band need to bring a crew on the road to　shoot the final round of footage and conduct interviews, as well as pay for their flights, costly venue filming fees,　digitizing dozens of old tapes, lots of hard drives to store the footage, editing the documentary and the list of　expenses goes on and on.

If this Kickstarter project is successful, of Montreal will be able to wrap filming and editing this winter and have a　final cut of the film in March.

Reward highlights include an exclusive album, Young Froth / Taypiss, featuring the earliest known of Montreal　recordings, a deluxe, hand-numbered DVD, props from classic of Montreal music videos and a unique　opportunity to be dressed in costume by the band and dance onstage at an of Montreal show. The list continues,

but is topped off with the chance to watch a screening of Song Dynasties with the band.　Learn more about these and other Song Dynasties pledge rewards by visiting the Kickstarter page.

TOUR DATES

11/28 – Miami, FL @ The Stage
11/29 – Tallahassee, FL @ The Moon
11/30 – Orlando, FL @ The Plaza
12/1 – Mobile, AL @ Alabama Music Box
12/2 – New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
12/3 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
12/4 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
12/5 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
12/6 – Oklahoma City, OK @ ACM @ UCO Performance Lab
12/7 – Omaha,NE @ Slowdown
12/8 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
12/9 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
12/10 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
12/11 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
12/12 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
12/13 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero
12/14 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
12/15 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle