Fresh off of American Idol, TCU alumnus Tim Halperin will perform in public for the first time back in Fort Worth at Embargo, a Fort Worth lounge. Halperin said he is excited about this new stage in his career, and is happy to perform in front of a home crowd.
Q: What is the latest project that you are working on?
A: I’m working on a lot of things, including my acoustic tour, but my latest project is a music video. I’m asking for some Horned Frog support on this one. But instead of scraping up a bunch of money on my own, I decided it would be cool to really get my fans involved and truly have them help me do something cool. With American Idol you have to work to keep that momentum going and to keep your fans feeling like they are really involved. I want my fans to feel like they have a sort of ownership in my career. That’s why I decided to use Kickstarter as a way to fund my music video project.
Q: Tell me about Kickstarter.
A. Kickstarter is a website where you can post a cause and people can log on and give money to support it. We put together a kind of funny intro video to let people know what we are about, [and] it has a lot of personality. When you donate to my cause, people will actually get something in return for their investment in me. Things like a YouTube dedicated video, or a Twitter mention, even going to a football game or a baseball game with me. I want to give something back to them. I think it’s something where people, if they love my sound and they like what I’m about, can give money to me for this music video project.
Q: Have you had any previous success with music videos?
A: Yes. The directors of this video were the same directors that I worked with on the video for the song “She Runs.” It was done last summer. We did a continuous shot video and the budget for that was only $500, so we worked with a lot of volunteers. They helped creatively, painting sets, helping out, some were even in the video, and we pulled it off. A lot of [Horned] Frogs came out and helped me. It turned out to be a really cool video. It was even picked up virally. Jimmy Kimmel tweeted about it and The New York Times did a story on it. We also got a lot of bloggers talking about it, really a lot of recognition.
Q: Are you trying to top that with this video?
A: Well for this one we are really trying to step it up professionally. We want it to look super good. We are hiring some people for editing, special effects and a little nicer cameras. Some nice cameras are on the market we want to use to film it. I’m really excited. I really hope we can pull this funding together and film this video and get it up. It will probably be up in May, if we are able to film it.
Q: Does anyone else working on this video have a connection to TCU?
A: Yes, actually. Jonathan Combs is one of the directors, and he graduated from TCU. Joe Childress is the other director and he does a lot of projects for TCU through his job. Both of them are very familiar with the TCU community and are a part of it. On the last video, we had so many TCU volunteers not only in the video but also just helping out. I loved last time — all the Horned Frogs who were involved, there were at least 75, maybe 100. I really liked the community feel it gave to it. It was just such a fun project.
Q: So if you do raise the funding and you do record your video, when can we expect it to be released?
A: Ideally I picture it being out in mid-May. It is one we will definitely pitch to mtvU and VH1. Any coverage we can get, any air time we can get, we will go after.
Q: I saw your tweet about your [American Idol] roommate, Jacob. Have you two stayed in touch?
A: Yeah, I actually talked to Jacob a few days ago, and he’s been doing really well. I was so stoked for him last night. He did a really incredible job. Every single performance he’s had [on the show] has been amazing. So I’ve been proud of him.
Q: Will TCU students be able to know what you’re up to from your blog?
A: Yes, I’ll be putting up all the dates of my shows, especially on this tour, and writing about what I’m doing — things like what they can expect from each show. I’m writing it in a very conversational way just to tell people what’s up, what’s going on with me. I’ve found that certain people really want a deeper scoop than what Twitter, or say Facebook, can give them. Those are just really status updates, so that’s why I got into the blog.
Tim Halperin Concert
When: 7 p.m. tonight
Where: Embargo, 210 E. Eighth St., Fort Worth
Admission is free.
Twitter: @timhalperin
See previous Skiff articles for more background information on Tim Halperin.
