If you live in California or happen to be a fan of funky glitch music, you may have had the chance to see Joel Jakub play a set in the past couple years. He's a great producer based in Venice Beach. If you are not familiar, check out his Soundcloud and Facebook pages as Orphic.
Earlier this year, he had all of his gear stolen at Envision Festival in Costa Rica. The loss was a big blow and this post is just to reach out to some more fans who may be able to give in any way possible. We've promoted Orphic here as much as we can and we're looking forward to seeing where his career goes. You can be a big part of that.
Click HERE to donate if you have the means or would like to share in this process. Orphic's fans are a strong family and this is a good opportunity to help bring those fans together. Any support is greatly appreciated. Here's an official statement:
“Hey all, what a crazy month it's been already – between Costa Rica, Vancouver, and debuting my live band set at Serenity Gathering last weekend, I haven't had very much time in between to sit down at the computer, but it's high time for a long-overdue Envision Festival recap…
What a wild ride that one was. People have given these festivals we go to the nickname “transformational festivals” and while that's true, most of what we experience is bliss, and – in my opinion – transformation really happens when shit hits the fan and you truly learn the meaning of “out of chaos comes the best opportunities for growth”. That was Envision in a nutshell. The day before playing my largest and most important set to date, at a headlining timeslot on the raddest stage I've ever seen in my life, all of my music gear was stolen from the house we had rented.
Basically everything I have poured my heart, soul, time, investment, and energy into was gone in an instant. I lost an entire year's worth of music, an unfinished album, and not to mention the monetary aspect of all my live performance gear. My Laptop was not backed up because my backup drive failed the day I flew out. I can't even begin do describe the gut-wrenching feeling of finding all this out. But the show goes on, and thanks to some really amazing and talented individuals who stepped up to help, we were able to scrape it together for an awesome live set. With Sam Klass and I on guitar and Lafa Taylor Music on the Mic, over a prepared mix that I downloaded from my Soundcloud on my buddy Zander's computer, I played the biggest, grandest, and most fun set I've ever played. All this happening really put so many things in perspective, like people's amazing ability to come together in a time of need and how lucky we are to be surrounded by such an amazing community. Not to mention the larger social issues that drive people to live a life where they have no choice but to resort to violent crime to survive, and having so much gratitude for where I live. My goal is to continue to create music that inspires and perpetuates joy, and be able to share this music through live performance with as many people as I can. Hopefully people all over the world will be able to listen and groove along and it will make those who tune in happy – if even only for a minute or two. I hope to affect at least one person's life in a positive way, and if I've done that, I've succeeded. All of this taught me the importance of letting go, surrender, and for god's sake BACKING EVERYTHING UP.
Overall, my experience at Envision and in Costa Rica was nothing short of incredible, and I will definitely be back next year (with extra precautions of course). In the meantime, I put together this fundraiser to replace my gear. This will make touring and live performance possible. The money from this fundraiser will go to replacing the stolen gear. In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor setback, but I really do need help right now to get back on my feet and continue to make music and play shows.
Love you all, thanks always for listening to the tunes. What I do wouldn't be possible without you guys and thanks for reading. Anything you can contribute will help – I am truly lucky to have such amazing people surrounding me who I can reach out to.
Thanks,
Joel Jakub (Orphic)”
