THE BAND - LITTLE HISTORY & CROWDFUNDING

"By 1980, EMI (and others) had adopted a deliberate strategy of heavily promoting and overworking new bands to exhaustion with the undisclosed intention of discarding them within a few years to make way for so-called new artists/product" - RJG

In reality, The Enid has never been anything other than a niche Art-Rock band trying to be Mahler with electric guitars, drums and keyboards. In 1980, the band decided to walk away from their record deal on their own terms before being kicked out. By 1983, the band needed a survival plan and established an early crowdfunding organization to support their career. They turned to their newly formed fan club, “The Stand”, to provide the necessary capital funding to tour, produce new recordings and support all the costs of running a professional band. The concept of crowdfunding for bands had arrived.

Ever since then, the band has operated as an "indie band" in partnership with their fans.

THE STAND

In 1983, The Enid established The Stand (the forerunner of The Enidi) as a subscription/donation organization to replace the promotional support hitherto enjoyed from the now defunct PYE Records to fund:

• The management of the band's affairs;
• The employment of full-time office staff and road crew;
• The purchase of badly needed new equipment and maintenance of the same;
• Touring costs;
• The creation and marketing of new recordings and;
• To make a “stand” against a policy of disposability in the music business.

The Enid is proud to have been a pioneer and an inspiration for all those bands who have since followed suit. "If a small cult band like The Enid could do it, so could anyone. Now thanks to the Internet, we are all doing it. Wunderbar!", said Robert John Godfrey in 1988.

Links to an Anglia TV documentary about The Stand can be viewed below.

TV documentary Folio Part 1
TV documentary Folio Part 2

1974 - THE BIRTH OF THE BAND & NOW

The Enid founding personalities all shared a background of psychological crisis. They all met at Finchden Manor, an enlightened place of learning for bright young men with difficult backgrounds. (A nut house for the elite?) - As a consequence, the band has always been a little chaotic and unstable, constantly having to reinvent itself, and seasonal in its activity. And yet, with RJG still at the creative heart, The Enid is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Still imagining new music on their own terms. Still politically and socially driven.