Local musician Jeremy McConnaha does not care how old he is; he will do whatever it takes to make his life worth something to him.

Leaning back in a lounge chair after his shift at Starbucks in Charleston, McConnaha reflected on his life, concluding that music is what brings him meaning.

For that to happen, McConnaha, a 30-year-old art student at Lake Land College, said he is going to need some help from others.

He started raising money through an Indiegogo campaign on Feb. 9 so he could record his music, create an album and distribute it to stores.

Indiegogo is a fundraising site similar to Kickstarter, except participants can keep whatever funds they raise even if they do not reach their goal amount.

McConnaha said his goal for the recording was to raise $7,000 to do an EP, which is going to contain three songs.

“It is kind of like a sampler that will hopefully get the interest of somebody who will back me to make a record,” he said.

McConnaha said his favorite band since he was 18 is Dashboard Confessional, and the band’s drummer Mike Marsh encouraged him to start the campaign.

Between Dashboard Confessionals and Marsh’s current band Avett Brothers, he also drummed for the band Radar Vs Wolf.

When McConnaha was searching for bands to tour with, he came across this group, sent them an audition tape and became the drummer himself.

“In my down time while I was touring with Radar Vs Wolf last summer for about four months, I would just grab one of their guitars and just kind of mess around with songs that I just wrote just for fun,” he said.  “One of the guys, Tom, was like ‘You should show this stuff to Mike he would probably like it.’”

After he stopped playing for the band, he said he recorded some songs for Marsh and sent them to him.

“I emailed Mike a song specifically called ‘The Eager Movement’ and it was the first song I wrote for the project and he loved it,” McConnaha said.

Marsh told him he would like to record McConnaha’s music and wanted to help him make it happen.

McConnaha said he would be playing drums, singing and playing guitar on the record.

“Mike, because he is such an amazing drummer, I asked him to pay drums on a song, because it would be stupid to not utilize him in that way,” he said.

Another band member named Paul Defiglia, who is the bass player and keyboard player, will be playing on the record along with the fiddle and cello player.

McConnaha said this is a big deal for him because he gets to work with one of his biggest influences.

He said he likes art and likes teaching it, but it not something he would want to do for the rest of his life, which is a reason why he is pursuing his dream to be a musician.

“I am just a local artist; I feel like this is a make-it-or-break-it type of situation,” he said. “I am 30 years old and this is a huge step for me as an artist to get my music into the hands of the right people.”

McConnaha said he understands that people do take jobs they may not be happy with, which might be necessary.

“I feel like people forget sometimes that we have a purpose and a passion, which is why I feel people get so bummed out about life sometimes because they feel like they are not doing anything,” he said. “I just feel like this is a cool opportunity to do that and to show people and if this does not pan out then there will be another opportunity somewhere down the line.”

McConnaha said he has had people hand him money at work because they support his campaign, but they have told him they do not know how to work the website.  Before he sat down to relax following his shift, a couple handed him money for his campaign.

He said when people do this he will just put it in the site himself so it is still accounted for on the campaign.

He said people have been really responsive to the campaign, especially from the community.

“I’ve been surprised because I feel like Coles County typically isn’t an area that caters to musicians and artists of that nature; it is more pretty conservative community,” he said.  “That is good because I like living in Coles County, but I do wish we had more of a music and artists’ scene.”

He said he has been getting recognition from his college and has been on the radio promoting his campaign.  He said he enjoys seeing people get involved and interested in something that is artistic and something that is not benefiting them.

“I am really grateful that they’re open to that idea and they have posted it on their Facebook and stuff like that,” he said.  “It is important to invest in local artists and such because if we do not support our own people, it is discouraging for them to think that anyone is going to support them outside of this community.”

McConnaha said his reasons for why he wants to do this has changed, but his reason to inspire people and write music because it makes him happy has not changed.

The campaign will continue until April 13 and has raised 23 percent of his goal.

He said he hopes the people who have and will invest in the campaign will be happy they did.

“If anything, I can assure people who have invested or who are planning on investing they will not be disappointed in the final product,” McConnaha said.

Stephanie White can be reached at 581-2812 or at sewhite2@eiu.edu.