Maeve's Transition Fundraiser - REWARDS AVAILABLE

Hiya! My name's Maeve! I'm a Trans Woman from Leeds in the United Kingdom with Autism, and I work as a musician/bartender/event manager, but you might know me as the drummer/vocalist for the bands Itoldyouiwouldeatyou/Joshua Zero/Tranqua Lite, or through my solo music project Gordian Stimm. Through this platform, I am releasing my new Gordian Stimm LP and giving access to exclusive unreleased Itoldyouiwouldeatyou demos for Album no. 2. Through this I am hoping fundraise £15'000 to cover the costs of my gender transition. This will cover deposits for various physical procedures, as well as the costs of mental healthcare associated with gender transition, and to mitigate the debt cycle I'm in through years of dysphoria induced mental illness and self-funding my transition thus far. That's the essence of what this is for, but keep reading for more detail, who I am, and the rewards you can claim for donating!

Firstly, a little about myself. I first realised that I was transgender when I was 14 years old in 2009, but unfortunately due to my anxious and depressive disposition combined at that point undiagnosed Autism, I stayed in the closet until a botched suicide attempt when I was 24. After coming out my life has improved greatly, but as we all know, gender transition presents a series of challenges and problems that are unsolvable for those of us without access to large amounts of money, thanks to endless NHS waiting lists and the poor-quality of care on offer if you can even get off them. Over the years my debilitating mental illness, made worse by the transphobic onslaught of the UK media, combined with the ways my autistic traits manifest, have left me unable to find employment that offers me anything over the minimum wage, which has left me in a debt cycle that I have been unable to escape. The money from this fundraiser will mitigate these challenges greatly, and allow me to access the gender affirming care I desperately need.

Secondly, here's a more specific description on what the money will be going towards. The main priority in the first instance is securing funds for psychotherapy, which I have greatly needed for many many years. Unfortunately a history of bad experiences with therapists and mental health professionals in general, including one evangelical Christian psychotherapist that sought to deny my transness in any way, has prevented me from seeking help in this way thus far. Some of the funds will go towards securing sessions of laser hair removal and/or electrolysis for my face, and feminising voice training. My facial hair and voice are the two things that leave me the most dysphoric, so being able to secure this treatment will go a long way to alleviating that dysphoria. Funds will also go towards the fees associated with Facial Feminization Surgery, which i'm in the stages of researching and accounting the costs of, and this can reach upwards of £10,000. Finally, as those who know me personally can attest to, I work on average 50 hours a week to keep afloat against the looming spectre of my debt, and the extortionate interest costs that come along with it. These potential funds will give me the ability and agency to start saving along with easing the impact that being in debt has on my mental health, which in itself, forces me to take days off, thus continuing the cycle.

SO HERE'S THE PART WHERE YOU CAN CLAIM REWARDS FOR DONATING! :)

So - as a thank you for helping me on my journey, i'm offering some musical rewards.

GORDIAN STIMM - 'THE ASCETICS, PRIVATE SECTOR, WHATEVER' LP

Currently nearing completion, 'The Ascetics, Private Sector, Whatever', my new solo LP, will be accessible exclusively through this platform. The themes of this album - navigating Transness in the wake of recovery, self discovery, and debt within late capitalism, are related to why i'm setting up this fundraiser, so releasing it in this way felt the most appropriate. The album as of December 2021 is 11 tracks long and around 45 minutes of material, spanning glitched out noise poppery, extreme downtuned distorted heft, and lusciously romantic chordal arrangements. I'm extremely proud of this music, it is easily without a doubt the best thing i've ever made, and I'd love nothing more than for you to hear it.

ITOLDYOUIWOULDEATYOU - 'FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION' EP

My siblings in Itoldyouiwouldeatyou have been extremely generous in agreeing to make some of the demos for our second full length LP available to you through this platform! These songs were recorded around January/February 2019 in Chunk, Leeds (RIP for now) and in Connor's old bedroom in New Cross, London. A couple of these songs will be ones you may have heard us play live in slightly different forms, but the others are never before heard, and a taste of the direction we're heading as a band. This little collection offers an intimate and bare bones look at our process, and the directions we're experimenting with while writing as a unit for LP2.

How Do I Redeem These Fabulous Slabs of Music?

All you have to do is pledge a donation of £20 or over, and send an email to maevemusicredeem {AT} gmail {DOT} com with a receipt of your donation (screenshot, confirmation email etc), and the record you'd like to receive in the subject line of the email. Of course if you would like access to both records, just pledge a donation of £40 or over, and include both projects.

The Itoldyouiwouldeatyou record will be ready for release before Christmas, at which point i'll start sending it out immediately. The Gordian Stimm record should be ready, hopefully, around mid January - as soon as it's done, it's yours.

So that's pretty much it! I hope you'll be able to donate to my transition fund, and even if you can't afford to donate, a share, a like or a link in a group chat would go an incredibly long way to helping me on my journey. Thanks for reading, Trans solidarity forever xx