Patent Pending gets inventive

Patent Pending was ready to call it quits.

The Mount Sinai-based pop-punkers have put out several EPs, including last year's "I'm Not Alone," and toured with Cobra Starship and Gym Class Heroes in the past 10 years. They also have been in debt the entire time.

"The bottom line was that we were in the red," singer Joe Ragosta says. "We were going to stop, not because we don't like each other or because the fans didn't want to see us -- the usual reasons bands break up -- but because we couldn't afford to do it anymore. It was a terrifying time."

Patent Pending had written enough songs to record a new album and was set to go on tour with Bowling for Soup, but they didn't have enough money to do it. They decided to turn to their fans for help.

The group started an account on Kickstarter.com earlier this month, looking to raise $7,500 to record their new album from their fans, offering all sorts of incentives -- ranging from a personalized voice mail from the band to in-house acoustic shows to offering to be prom dates -- in return for pledges.

"It took a lot for us to go on and ask for money, mainly because it meant telling people that the band wasn't as successful as people thought it was," Ragosta says. "It was a Hail Mary pass with time running out. And it worked."

In a little more than a day, Patent Pending fans had pledged almost the entire goal. Within a week, the band had passed the goal, with the band now closing in on $10,000.

"The reaction and support was overwhelming," Ragosta says, adding that band members are in the studio recording the new album, which they hope to release this summer. "I was . . . crying. It was like Christmas morning, New Year's Eve and our birthdays all rolled into one. They were telling us, 'Go on, do this. Go make us proud.' That's exactly what we're going to do."

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