After using Kickstarter to release its latest album, the alternative rock band Seabird will play live Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the Maintenance Shop, as backed up by the groups Abandon Kansas and Clemency.

Hailing from Independence, Ky., Seabird is made up of the two brothers, Aaron and Ryan Morgan, and Jason Gann.

“We’re a piano rock band, but piano doesn’t define us as a whole,” Aaron said. “I write everything on piano. My brother, Ryan, plays guitar. He and I have really similar musical tastes. When I write a song, he seems to know what the guitar should be doing. We have this great dynamic between us. It’s high energy, pretty dynamic rock ‘n’ roll.”

The band got its start when keyboardist/lead singer Aaron was just a teenager playing piano by himself in 2004.

“I’ve been writing songs since I was 16 or 17,” Morgan said. “My wife, who I was dating at the time, her sister’s boyfriend heard me play these songs at my father-in-law’s house. He approached me one time and asked me if I wanted to start a band together. I was kind of nervous.”

Aaron eventually came around to the idea, and the newly formed music group soon was joined by Aaron’s brother, Ryan. Seabird took second in a Cincinnati battle of the bands competition and played several live performances before the year was up.

“Having never performed onstage before, we were really excited about the response that we got from the audience and the judges,” Morgan said. “We thought we should keep trying this and see what happens.”

“We continued to play locally,” Morgan said. “It was about a year after that we had an opportunity to showcase for EMI, [a record label out of Nashville,] and we signed with them about a year after forming the band.”

Under that partnership, Seabird released several EPs and two records. Their debut album, “’Til We See the Shore,” presented the lead single “Rescue.” That track spent several weeks at No. 1 on TVU Music Television’s “Most Wanted” and was featured on promos for ABC’s “Pushing Daisies.”

Seabird released their third album independently using Kickstarter, a website for projects to raise funds completely by fan support.

“We wanted to do something independently, so we put it to our fans,” Morgan said. “We thought what better way to have our fans say, ‘We want this record,’ than to have them back it? We did and raised around $41,000. We used that to make our record in a way that we thought was really unique, and to give our backers rewards that they couldn’t get elsewhere.”

Kickstarter was named “One of the Best Inventions of 2010” by Time, and the site has been quickly gaining recognition for the opportunities it opens up for both up-and-coming musicians and their audiences.

“[Kickstarter] tears down this wall between artist and fan,” Morgan said. “It allows the fan to have more input and direct interaction with the artist. We’ve always wanted to be the most approachable band ever. We’re not any different than anybody else; we’re just guys making music.”

Tickets are available at the M-Shop box office, by phone or at Midwestix.com, at $15 or $10 with an ISUCard, and a $2 day-of surcharge.