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Good for Promotion?

Road-Dog

Road-Dog

Apr 7, 2009
114
26
Roan Mountain,TN
www.stevehayesandthehurricanes.com
#1
The other members of my band feel we should not promote the fact that we are based out of the area we live in, but in fact should promote where we are all from originally. They seem to feel that by saying each band member is from a different area of the country,makes us look more professional. I disagree with them and wonder what other folks have experienced.
Yes, we all live within 50 miles of each other now. We met and put the band together, but the guys want to promote the fact that we all are from other states.
Guitarist from Philly, I am from Tampa, drummer from Mississippi, keyboard from here. (only really local guy) We are in Johnson City,Tn.
We are starting to get a name for ourselves and working on putting together a tour thru-out south and mid-west. Anyone want to put there two-cents in, I would appreciate the input.
 
#4
You are right and your band members are wrong. You should be saying the band is based out of Johnson City. If you have individual bios of each member on your website, that's where the individual hometowns can be mentioned.

How many big bands that are known for being being based in LA or NY(for example) are all actually from those cities? Not many I imagine.
 
#6
So when a venue or another band attempts to contact you to book a gig they'll have to guess and hope they know which city you all are actually based in?

I'm not one to normally call people out on their ideas, but your bandmates are idiots.
 
#8
Road-Dog said:
The other members of my band feel we should not promote the fact that we are based out of the area we live in, but in fact should promote where we are all from originally.
Click to expand...

Depends on the context and what ones means by "promote". I can tell you that playing in cover bands in tourist-heavy Florida that it was common to have the front man introduce the band members associated with where they were from. I was "the guy from Philly" for years (even though I was really from the suburbs:rollno:). Every couple gigs a bunch of people also from Philly would come up after the set to chat. You would get the feeling they were stoked to come all that distance on vacation and see someone from "back home". If it enhanced their experience, and maybe got them to stick around a set longer than they intended, it was a useful gimmick. But this is not the kind of "promotion" I think you are talking about.
 
#11
Our band is from Bluffton, Indiana.

Of course, I am from Minneapolis, MN. My wife was raised on a farm OUTSIDE Bluffton. Our guitar player is from Los Angeles, but was born in Bluffton, or moved to Bluffton later, or something, and lives there now.

Our drummer is from somewhere out that way, or something, and we, as a band, are really from Fort Wayne, because that's where we live, that's where we met, and that's where we rehearse.

But people LIKE that we're from Bluffton, because not too many local bands come from there, and people like that "local boy makes good" storyline, and after all, my wife went to Bluffton High School, and I think Arthur did too. (and maybe Tim, come to think of it)

So saying we're from Bluffton is MORE correct than saying anything else.

I have spent maybe two hours of my life in Bluffton, total.
 
#14
Nobody wants a band that's from California, Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina (where my last band's members were from).

They want a Jacksonville (my city) band representing the best of Jacksonville's music. You can't be asked to play a show promoting the city if you're not promoting the city.

Even shows with touring bands are considered part of the Jacksonville scene because they're in Jax.

Easier to go with the flow than fight it.
 
#15
As an audience member, I'm mostly concerned whether I like your music or not. I don't care how you are dressed or where you are from or what you like for breakfast in the mornings.

I'd stick to keeping the focus on the music.
 
#17
If the schtick is good, go for it. When Jake introduces the horn section he mentions that Alan Reuben (Mister Fabulous himself) is from NYC, and Tom "Bones" Malone is from NYC (Also from TX) and Tom Scott is from right here in LA, it goes over well.

Like every other thing, it depends entirely on presentation.
 

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