With hundreds of ticket sales, legions of social media followers and adoring messages posted online from teenage fans, Californian metal band Threatin appeared more than ready to conquer the UK music scene.
Venue managers liaised with an apparent booking agent and record label, gladly signing them up in the hope of sell-out crowds.
The reality was a rather different story. This band was unknown, they had no fans and no management.
They toured the country playing to completely empty gig venues and as they did so last week, their story began to unravel.
The band, and in particular the sole permanent member Jered Threatin, has been accused of creating a fake legion of fans in order to land the UK tour.
All done with fake likes on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, apparently.
So, a senior job in social media management here we come, eh?
Damn, didn’t the organisers just check the band’s music on Spotify? It is talentless, amateurish tosh one would expect from a local pub band, not a band on the rapid rise with adoring fans. I say this as a metal fan who hunts for these kinds of bands as well. Far far more exciting stuff has been recorded by bands with this limited presence.
Why?
What does he gain from this?
The story is worthy of P T Barnum.
Except Barnum would have been shrewd enough to find a way to fill the venues and a new crew of Rock Gods would have been formed.
Their music actually being any good or not would have little to with it. Indeed modern technology all but ensures musical virtuosity on players. At least potentially.
Mr Ecks – I’m disappointed for him that he gave up halfway during his tour.
He’d have filled out the later venues thanks to all the free publicity, I reckon. If he’d stuck to his (apparently deluded) self-belief that he’s a rock god he could’ve been the Tommy Wiseau of music.
As Michael Caine once told Sean Connery – “We’ve got to brass it out, Danny!”
Tour managers for newish bands have been doing this since at least the 60’s and probably long before.
Steve ““We’ve got to brass it out, Danny!”–Change “Danny” to “Dummy” and you have the new Tory Party motto.
Michael Winner said that he got his first directing gig by claiming that he had already directed nine films in South Africa. In the days before a director would be expected to have video copies of his films as evidence he got away with it.
Although of course Winner could have been lying about this story too…
And if Richard Murphy suddenly announces he’s going on a worldwide speaking tour…