Meet Mike, the bass player for the heavy metal band Dim, in Las Vegas. That cute thing next to him is “with the band”. I like to call this photo “The New Face of Marketing.”
Scary as it is, the title has some merit to it. The photo was from last night’s Vegas Rocks Music Award Show. I was there, covering the red carpet for The Vegas Tourist.
Walking around in the sea of tattoos, body piercing and just the usual heavy metal, weird outfits, these two caught my eye and I asked for the photo. He kindly introduced himself and shook my hand before he introduced the rest of the band sitting behind him.
Trust me, I wasn’t dressed for the party, I was there for the red carpet. Blue jeans, polo shirt and camera. I could never fit in to their world. He kindly obliged. He than introduced himself, shook my hand and introduced his band mates sitting behind him.
Other than the face paint, piercings, tattoos and head gear, he conducted the introductions as if we were sitting at a conference table in a fancy office someplace. Calm, professional and very casual.
So what took me by surprise was that thirty seconds before this photo, he was trash talking with another reporter in your stereo typical heavy metal band type of language. I can respect a guy who can walk the line like that.
So I quickly said my thank you’s and moved on to other interesting characters. Soon finding my way back to my cohort on the red carpet. She and I started to talk until her face turned white and she stopped talking as her eyes shot past me. That’s when I realized that Mike had come up along side me and again, graciously asked if I had gotten the name of the band? Also to please look them up on the internet. After that, he thanked me for asking who he was earlier and left.
The photo of that moment is still being hidden from me for blackmail at a later date.
Here you have a band member, surrounded by other media of his genre or niche, going out of his way to find another media person who is obviously not of his circle of fans. Making sure he gets the name right and thanking said media person for the question.
That’s marketing!
On the Internet, the only way to find them is by a search. You will find some youtube as well as interviews and reviews. They do have a myspace page. Nothing wrong with having that. Myspace is a perfect place for their fan base. Your typical myspace reader fits their demographics perfectly. However, I would have at least a domain name pointing to the page. It makes finding them a lot easier.
By The Way!
Not to scare any parents out there with kids who are musical prodigies: Mike grew up learning classical and orchestral style bass.
