BEING a “MySpace band” – an unsigned act that’s attracted enough hits on the social networking site for a record label to take notice and offer up a deal – has its good and bad points.
Good: You’ve got a fan base spread all across the country – perhaps even the world.
Bad: You’re a flash in the pan, one of the dozens of other “Internet sensations” that record labels are forever signing now that they scour MySpace for this week’s hot new act.
You know, to replace the one from last week.
It’s a problem that electronic dance-punks Innerpartysystem – who release their self-titled debut today (download single “Don’t Stop” at nypost.com) – is currently trying to work through.
Their solution? Touring incessantly to prove they’re worthy of your attention. They were in town earlier this month and will return on Nov. 18 to play the Blender Theater. Again.
It’s almost as if they’re
trying to make up for how they were discovered.
Vocalist Patrick Nissley and drummer Jarred Piccone, former high-school bandmates who’d given up music for “real life” – i.e. full-time jobs in their Mohnton, Pa. hometown – posted a few songs on their MySpace page in 2006, just for the heck of it.
“It was totally just something that we were doing in our spare time,” Piccone says.
When major label A&R reps started calling Piccone at the used car dealership where he worked, the duo realized that the they actually had to put together a band to play showcases. They recruited longtime friends Kris Barman and Jesse Cronan to play synth, solidifying IPS’s lineup.
And then the boys hit the road to expose people to their explosive live sound. Although part of it comes from having a “maniac” for a soundman, Piccone says that the intensity of their live performances is mostly the result of the band members’ histories in hardcore and punk-rock bands.
“We’re just used to playing hard with our old bands, so it’s just a natural thing now,” says Piccone. He admits that their performance does lead to some disparity between what people hear at concerts and the more mellow sound they experience through their headphones.
“You’ll have this dude come back with the Metallica T-shirt to buy [the 2007 EP], and you always feel bad because he’s going to put it on in his car and he’ll be like, ‘What is this s – – -?’ ” Piccone says with a laugh. “He probably thought we were a much heavier band than we really were.”
While the band recorded and produced most of their new album at their home studio, they did call on producers and sound mixers who worked on albums by Nine Inch Nails and the Killers to help them get closer to the sound of their live shows.
That’s not to say that, after getting the album, there’s no need to see them live anymore.
With a light show made from scratch, IPS wants to achieve the same effect that Daft Punk and NIN accomplish with their shows.
“From beginning to end, even
if you don’t like those bands, you can go to the show and appreciate it,” Piccone says. “It’s like, ‘I might not even be a fan of what you’re doing, but I love watching it.’ And that’s what we’re trying to achieve.”