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Channels for fan interactions are now starting to get ridiculous. Back in the day, in the way-before time, a long, long time ago, people would wait in line for hours and hours to get to talk to their mid-level record company hero. To actually converse with such a person, is divine. And while yes, this scenario does happen today, it’s more for the major acts that don’t tour much and don’t come around that often. I know plenty of people who would wait for days just to shake Axl Rose’s hand. However, there was a time when this was the norm for all bands, because in reality when are you ever going to go carry on a conversation such person ever again?
Not anymore. Of course, the Internet has opened up all sorts of communication methods between bands and their fans. And although Joe Perry might not list his email address on www.aerosmith.com, many mid-major and major acts do similar things. Finch (Geffen) had their AIM names up on their official site until the band broke. New Years Day, now signed with TVT (Sevendust, etc.) has the exact same thing going on. Most bands have myspace and most band members have their own personal myspace page, to which anyone can send them a message or leave a comment of their undying love. No more waiting in line for hours to carry a conversation with your idols! Hell, for that matter if you did wait in line for hours to talk to a drummer, he might look at you, smile, and say “Hey dude, good to finally meet you after all this time."
There is still that one level of communication that hasn’t been touched yet: the personal telephone. The reasons are simple. First, what band member wants to have their personal line out there? Second, traditionally the band you hero-worshipped might be three time zones away, incurring those things called “long distance charges” which are now ancient myths due to cellular phone plans. Plus, there was never any incentive for a band to get that personal with the world, so it was never done.
Until now. I was browsing over at www.absolutepunk.net and one of the banner ads caught my attention. It was for Escape the Fate, and it read as follow “Call us, so we can tell you about the new album” followed by 213-219-7793. Surely this was a hoax. No band of that caliber would do such a thing. Shelving it deep into my mind (seemingly lost forever) I was reading a mag that had the exact same thing, only in a full-page advertisement! Would a band such as Escape the Fate who is on Epitaph records who has held everyone from Motion City Soundtrack, to Bad Religion (!), to The Black Keys, Pennywise, and all points in between really give out their personal number?
I couldn’t believe it. So I did what most curious people did: I tried it! That’s right, I pulled out my trusty ghetto cell phone sans battery casing and dialed this number, thinking that I’m going to get some PR’s intern whose only job it is to pretend as if their the band and answer phone calls from fanboys all day.
So I called. What did I get? Voicemail. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. So I guess communication channels of fan interactions stop at the caller ID with an unrecognized number.
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