How Far Will You Go To Make It?

The pressure is great. The competition, fierce. Bands are doing everything imaginable to pull away from the pack. What will you do to get noticed? How far will you go to make it?

When bands approach me toward the possibility of becoming their personal manager, my meeting with them begins (and sometimes ends) with two questions: Why are you in the music business? And more importantly, what will you do make it? To me, there are only two acceptable answers. "I'm in the music business to become the biggest, best selling artist ever." And, "I will do anything to make it." Other answers result in the termination of the meeting.

Today, with the music industry wide open for independent artists, there are even more horses in the race. It's a pretty crowded track out there and you have to find a way to stand out from the pack.

Making a spectacle of yourself is nothing new in this business. The Beatles, Alice Cooper, KISS, Elton John, David Bowie, Boy George, Marilyn Manson, etc., have all combined a colorful image with their music to attract attention, publicity and recognition. But are today's newer, up and coming artists going too far? Have they crossed the line? Are they so bent on "making it" that they've abandoned a serious musical focus for a gigantic "notice me" gimmick?

Gig Magazine interviewed representatives of three new independent bands that have just released their own CDs and are currently on national tours. We also talked to two performance pioneers-Alice Cooper and Gene Simmons of KISS--acts that pushed the envelope before we knew that an envelope was anything other than something to put a letter in. When asked if their image and desire to make it has pulled them across the line, each answered with a resounding NO! Let's take a look at this new crop of talent and find out what makes them tick:

Cereal, Jet Packs and Underwear

Flipp is a colorful rock band out of Minneapolis, Minn., that puts on a no-holds-barred live show while performing teen-oriented rockers like "Hair Do," "La De Da," "Cock Rock" and "Ultra Cool," all from their indie CD, Blow It Out Your Ass. Wanna buy some of their merchandise? How about a pair of authentic Flipp underwear? Got your attention? I thought so.

Lead singer Brynn Arens spoke with Gig and explained why the band is so animated, in-your-face and prepared to do anything live: "I consider this stuff to go completely hand-in-hand with the music. You couldn't put make-up on a performer who doesn't feel he should be wearing make-up. We do all of this because we enjoy it. It isn't preconceived in any way. It does get us noticed and it is a huge marketing tool. But that's not the drive behind it. We like this stuff. When we're going to rehearsal and we stop to pick up the beer and we're cranking on the amps, we think of things like-wouldn't it be awesome to hire a helicopter to drop a ton of cereal on the audience. And we've done it a couple of times. We were brought up in an era when there were New Kids on the Block dolls-and I always thought that was cool."

In addition to the cereal (described as a Fruit Loops-type dry cereal), Flipp has an entire arsenal of stage props to wow an audience. "A lot of the stuff we do was paid for with money from a couple of endorsements we got," Arens continued, "At a typical live show, our bassist (Freaky Useless) wears a jet pack and there are lights in his amp. He plays the Close Encounters of the Third Kind music and his bass amp answers him back like in the movie. Then he blows off these rockets. At another point, Chia (Chia Karaoke, listed in the credits as a multi-instrumentalist), does a cereal solo where he eats cereal and goes over to the mic and crunches a solo like a beat-box. Kilo Bale, our drummer, has a six-foot tall bong that, at the end of his solo, blows out smoke and sparks."

Well, now that you've got an idea as to where the band stands currently, I asked about the future of Flipp. Is this enough of an attention-getter? Where can they go from here? Arens concluded: "To me, performing visually and making posters and lunch boxes and bumper stickers, is no less an art than making records or writing songs. It's all the same. We do this stuff ourselves. We're not only musicians, but graphic artists, as well. I've always been more interested in seeing bands live than in listening to their records. We are willing to do absolutely anything in the world that we think is cool. Anything that entertains us and entertains the people. In order to get the audience off, we have to be getting off." Truth be told, these guys are definitely worth the price of admission-and then some. And, oh yeah, they're managed by former KISS manager Bill Aucoin.