The Grand Rapids rock band hosts an EP ‘giveaway’ show Friday at The Intersection after enlisting a renowned California producer for its new recording. And check out the band’s latest celebrity-laden video.
Igniting a Wildfire: The Outer Vibe wants fans to ‘pass it on’ when it comes to its new EP.
Leave it to The Outer Vibe to create a clever promotional campaign for the group’s new four-song EP that gets released during the rock/pop band’s show Friday at The Intersection.
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Pass It On: Guitarist Nick Hosford in a video promoting the EP giveaway.
Those buying tickets to the concert get a free copy of the “Pass It On” EP, which the Grand Rapids band with a reputation for musical exuberance then encourages fans to “pass on” to friends and other listeners. The recording is available only at the 7:30 p.m. “EP giveaway” show, which also features folk’s Bennett, rockabilly’s Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish and psychedelic grunge’s Model Stranger.
“The theme is exactly that: We want people to spread our music like wildfire,” says bassist Andrew Dornoff of the “Pass It On” project which enlisted renowned producer Brad Dollar (Bob Weir, The National, Alison Harris, Keb’ Mo’, Grateful Dead) and mastering engineer Joe LaPorta (Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, Vampire Weekend).
In a video posted on YouTube, guitarist Nick Hosford encourages fans who get one of the 1,000 EPs at the show to be “messengers to spread our music across the world” by saving a copy of it to their smartphones or computers. Then, “sign the inside and give it to someone else.”
NEW DRUMMER, AMBITIOUS RECORDING AND TOURING SCHEDULE FOR 2015
After adding drummer Noah Snyder to the fold last year, the band – which maintains its own recording studio, Pharaoh’s House Recording, in Belmont – has invested heavily in this project and the campaign that will follow.
Band members – singer Sean Zee, trumpet/keyboard player Lisa Kacos, Hosford, Dornoff and Snyder – spent months researching and interviewing producers to find “a good fit” for the group before settling on Dollar, who they flew in from San Francisco to work at their studio.
‘Live Energy’: Dornoff performing at the Hot New Year’s Eve party on Calder Plaza. (Photo/Tori Thomas)
“Brad brought a chill approach to capturing the live energy in these sessions,” Dornoff says. “With Brad at the helm of recording we could capture songwriting as it happened. We could focus on the music rather than the knobs or microphones.”
The Outer Vibe also filmed four music videos in three days in December, intending to release them one at a time over the winter and spring. The first one, for “Big Bad Machine,” was filmed at St. Cecilia Music Center and released earlier this month, with guest appearances by a host of familiar Grand Rapids performers and celebrities, including Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish, Bennett, Audria Larsen and more. (View the video below.)
“They involved a huge crew and tons of extra people,” says Dornoff, noting the band brought in Los Angeles cinematographer Tristan Barnard, who earlier had directed The Outer Vibe’s “Shining Like a Diamond” video. The band also enlisted Grand Rapids director Josh Sikkema.
A CALIFORNIA MUSICAL RESIDENCY AND EXPANDING THE BAND’S AUDIENCE
And that’s just the beginning.
Dornoff says the band hopes to release a full-length album later this year and tour the United States, “spending quite a bit of time in California” after being chosen from hundreds of applicants to take part in a residency at the Zoo Labs music incubator. Zoo Labs focuses on artist development and technical training.
Noah Snyder
“We will also spend a substantial amount of time in Los Angeles, performing showcases and networking with key industry professionals,” says Dornoff. “Our tour radius will expand into more states, getting us in front of larger audiences.”
The bassist credits the arrival of Snyder – following the departure of drummer Jeff Brems, who moved to Cleveland – for filling an “important piece of the puzzle” for The Outer Vibe. “His energy, optimism and talent was a large part of what pushed us to charge forward with our original music,” he said.
Get tickets and more information about Friday’s show at sectionlive.com.
THE OUTER VIBE: BIG BAD MACHINE
Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC
