To begin defining our pitch we first looked at what others were saying about The Famous, not what we thought about ourselves. For instance, here’s what was written about us in West Coast Performer after the release of our debut album, “Light, Sweet Crude”:
“The Famous arrange a standoff between the Pixies in a cowboy hat and Hank Williams on speed, six-shooters loaded with punk and rockabilly, and whaddya know – that bastard alt-country genre gets shot square in the forehead, with a stray bullet no less.”
We know what we like to listen to… and at the top of the rotation: Buck Owens, X, Johnny Cash, Modest Mouse, The Pixies, Hank Williams, Tiger Army and other similar bands/artists… so it was cool that the reviewer named two of those bands in the article.
In focusing on what makes us personally interested in these acts, we were also able to key in on what we are trying to do as The Famous. Part of the exercise in defining the pitch is to describe the feeling and vibe we are working to convey, so we started there:
“Intensity – Catharsis – Timelessness – Atmospheric”
This lead to descriptions of the styles/themes we are closest to:
Psychobilly, Punk, Southern Fried, ‘60s AM radio, Gritty, Raw, Searing, Emotional
Friends, fans and strangers we meet as shows have told us over the years some highly identifiable bands who have helped define the genre that they think we sound like, including:
Drive By Truckers, Social Distortion, Frank Black, Old 97’s, Uncle Tupelo
Finally, we boiled it down to actual genres that best fit our music:
Classic Country, Post-Punk, Alt-Country
All of this lead us to the elevator pitch which now accompanies our band name on our website and all of our communication efforts…
The Famous are: “A Shot of Classic Country with a Post-Punk Chaser.”
We have considered ‘Punk-Rock Chaser,’ but for the time being with our latest album and related videos getting promoted by Ariel Publicity, we think it fits and is easy to say to anyone who wants to know what The Famous is all about.
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