Push Play at WCWP
By Mike Ferrari
Okay, long time AF readers are like, “C’mon Mike, a boy band in Aural Fix?!” To this I say – when your band came to WCWP, did you have 20 screaming teens and tweens holding signs with your name on it? I didn’t think so!
In that long standing tradition of good looking boys, sugary pop music and hype galore, Push Play has gone where boy bands like N Sync and New Kids On The Block et al have all gone before... straight to teenage girls hearts.
While Push Play certainly does all this, they do go beyond simple crass commercialism, and forgettable little ditties. The band donates a portion of all their proceeds to various local charities.
Featuring a fab four of local Long Island teens; CJ on Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Keyboard, Nick on Bass and Derek on Drums they pump out songs like “Away” which is pure pop confection, but it is sweet and and it's hard to resist the hook. Sometimes the vocals get a little over processed like on “Starlight Addiction” but I guess no different than most pop artists you’re hearing on your FM dial right now.
The band came down to the MyWCWP.com radio station to do an in-studio interview and acoustic performance on the Top 40 Format Total Access Show with host Nick Parker. About 20 people showed up to the station, many holding signs with messages to Push Play. At one point the station let the fans into the studio with the band, and some like Morgan Manganello of Holbrook, got to ask the band a question on air.
So you local musicians are seething in your basement or garage demanding to know why it isn’t you on the cover, or you in the pull out centerfold poster. I’ll explain it as best I can... because you’re not a cute teenage boy. You haven’t dropped the cash on the PR machine to crank out fluffy hype about all the things you do. You haven’t dressed up and looked like a rock star or care about your image. You haven’t wrote a sugary pop song that sticks in the heads or tugs at the hearts of teenage girls. To put it simply – you haven’t done what Push Play has done.
The boys in Push Play with the support of “band mom” Sue Baran have done all these things. As superficial as it may seem to you, this is the way the music industry today works. The key here is to find some things to incorporate into your music business plan from their play book.
However Push Play hasn’t been all hype, having sold out Irving Plaza and School of Rock earlier this year, and recently signing with Creative Artists Agency. The band has made themselves known at Nokia Theatre in Times Square and ZooTopia all through good old fashioned grass roots, word of mouth and incessant MySpace and online social networking. Hype will only carry an artist or band so far, you still need to sell tickets and fill seats! Push Play has done this and more, and they’re just getting started.
See The Gallery from their appearance HERE
