One of the wonderful things about social networking is that you can connect with interesting people that you don’t know initially who can go on to become friends, clients and business partners. There is something freeing about the internet that makes it easier for even the most introverted among us to reach out and really touch someone. Remember the old AT&T Commercials:
I recently met someone quite famous on-line in a web-conference type scenario. The thing is I had no clue who he was at the time, only his location: Canada. I could deduce a few things about him from our conversation: his demeanor, looks and choice of wording. I gave him my candid impression of his “personal brand”: rocker (as in musician) and sensitive guy with a vocabulary style that screamed out ‘writer’. These were all characteristics that he did not mention himself. Apparently, I was dead on because he was surprised by my description and asked if I knew who he was; which of course I did not.
The unknown guy told me that he was indeed a musician and a songwriter and gave me the name of his band, Econoline Crush and one of their biggest hits, “You Don’t Know What It’s Like.” I had never heard of either but was intrigued. Being the skeptic and ardent Googler that I am, I quickly did a search while we were still talking (multi-tasking comes in handy at times!) and came up with a very slick video on YouTube for the song.
Yep, the guy I was talking to looked like the lead singer in the video sans dark black eyeliner and tight leather pants. Still slightly skeptical, I half-joked that if he truly was a celebrity, he probably had a personal Twitter account. I assumed he would tell me that he didn’t, instead he promptly gave it to me and suggested I send him a Tweet later.
We could have left it at that and gone our merry ways, but curiosity got me and I later found the Twitter account he mentioned and sent him an @message. He immediately followed me and fired back with a response. Did some research and discovered that he was truly Trevor Hurst, the lead singer and front man for Econoline Crush. Apparently they were very hot in the 90’s, disbanded for a time and reunited in 2007. They have released 4 albums: Purge (1994), Affliction (1996), The Devil You Know (1997), Brand New History (2001) and Ignite (2008). EC received two Juno nominations; and their “Devil You Know” album went Platinum.
Their music has been described as Industrial Alternative Rock and they have toured with bands like Hinder, Three Days Grace, Alice Cooper and KISS. I continue to keep up a Twitter DM relationship with Trevor, answering his questions and sending him occasional advice on his Twitter account and EC Facebook Page.
Econoline Crush is currently working on a new EP and just completed a campaign on the social fund-raising site IndieGoGo. They will be posting video clips and photos of the recording process on their Facebook Page.
Trevor comes across as being very intelligent and creative with a keen sense of what is important to him: entertaining audiences and sharing his creativity with fans. He is sensitive, articulate and was a pleasure to bump into on the social media highway. Really glad I did.
Here are some Cincinnati area bands that are active on Twitter & Facebook. Maybe you can bump into Drew, April, Laurie or Scott in real life at a local venue. Just ask first before reaching out and touching them…..
Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2010 ~All Rights Reserved
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