Afraid Of Figs~ Seattle's Geek Rock Band ~ Hits it big with a new Video

Jul 9, 2011
“Tee” – from Afraid Of Figs

“Finally …
The “Don’t Wanna Be Your Facebook Friend” Video

Two bands, five years, thousands of hours, and countless reams of paper… Songwriters and bands, create many things out of nothing, and the good ones realize that most of what we’ve created, after massive reflection, isn’t quite what we’d set out to create.  It’s a matter of letting go of ego, and it’s part of the process.  I might write 40 songs, over the course of months, re-work them, re-read them, and throw out 75% of them (scavenge a good line or two before doing so), and bring only a handful to my band-mates, for their hopeful approval, or tweaks.

That’s why it’s so amazing when a song clicks, first for me, then for the band, and then grabs the attention of others.  The 12 songs on our album came from 40-60 potential ideas for songs.  Of those 12, just 4 months later, I’d say I truly enjoy listening to about half of them.  Of those, there are a couple “special songs” that I feel strongly about pushing out to the scary world of music and music media for critical consideration.  “Don’t Wanna Be Your Facebook Friend” is one of those nuggets.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmjZTHX8EKg While not our #1 strongest song, in my opinion, it’s certainly in the upper echelon, and thankfully the subject matter lent itself beautifully to video.  The feeling that people can relate to the 24/7 social media overload, like I can, leads me to believe that many will also relate, and hopefully really enjoy, the sardonic release the video offers.

And now comes the marketing.  First of course, our hundreds of friends and fans get to enjoy the video, and thus far, the response has been great.  Then we branch out to their friends, fans of other bands we like, media outlets we work with and respect, and then….. then the scary question:  Can we break through into other media, local…national…international.  Surely a high percentage of people will enjoy the idea of “Don’t Wanna Be Your Facebook Friend”.  It’s a big world….. how do we get our baby in front of them?  Who can help?  Who will help?  Will this take off overnight, over time, or possibly not.  The electronic world is a funny thing.  Some interesting (read that last word ironically please) videos have gotten millions of hits.

Worse case, we can be proud of this 3 minute piece of fun we’ve created, and enjoy it always.  Best case, the numbers of people who enjoy it with us will grow, and allow us to grow our fan base, and potentially travel to those fans, to share our shows, our personalities, our lives with them.  How many bands have pushed out and failed?  Quite a few.  How many have never attempted to fulfill their dreams.  A greater number still.  And while the number of bands who have truly “made it” is small, it’s a number.  So why not us?  Why not now?

Tee – Afraid Of Figs
7/9/11
www.afraidoffigs.com