Christian P. Pewitt Blogs: Indie Band The Cheap Thrills On The Importance Of Building Hype

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Indie Band The Cheap Thrills On The Importance Of Building Hype

Here Liverpool garage/psych band The Cheap Thrills discuss the challenge of achieving success as an independent band, their reaction to being signed to End Of The Trail Records, and where they're headed next.

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Guest post from the ReverbNation Blog

The Cheap Thrills are a garage/psych pop band from Liverpool, UK. Their sound is a combination of garage bands from the sixties and a resurgence of bands from the 2000s.

It’s that same sound that caught the attention of End Of The Trail Records, who they signed to after submitting to one of our opportunities. According to the label, what attracted them to the band were their songs.

“Pop psych at it’s best we think. At the time of writing they have just had their new single played on BBC Radio 6 by the mighty Steve Lamacq. Which is a great thing for any band in the UK!!!”

Check out this interview with The Cheap Thrills where they share the secret to getting promoters to book you, how to build up hype around your band, and what’s up next for them.

Tell us a bit about your band. How did you form, how long have you been together, what kind of music do you play, etc.

We are The Cheap Thrills. We are an indie pop band from Orrell Park in Liverpool. We aim to fill your ears with catchy hooks and melodies. We have been a band for over 7 years now, but we have been friends much longer. We all went to Primary School together.

Without the help of a big team what has been the biggest struggle for you as a DIY artist?

Being ignored has got to be one of the biggest struggles as a DIY artist. We have sent countless emails off to people who we would like to work with, whether it be a blog, promoter, or another industry person and received no reply off them. It’s disheartening and it feels like you’re banging your head against a brick wall at times, but you have to remember no one owes you anything and you have to prove yourself to be heard through the ‘noise.’ It took us a while to recognise this and we decided to stop asking promoters for shows and starting putting on our own gigs and doing everything ourselves. You’ll still find us taking money on the door, booking bands, and creating the artwork for our gigs. After our own shows selling out, promoters are now emailing us asking us to play their night!

How did you hear about ReverbNation and our opportunities for labels and artists? Had you heard of End Of The Trail Records before this opportunity?

We saw the online application so we went for it. Yes, we had heard of End Of The Trail before. They’ve done great work developing artists like ourselves in the past and it was brilliant to be asked to work with them.

What was the submission process like? What was your reaction when you found out that you were picked for this opportunity?

Very easy. We’d advise other bands to do the same! We were all really happy as this was a huge step forward for the band. I think there was also a sense of relief that we finally had someone in ‘our corner’ to help take the pressure off all other tasks so we an focus on writing music. However, the champagne is still on the shelf and hasn’t been opened yet as we know the hard work we have ahead of us. I think that’s getting opened after we finish recording our first album.

What are you hoping to achieve with End Of The Trail Records? What are your goals?

We want people to hear our music. We genuinely believe our music is good enough to be on national radio. We would also love to play as many shows as possible and release an album.

Any advice for new musicians just starting out? How do you get your name out there, find new fans, keep fans engaged, get noticed by labels etc?

If we were to start the band again with the experience and knowledge we have now. I would advise ourselves not to release music too early. Write and rehearse as much as you can and record them as demos to build up a back catalogue. Gig as much as you can to gain experience and build up a bit of hype around the band in your hometown. Then, release your best tune.

What’s up next for The Cheap Thrills?

We have studio time booked in to record our release at Parr Street Studios over the Christmas period. Then we play a sold out show in Liverpool’s’ famous Cavern Club on the 20th of December. We will finish off 2017 with a special Christmas show at The Castle Hotel Manchester 23rd December.