3 Wolf Moon LIVE at the CLC

3 Wolf Moon had the chance to play a show with Fly Union and Yung Monsta on April 14th, and yet again the response we got was more than we could have ever dreamed of.  Before all of our shows, we are always very concerned with how our music will go over because, in our eyes, our audience doesn’t usually fit with our music. Our first show we played was with a bunch of alternative rock bands who’s fan base single handedly keeps Hot Topic stores open.   This most recent show was with two typical “girls, money, drugs” hip hop groups.  That’s definitely not what we’re all about, yet our shows always go well and both have ended with fans rushing the stage and dancing with us on our last song.

Why does our music work so well in different stuations? We got a comment from a fan after the CLC show that really stuck with me and I think answers this question. After the last band was done playing someone came up to me and said, “Man, your set was fun. You guys definitely put on the best show.”  That’s what people want. They want a show.  They want to be entertained. They want to feel good. They want to have fun.  Whether working on a television show or spot, or writing and designing a print ad, it’s important that your work cultivates a feeling of happiness.  In the world of advertising I feel that Don Draper said it best…

Advertising is based on one thing, happiness.

Replace the word advertising with just about anything media related, and it still rings true.

Here’s some very shaky video and lo-fi fan footage from the show too.

“We’ve Got Time” PSA

At Buena Vista University, for one day of the school year, all classes are cancelled and students are given the opportunity to volunteer and give back to the community. As the General Manager of the campus television station, I organized the making of a PSA for civic engagement that would air on the TV station.  With the help of a wonderful crew, we made the following PSA entitled “We’ve Got Time”.

BVU Admissions Ad #1

3 Wolf Moon was commissioned to write/record/produce an ad for the Buena Vista University admissions department.  As the ad says, all the sounds you hear in it were recorded by us! It airs in the the Storm Lake area.

 

The Story of Honey Kissed Pizza

My final project for my 7 week photography class was a photo slideshow about my favorite Storm Lake pizza joint, “Honey Kissed Pizza”. I took and edited all the photos, did the narration, and recorded the interview on location. All photos shot with a Canon T2i.

3 Wolf Moon Rocks EdgedOut

In order to be a successful creative, you have to not just say that you’re not afraid to stand out, but live in a way that backs that up.

On November 19th, my rap group 3 Wolf Moon was faced with the challenge of playing a rap show for an audience of metal heads and Hot Topic aficionados.  We definitely didn’t have home court advantage.

Afraid that we would get booed off stage and have tomatoes (rather than panties) thrown onstage at us, we were faced with the distinct challenge of getting our fans to show up and give us that extra energy to put on a good show.  In order to promote our show, we first made a commercial that we posted to YouTube.

The second thing that we did was make a series of advertisements done in the style of internet memes to promote our show.  These were posted periodically to our Facebook page.  We felt the meme inspiration was fitting seeing as our band name came from a meme. The full gallery of ads can be seen on our Facebook page.

The ads worked and the show was a success! We had a crowd of people on stage with us dancing for our last song and people dug the set. We saw a sharp increase in Facebook “likes” after the show which is just about all an independent hip hop group can hope for at the end of the day!

Digital Dirt and the Digital Shirt (Laundry Day)

Before you look for a job, you need to run your online clothes through the washing machine to make sure there’s no “digital dirt on your digital shirt.”  Bleach if necessary! Make sure that there’s no grass stains on elbows! Make sure there’s no dirt on your knees! (God forbid it looks like you’ve been working!)  Go back to 2006 and delete that vulgar Eminem lyric that you posted as a status!

This is the jest of the countless seminars that I’ve sat through in college, but lowly me (the guy who hasn’t updated his blog in 1 YEAR AND 3 DAYS) has to ask, is it better to be naked in your online presence than be caught wearing dirty clothes?

Now, I’m not saying that my internet clothes are dirty. I’m just saying that I don’t want to be caught with my pants down, or even worse left at home.  Over the next couple of weeks, I will be dressing my blog in some of the finest media pieces that I have created in the past year.  These will range from video to audio to photography to blogs about certain experiences. 

Especially if you are a potential employer, I hope you enjoy these articles of digital clothing and ask me where I got them.  (I’ll give you hint… they’re homemade and I can make some to fit you and your company perfectly if you’d like!)

Pretty Girl – iPad version

Thanks to the school issued iPad 2′s at BVU, the way that I learn has been revolutionized.

I used to have to enroll in a physics class to learn about energy and force. Now I can simply lay in bed and play angry birds.

To become an artist, I used to have to enroll in Art Foundations and get covered in the graphite from a pencil. Now I can play Draw Something and become the next picasso while I wait for my Doritos Locos tacos at Taco Bell.

In order to become a rock star musician, I used to have to lug my guitar down to the recording studio and sing into a microphone that is connected to thousands of dollars worth of gear. Now I can record a song while sitting on my bottom bunk bed, singing to a microphone that I can’t even see into the $5 Garageband app. That’s just what I did for the following song, “Pretty Girl”.

“Sundress”-Sunshine Jackson

If you haven’t heard the new Sunshine Jackson single yet, it’s here… and a new EP (entitled Cloudpop) is on the way! Stay tuned for more info!  Tell your friends!

“Buy, Buy, Buy”

This is a little parody song that I made for my “No Buy Project” in my Advertising class. I feel so Michael Scott at the Dundies, changing lyrics to a popular song, but it’s my life!

Tomorrows Song (inspired by @jonforeman)

 

Jon Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot, coordinated this fantastic group songwriting effort on twitter where he challenged everyone to write a song called ‘Tomorrows Song” in under 24 hours and post it online.  Always a sucker for anything involving songwriting, I had to make a submission. After driving 3 hours back to college, unpacking all my stuff and setting up my gear in the dorm room, I cranked this song out in about 4 hours. Hopefully you enjoy it, and thanks for the awesome idea, Jon!