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Threatin

Started by justin_bennett, November 10, 2018, 05:29:22 PM

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justin_bennett

Just catching up on the story of Threatin and gutted that this didn't all come out a week ago so I could have gone to see the madness in Glasgow on Monday in a presumably empty Ivory Blacks.  If any CaBbers live near Belfast you should get your arse out tomorrow night. 

Full horror here: https://www.sickchirpse.com/guy-paid-thousands-pounds-tour-uks-most-prestigious-venues-play-nobody/

Best to read in 'read' mode to avoid a shitload of ads.

gmoney

This reminds me of some acquaintances from college who used to dick about making short films, which would be fine (and it still is fine, it's just a bit weird), but they would record all sorts of 'backstage' making ofs and interviews with the director and cast as if they were the most beloved, important works in the film canon, with no hint of a joke or any irony. That obviously made them incredibly funny. There was a series of them that they made called something like "The Artefact Saga" which was incomprehensible. They still make them ten years later, I believe, and they have not got better at it.

famethrowa

I'm just concerned all this publicity he's getting will lead to popularity, then the plan will have worked? Let's not have that happen

Johnny Yesno

Too late. 924,377 views.

Threatin - Living is Dying (Official Music Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxr6COyjD1o&feature=youtu.be

Haha. Christ.

Maurice Yeatman

Quote from: Johnny Yesno on November 10, 2018, 11:08:12 PM
Too late. 924,377 views.

Threatin - Living is Dying (Official Music Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxr6COyjD1o&feature=youtu.be

Haha. Christ.

   It's got a good beat.

Chriddof

The story involves the fact that a large number of those 924,377 views, and the views on his other videos and social media accounts, were achieved by straight up buying them via "click farms" and bots. I would be surprised if this gets the bloke anything beyond a month or so of notoriety as his music is astoundingly generic.

Shaky

I've seen a few genuine, "Good on you, Bro - fuck the corporate machine!" comments, which is a pretty baffling response seeing as this guy has essentially bought likes and is playing to empty rooms with hired backing musicians.

To be fair, while that music isn't my bag of rawk at all, it isn't any worse than similar stuff being peddled by other, properly successful bands. There probably would be an audience if he actually worked from the ground up to flog his wares.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: Chriddof on November 11, 2018, 03:18:11 AM
The story involves the fact that a large number of those 924,377 views, and the views on his other videos and social media accounts, were achieved by straight up buying them via "click farms" and bots. I would be surprised if this gets the bloke anything beyond a month or so of notoriety as his music is astoundingly generic.

Oh yeah. Duh. It's attention spans like mine that are taking us to hell in a handcart.

Nurse!

purlieu

Quote from: Shaky on November 11, 2018, 03:38:40 AM
To be fair, while that music isn't my bag of rawk at all, it isn't any worse than similar stuff being peddled by other, properly successful bands. There probably would be an audience if he actually worked from the ground up to flog his wares.
Yeah, that's the crux of the article in the opening post: the amount of time and money he's spent on it could have been used to actually get him a fanbase and some success. It's either a genuine prank, or he's actually clueless (maybe a lack of understanding and social skills due to some mental health problem). It's quite fascinating, though. The Belfast gig is going ahead tonight and at least one of the support bands have announced they're playing, so if people are ever going to actually turn up to one of his shows it'll be this one.

People have compared him to Tommy Wiseau, and although I get that, I think there's more similarity with Rebecca Black: a lot of cluelessness, and everyone will have forgotten about it all in a couple of months.

a duncandisorderly

fucking hell, miles hunt has let himself go.

sevendaughters

i honestly don't see the issue with this guy. people at venues didn't do due diligence and one night of their schedule has a poor attendance, though to be honest they could have promoted it more. i don't understand how he could lie about ticket sakes - i thought that was a venue thing? the Threatin dude himself is the one really out of pocket. i don't understand the concept of a 'fake' band in this. yes he lied, but there's no real victim here.

magval

He's cancelled the Belfast show.

PaulTMA

Really disappointed to see he's gone on social media lockdown in the last couple of days.  If he has any brains at all he'll milk this for all it's worth.

Love the fake artist names on his fake label website though, like Bryan Guy.

Chriddof

The funniest thing about the fake bands is that he didn't realise some of the names he came up with had already been used by reasonably well known acts. The "US / Canada roster" features Strangelove and Curve, which would come as a surprise to those UK-based (and defunct) bands. Other real life names included are Jellyfish, Braid, and "Ice Age", which is very close to Danish group Iceage. You'd have thought he'd have checked everything beforehand via Google. It reminds me of the time several years ago when a bunch of US music sites were bewildered to get a press pack or whatever from a new American band who didn't realise "The Fall" was already taken.

Mark Steels Stockbroker

He isn't doing anything that wasn't done already by Andrew WK or Manic Street Preachers. They started with nothing and just pretended to be a big deal until it was true.

sevendaughters

he dropped £780 to hire the Underworld in Camden. other venues taken on a similar hire agreement. something doesn't add up here. that is a lot of money before the tour even started.

also his drummer and guitarist just quit.

purlieu

Quote from: sevendaughters on November 11, 2018, 07:52:23 PMpeople at venues didn't do due diligence
There's some truth in this, although at the same time, I'm not sure if venues not thinking "a promoter has cash and an artist with a seemingly successful online presence, but I'll have to do some deeper digging to make sure the band isn't a bizarre vanity project with a fake history" is a fair criticism. It's, frankly, not something anybody should ever expect to have to do.
Quoteone night of their schedule has a poor attendance
Which can be damaging to a lot of venues, as many smaller places are struggling.
Quotethough to be honest they could have promoted it more.
How do you promote a band who nobody's heard of?
Quotei don't understand how he could lie about ticket sakes - i thought that was a venue thing?
The venue box office will generally be allocated some tickets, but they are mostly sold by the promoter.
Quotei don't understand the concept of a 'fake' band in this.
His entire online presence makes him and his band out to be successful - winning awards, playing US venues, having a fanbase - none of which was true in the slightest. There's no evidence Threatin had actually played a gig before the European tour, despite claiming to the contrary. So the entire history is based on a 'fake band'.
Quotebut there's no real victim here.
One band ended up out of pocket through travel costs and such, in the hope of playing to a new audience (the entire point of playing support slots) who ended up playing to nobody. But yeah, for the most part it's less about there being victims and more just a massive 'what the fuck' story.

PaulTMA

I'm not convinced he was even trying to 'scam' anyone, just perhaps very naive and delusional while perhaps having a lot of inheritance money.  Perhaps he really did believe that people would show up.  I find it interesting that he's gone completely quiet so far which leads me to believe he's distraught about it all blowing up in his face, rather there being any kind of publicity to manipulate.

sevendaughters

response to purlieu but I did some more digging (read another article) and he approached the venues as an outside promoter and paid for venue hire upfront in full, so apart from drinks that weren't sold, the venues got paid. which makes this less of a "scam", to me.

general bullet points though

- you can definitely publicise bands no one has heard of w/creative means, like the internet is a recentism so how did people used to promote DIY shows if not by some kind of savvy. i used to browse the listings of Tedium House all the time and just buy stuff because of the words used, ie.

QuoteA subterranean dream onslaught from 1998 with Michael Schumacher on bowed guitar and Charles Curtis on guitar and sine wave generator, channeling stupefying LaMonte-Young-esque beauty from an alternate universe where the trio suffocates underneath their own slumber of mucus and down. Three cheers for gargantuan deep-sea geese laying luminous eggs like bathospheric fax machines and tremendous moans fusing and dividing as if transmitting through a poly-faceted eyeball! Individually painted jacket.

now imagine that but in language that might appeal to the average hair metal fan.

- what i mean is what is a real band and what is a fake band. this is a band that plays live. whether they had or not before is immaterial. had he not showed up i'd understand it, but there was also music to listen to. are all bands fake bands until they play? or until someone turns up at a show? it is a more philosophical point than Threatin deserve, i grant you.

- bands lose travel costs on a wing and a prayer night-in/night-out, that's the grind.

alan nagsworth

Where are you guys getting this "scam" angle from? There's no use of the word "scam" in the SC article. No one thinks he's scamming anybody. He's clearly just some spoilt dickhead who, although he possesses some semblance of musical ability, is so blinkered by his wealth that he thinks chucking money at things will make him famous. It's very funny.

Small Man Big Horse

I'm just hoping that this proves there actually is going to be a fifth season of Nathan For You.

Phil_A

I'm not even sure it qualifies as a scam, as it's hard to see how he benefits from the whole charade. It's the extent of his fabricated persona and entirely imaginary rock god megastardom that's so fascinating. Fake management, fake awards, fake fans, fake gigs, it's like the musical equivalent of the paper house from the Armando Iannucci Shows.



Obviously plenty of bands have bullshitted their way to fame, but in most cases it's done with a degree of self-awareness that is apparently completely lacking in this case. It's all so weird and feels like it should be an elaborate hoax if it wasn't so sincere.

sevendaughters

Quote from: alan nagsworth on November 12, 2018, 06:16:53 PM
Where are you guys getting this "scam" angle from? There's no use of the word "scam" in the SC article. No one thinks he's scamming anybody. He's clearly just some spoilt dickhead who, although he possesses some semblance of musical ability, is so blinkered by his wealth that he thinks chucking money at things will make him famous. It's very funny.

given the deep backstory concocted just to ruse venues to open their doors to him, it speaks to the mindset of a scammer/trickster figure, and also invites comparison between not just the criminal trickster, but the acceptable form of tricksterism that comes in the form of musical hype.

Spoon of Ploff

Quote from: Johnny Yesno on November 10, 2018, 11:08:12 PM
Too late. 924,377 views.

Threatin - Living is Dying (Official Music Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxr6COyjD1o&feature=youtu.be

Haha. Christ.

Does he use Timotei?

Jockice

Quote from: Mark Steels Stockbroker on November 11, 2018, 10:44:53 PM
He isn't doing anything that wasn't done already by Andrew WK or Manic Street Preachers. They started with nothing and just pretended to be a big deal until it was true.

As did Fabulous. But it didn't work. I love the bit on this video (2.31 in) where it suddenly turns into the band leaveing the stage to rapturous appleause after an obviously fictitious live performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMZYTU7dGbs

purlieu

Quote from: sevendaughters on November 12, 2018, 05:56:35 PM
- you can definitely publicise bands no one has heard of w/creative means, like the internet is a recentism so how did people used to promote DIY shows if not by some kind of savvy.
Ah I see. In which case, that isn't really the venue's job, it's the promoter's. Most venues tend to stick to just reposting the press pack they're given.
Quote- what i mean is what is a real band and what is a fake band. this is a band that plays live. whether they had or not before is immaterial. had he not showed up i'd understand it, but there was also music to listen to. are all bands fake bands until they play? or until someone turns up at a show? it is a more philosophical point than Threatin deserve, i grant you.
It's a matter of semantics really - band with fake history maybe?
Quote- bands lose travel costs on a wing and a prayer night-in/night-out, that's the grind.
True, but they do so on the possibility that they at least have a chance to make some cash. In this case, that wasn't possible.

MoonDust

I've read this twice on BBC news - which usually is the most dumbed down news site out there - and I still don't understand what the story is here.

Someone take me through it please.

My understanding is the band/person spent loads of their own money hiring out venues for a tour even though they only have about 2 fans. Is that pretty much it?

sevendaughters

Quote from: MoonDust on November 12, 2018, 09:04:31 PM
I've read this twice on BBC news - which usually is the most dumbed down news site out there - and I still don't understand what the story is here.

Someone take me through it please.

My understanding is the band/person spent loads of their own money hiring out venues for a tour even though they only have about 2 fans. Is that pretty much it?

this + and also a very deep backstory concocted to dupe venues into thinking this band/person was legit, also the guy in question seems to be attempting to continue despite the world crashing down around his ears.

alan nagsworth

Quote from: MoonDust on November 12, 2018, 09:04:31 PM
I've read this twice on BBC news - which usually is the most dumbed down news site out there - and I still don't understand what the story is here.

Someone take me through it please.

My understanding is the band/person spent loads of their own money hiring out venues for a tour even though they only have about 2 fans. Is that pretty much it?

No, they actually have about zero fans.

Phil_A

Quote from: MoonDust on November 12, 2018, 09:04:31 PM
I've read this twice on BBC news - which usually is the most dumbed down news site out there - and I still don't understand what the story is here.

Someone take me through it please.

My understanding is the band/person spent loads of their own money hiring out venues for a tour even though they only have about 2 fans. Is that pretty much it?

There's a little bit more to it than that. For one thing, he's never been photographed wearing any colour.

https://www.sickchirpse.com/guy-paid-thousands-pounds-tour-uks-most-prestigious-venues-play-nobody/

Seriously I do recommend reading the whole thing, as it is utterly bonkers. This guy isn't just pretending to be more famous than he is, he's signed himself to a fake record label where all the bands and artists are made up(although he used a few real names by accident which totally blows the gaffe), and then invented a fake bookings agency to promote all the same non-existent acts. He even made fake music news websites to promote himself as an upcoming talent. It's proper crazy stuff.