The Dead 27s are literally on their way to the top today as they travel to New York City to take part in VH1’s Make a Band Famous competition.
A few weeks ago, the local roots-rock band submitted an Instagram clip as required for entry, and VH1 whittled it down to 60 bands based on those submissions. The Dead 27s were then told to create an artist page, and so they did.
“We thought the page didn’t work,” drummer Daniel Crider says. “Something had gone wrong, and we forgot about. We thought it was a scam. Then we realized people were voting for us on Twitter.”
With zero promotion on the band’s part beforehand, the Dead 27s then realized they were not only a part of this competition, but that they had a real chance of winning it, too. In order to cast a vote, fans must use Twitter. One tweet counts for one vote, using the hashtags #mabf and #dead27s for the band Charleston should be nominating.
VH1 then asked the band to participate in a Skype interview, and that’s when the Charleston boys were told they’d made it to the Top 24. Next stop: NYC. The Dead 27s are en route now to participate in the real deal.
The live-stream competition will air on VH1.com beginning tomorrow at 8 p.m., with 11 p.m. being the earliest a band could be eliminated. Bands will be given assignments every hour for 24 hours. The format is somewhat like the Apprentice in that they could soon be scouring the city to complete a task like playing toy instruments or busking for tips. Crider says the show will be totally uncensored as they’re shuttled around with a camera everywhere they go.
Bands are judged by both a panel as well as the online voting via Twitter. Fans can vote ‘til Thursday night. The band left standing will win a record deal with Republic Records.
I repeat, voters can tweet #dead27s #mabf until Thursday night. You can vote more than once, so get to tweeting, and help make this Charleston band famous.
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