Music on Memolane: Iration
We are huge fans of Iration at Memolane, not only because they were one of the first bands to embed a Memolane on their blog, but also because they make incredible music and they do all of their own social media. Micah Pueschel and Adam Taylor were kind enough to take some time out of their busy tour schedule and give us some insight into how Iration approaches social media (and offer some music recommendations as well).
1) Can you tell us a bit about yourself, how you got into writing and playing music, and how Iration was formed?
Micah: I began playing the ukulele at about age 12 and played local Hawaiian music growing up. I began playing guitar in college and from there started to write music. Iration was formed in a garage in Isla Vista, CA amongst friends. Just a way for us to play the songs we liked, and as every musician knows, once you start playing it is addicting.
Adam: I got into playing music in junior high for the school orchestra and later got into other instruments. The band was formed during college in Santa Barbara as a hobby and as a way for us all to jam together.
2) As a band, how are you using social media to promote yourself and connect with your fans?
Micah: Social media is the most important tool for us as a band. We definitely owe a great deal of our success to connecting and communicating with our fans through social media. We use it to make our set lists for tours, to give an insight into our lives, and to try and show them where the music we make comes from. It’s a way to communicate directly with the people that care.
Adam: We like to stay on top of the trends and use social media sites that work individually for us. I like to use sites like Foursquare and Posterous, and some of the other guys are more into sites like Twitter or Facebook. Our tour manager Colin does Instagram. Joe D (drummer) recently got a GoPro and was sharing videos while back home in Hawaii. It’s cool to use the sites that are interesting to you. Today it is so easy to update all your sites from your phone.
3) A lot of musicians rely on their labels to manage their social media, but you guys do all of your own social media for Iration – what are the benefits of representing your band from a personal perspective on social media?
Micah: I think people can tell when a post is genuine or not. For us it’s cool to be able to connect directly and to be in control of the image that we are putting out there. We want to give our fans something that is genuine and real and not over produced. We want to show them what we are really like and what we think is funny or cool without the barrier of someone else.
Adam: It keeps us more in touch with our fans and that’s really fun. We’ve always been really hands-on with our band so it was natural for us to want to reach out to our fans and associate with them. We’re lucky because we started playing together at about the same time social media started becoming really popular and important for bands, and we’ve always stayed on top of it.
4) What types of content are you adding to your Memolane to represent Iration? Are there any services you would like to see added to Memolane?
Micah: We all post lifestyle vids of us living our daily lives whether that be GoPro footage of the boys surfing, or pics of us playing golf, or footage from a concert we are at. It could even be something as simple as us feeding our fish or taking a pic of someone doing something embarrassing. It just comes down to what is real in our lives that goes into the feed. In September we head out on our national Lei’d Back Fall 2011 Tour so…
Adam: We’re adding videos and photos through Posterous, tweeting, and doing Foursquare check-ins mostly. We’re always expanding though, and there are always new outlets. Memolane is rad as is! It’s kinda cool to look at our Memolane and see where/what was going on during certain tours and at different points in our career.
5) Is there any song that would inspire you to friend someone on Memolane if you saw it in a Last.fm memo on their lane?
Micah: Probably anything involving the Beatles or the Black Uhuru. If you are listening to both those bands then we can definitely be friends.
Adam: If they liked anything by my favorite reggae artist Black Uhuru, they’re in.
6) Where can the Memolane community find out more about Iration and hear your music?
Micah: We have a brand new website at www.irationmusic.com where you can stream our music, as well as our Facebook Page and our Twitter account.
Adam: They can check us out where everyone is, on Facebook, or our website.
7) Can you share with us what are you listening to right now?
Micah: Foster the People: Last.fm | Spotify
The Strokes: Last.fm | Spotify
The Black Uhuru: Last.fm | Spotify
Adam: Foster the People: Last.fm |Spotify
This blog post is part of our Music on Memolane series, highlighting musicians and people in the music industry creating great things with Memolane.
