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The Valley Advocate 0 July 17, 2003

Chain Reaction
School for the Dead wants you to share the music
by Gary Carra

Do these guys look like they would take advantage of the world's largest record label?

Nightcrawler
Valley bands have certainly had their share of success stories in recent months. High-profile gigs, radio play and, of course, even some national signings.
But as far as your friendly neighborhood Nightcrawler can recall, n

o area act has had the largest record label in the world (AOL/Time Warner) aiding in the distribution of its material.

Technically, that has changed. But in all honesty, the gang at AOL hasn't the vaguest notion of their role in School for the Dead 's latest promotional push.

Call it "random acts of pretty pop." A tin looking suspiciously like a container for a free AOL trial arrives in your mailbox, but with revamped packaging which contains the following explanation:

"Every record label, radio station and magazine in the world is owned by one guy. We don't know this guy and we don't particularly want to meet him. So, rather than waste time sending our music to this guy, we are eliminating the middle man and sending it directly to you."

The rest is what is known as School for the Dead's "Chain CD." Not only is it 100 percent free, but the band encourages recipients to make mp3s of it and to give the additional copies enclosed to friends or at least leave it somewhere (i.e., a café counter) where someone might grab it and give it a listen.

And based on the feedback that guitarist Henning Ohlenbusch can determine from the band's website -- www.schoolforthedead.com -- brushes with the circular file appear isolated at best.

"For more information and 'bonus fun,' we refer recipients of the Chain CD to the website," Ohlenbusch says. "At present, we have had more than 16,000 hits on the site -- and from all over the globe."

A particularly popular feature on School of the Dead's highly interactive web offering is the "living rocumentary" -- an ongoing conversation between the band and its fans that includes everything from "stupid marketing and insider strategies" to "arguments and unrelated nonsense" -- like the hilarious July 9 post by bassist Max Germer chronicling an imaginary taxi ride to Springfield with Kiss bassist/pitchman Gene Simmons .

"The whole idea behind the rocumentary is just to give people an inside look at the life of a struggling indie pop band," Ohlenbusch says. "I always thought it was interesting, and apparently, others do, too."

School for the Dead is at Hartford's Webster Underground this Saturday, July 19, and has recently signed on to perform a Tom Petty cover at this year's Transperformance concert in Northampton, slated for Aug. 26.

In other news, the Greenfield's Green River Festival will once again boast a music line-up sure to make rival festival organizers green with envy. No less than the Stone Coyotes , pop legends They Might Be Giants and Josh Ritter will perform at this year's installment, scheduled for July 18 & 19 on the grounds of Greenfield Community College. For the full rundown, visit www.greenriverfestival.com