Ashtray Electric Website Makes It’s Debut
Ashtray Electric is set to release their new album ‘Bonjour’ and as a build up leading to the release of the album they’ve called in a friend and designer Pierre of THE RCM to create a site that would set them apart form the rest. He says the design of the site was conceptualised “with some good red wine and worthy banter. The whole design process was in the making for about 2 months. Firstly we had to come up with a design concept for the album – I designed a new logo for them and that was the starting point – Rudi (the guitarist) Andre (the lead singer) & I and would sit down and talk about what we all thought would be cool for the album artwork – after 2 months worth of talking, designing & throwing ideas and options around we finally had a completed product. This then allowed me to build the website around that identity.”
Pierre started working with Ashtray Electric as “Andre and I grew up in Wellington together. I met Rudi a few years ago through Matt Edwards and the Fokof guys. We all used to hang around at THE BIN, smoking cigarettes, talking about bands and art. After Blaise and I decided to close THE BIN and focus our careers in new way I started working with Wynand (Fokofpolisiekar) and Brendan (aKING) on PUNKSKELM Management & Events Agency, they started doing bookings for Ashtray Electric and needed a tour poster designed for a mini tour to George. Andre and Rudi were keen to get me involved seeing we were all friends and so we started this crazy journey pretty much with a tour poster design. I designed a logo for them to establish an identity for the band and the rest is history. That was back in 2007 when Ashtray Electric broke onto the scene – it was fun, Rudi & Andre would come to me with some cold beers and new ideas and we would make it happen. When they launched their EP I did that as well, it was a great learning curve for all of us and it helped put the band on the map. Its 2 years down the line now and Rhythm Records recently signed the band. Albert at Rhythm Records gave us free reign and a design budget to work with. It’s awesome having him supporting the band. A lot of doors have opened for all of us due to Albert’s involvement and belief in the band.”
Sleek and elegant albeit simple in design, the site steers away from the look of a normal website by taking an innovative idea which is that of the traditional style of a book. It transfers the aesthetic onto the site-resulting in each page of the site being different page in the “book”.
He feels that “a website is the personal aesthetic for the band which is the most important part when marketing a band and showcasing a lifestyle.”
The site was actually built it in one day while the guys were on their way to Oppikoppi to showcase the Bonjour album. Pierre says “It was easy, seeing as a lot of the content was already in place so I just had to bring it all together. Take the Quite Overstared Music Video Page as an example, which was done in the early hours of the morning the night before we had to launch it – Greg and Dean from The African Attachment directed the video and they gave me really great photos to work with so I built that part of the website 3 weeks ago.”
He’s also “happy with the website for now; it’s a platform that more content can be added to and parts of the content will then stay there forever. I think it’s important to make content timeless, I like the idea of doing things that way. I see the website as a book that is yours to keep and whenever you want to open it up you just have to type www.ashtrayelectric.co.za into your search bar to retrieve the information. As a band designer I’m always thinking of ways to make bands content cooler and more user friendly. It’s being patient that makes the process all the more valuable when an idea is completed and uploaded for fans to see.”
The site’s features that he thinks will appeal to the bands fans is the photos section. He says “I think it’s going to be a winner once it is built and launched after the Bonjour album launch tour. Fans will be able to check photos from all the shows and hopefully some video content as well. It will give our sponsors more exposure which will make them happy and hopefully through this support us more where they can. It’s a process building a band’s brand.”
Other features include connecting with the band by watching the Twitter Feed in the news section. There is also a blog that is set to be up and running soon “that is going be awesome. “ Both are great ways for the band to keep the fans up to date and informed with all that is new and happening.
Content wise, he thinks “It’s cool checking all the bands music video projects and the Bellville Rock City trailer– with time more content will be added to those pages as well so that they all look like the Quite Overstared Music Video Page. I think what’s going to be fantastic is for fans to see the website now and then say, in 2 months time come back to it and the content would have doubled.”
The band are “all excited” [to see their online presence grow] with [his] involvement as” they can see all their hard work paying off right in front of them as they trust me with creating the aesthetic for the band and everything else that goes with it. It’s great! We’re documenting the bands road to success and showcasing it on a platform that everyone can be apart of.”
The major web traffic is yet to come as the Bonjour album is not in stores at the moment (it’s in the printing & production phase). By launching the Quite Overstared Music Video exclusively on the website before the album hit the stores and then directing fans from Facebook to the site, brought a lot of attention to the website domain. Pierre feels that “it worked extremely well to inform people that the band now has a concrete web presence with tangible information.”
We will see new additions to the site as soon as Pierre has “more tangible content, then it’s going to be uploaded to the website – whether its photos, news, flyer designs, viral & teaser videos, press clippings etc. It will all be there in an interactive way. We want to make the website a place where fans can interact with the band on a daily basis. Back in the day, there was not much on the internet for fans of bands to check out and belong to – printing flyers and fanzines were the only way that a fan could interact with their favourite band. There’s just so much that can be done these days with more people involved in the music industry and with the internet at out finger tips anything is possible.”
So stay tuned to www.ashtrayelectric.co.za and watch the band grow day by day.
