DIY Spotlight Featuring LePaige

By Bernard Baur

The members of LePaige, an independent pop-rock act, will go to almost any extreme to achieve their goals—including dancing in their underwear, Gangnam Style. It started with a DIY crusade that was so ambitious it left their fans wondering if they ever slept. Their actions were sparked by a couple reviews in Music Connection. The first was a scathing review, a little over a year ago, that they took to heart and caused them to shake up the status quo. Those efforts brought redemption in the second review, as well as amazing results.

Motivated to do even more, they hunkered down with a couple of industry advisors and concocted a plan. The band played the Vans Warped Tour, the L.A. County Fair, and a ”Locals Only” showcase hosted by Los Angeles’ premier rock station KROQ. That exposure generated intense interest, and fans wanted to hear more. But, like many acts, LePaige had more talent than money. So, they decided to launch a “Kickstarter” campaign to fund a new recording. Their campaign, however, had a twist… a crazy one.

“We were advised to do something that would really get attention,” guitarist Adrian Padua says. “PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ was sweeping the Internet and we thought we might go viral if we videotaped ourselves dancing.” But, that’s not the only thing LePaige did. Padua explains, “We wanted it to be really outrageous—so we danced in our underwear.”

That video spurred more donations than they needed…$9,770 to be exact.

To see the video, go to YouTube and “Le Paige Goes Gangnam”
To learn more, visit http://lepaigeband.com; http://Facebook.com/LePaigeMusic 
Have a successful DIY strategy to share? Email [email protected]