also known as guerrilla or guerilla marketing, gorilla marketing produces high returns on marketing investment through unconventional activities. Gorilla marketing can be used to employ original marketing strategies of a non-traditional nature. Gorilla marketing experts know they can build businesses by putting their resources to work for them as opposed to their money. They achieve conventional goals by using unconventional gorilla marketing methods, utilizing creativity and innovative thinking to create marketing techniques that drive business at a reduced cost.

our singer had been seriously hurt in a card accident,

hectim said:

Damn man, Blackjack is a dangerous game. She wasn't wearing protective headgear?

Damn man, Blackjack is a dangerous game. She wasn't wearing protective headgear?

Well, I hope the flyer will get the message across...

Well, I hope the flyer will get the message across...

Well, I hope the flyer will get the message across...

How to get a gig in Atlanta without a promo package, a following, or a clue.

Here you go folks - tried and true guerilla tactics. Booking from the hip. Promoting without prejudice. Call it what you will, but these tips have all been used by the band at one time or another, and WORKED!

Once I learned that clubs don't really actually do any research when booking a new band, I was able to bluff my way into almost EVERY CLUB in Atlanta.

Now, I would never condone dishonesty or falsifying records for personal gain, unless of course, it got you the chicks. (And that's why most of you started bands, right?) So, here you go...

Call the club to confirm for a gig four weeks away.
When the booking person at the club has no clue what you're talking about, tell them that [some other band's] manager told you that you were going to open for them on that date. You tell the booking agent that you've already got promotional materials printed up and posted in half the music stores in Atlanta, and that you were assured this gig was a definite.

This trick worked twice. .....

Repeated Requests
You and your four friends call the club repeatedly over a two week period, asking if [your band's name] is going to be playing there soon - THEN, you call, representing the band, asking for a gig.

This is similar to the ol' prank phone call trick, where you call asking for Joe Blow all day, and then call and say you're Joe Blow, did anybody call for you. It worked about three times.


The Bluffed Promo Kit
If you INSIST on using the old promo/demo package - lie outlandishly in the promo kit... tell them you opened for semi-big name bands - never local bands though - back when I pulled this off, I used names like Alice In Chains, Screaming Trees, and Sugar - and the shows that we opened were always in the next state over.

This does two things: it puts your band in a category so the booking agent will know who to book you with, and it puts you with some big names that cannot be reached to confirm your (faked) shows. Sure, when you make it big on MTV, you'll have to answer allegations that you lied your way to the top, but, well, live now, pay later, that's what I always say... and then, POW! You get your own episode of Behind the Music.


Predict Who Will Be Big and book a gig opening for THEM.
Now, I realize that THIS tactic requires a little more work... and it'll probably work for you better if you've made some contacts.

What you do is find out when a label is about to get behind a band and give them a big push. For example, the first time 311 played Atlanta, they played a free pass show at the Masquerade... and the only people there were label people, checking out the band, and ME.

With this knowledge in hand, I asked the booking guy at the nightclub to book us to open for them the next time they came through. He did it, figuring it would be a piss-ass little show. 2 months later, the band had gone big-time with MTV videos, huge outdoor festivals, and the show sold out. So we got to play in front of a max-capacity crowd.


Get a local radio-station dj to join your band.
Sure, I'll admit that this, too, is a far-fetched ploy, but it works. Most rock dj's are failed musicians, or learning to be musicians, or, hell, can at least play tamborine and sing backup. So, you find one, get him/her in the band, and DAMN! Suddenly, they know about upcoming gigs that need openers LEFT and RIGHT!

I would advise you, though, to be sure you pick someone that you really want in the band... god help you if you bring somebody in the band that everybody hates. Luckily, this was not the case for good ol' Headquake.

Yeah I remember all that. That's how to GET a gig. Not how to promote the gig. I can B.S. my way into Hammersmith Odeon. It's getting 45,000 people to show up - THAT'S the challenge.