Last month we sent Italy's Boxerin Club to CMJ in New York City. This being their first gig in the states, man did they rock it! We asked them to tell us about their time in the NYC and experience at CMJ. Now back in Rome, they sent us a letter describing their trip and what they learned along the way.
On using Sonicbids:
"Sonicbids gave us the opportunity to play at The CMJ Music Marathon, and got us into the American Music scene through its front doors. We can't thank them enough. To kick the trip off, we attended an evening party put on by "The Orchard". We met lots of insiders like Christine Loughran, who interviewed us for "Wasted inc."
A few hours before our CMJ set, we had a lovely chat with "Enclaves", a local label based out of Brooklyn.
On our 3rd day, while we were on the metro, we asked a CMJ volunteer for some information. She soon became our friend, and she saw all of our gigs in NY. She told us that she would be glad to help us out in the future, and ended up writing an amazing article on us for indiebandguru.
Making the most of their time in New York City
While in NY we spread the word to people we knew in the industry, letting them know we were here to perform at CMJ. We ended up finidng two unexpected gigs outside of our showcase. The first was at Silvana Club in Harlem, and the second was at Goodbye Blue Monday in Brooklyn. These extra shows were important because they allowed us to gather a different audience from the gig at CMJ. They were great.
Meeting Diddy on the streets
By far, the most incredible point of our trip was meeting Puff Daddy. We were on our way back after the CMJ gig, and he was completely surrounded by fans and video reporters. He stopped right in front of us and asked : "Are you guys in a band? Do you wanna play something for me?" We were so excited that we started jamming "Hedgehogs", a song of our forthcoming album, with a ukulele, trumpet and bongos. He started clapping the beat and singing along with us. The experience was totally amazing and foolish. He thanked and greeted us after the song. We ended up swapping our e-mail address with his manager Neil, who wrote us late at night asking for other songs. We sent over an e-mail with some tracks. We hope something comes out of it."
That was Boxerin Club's time at CMJ. It sounded like it was a pretty fun trip, and great first experience in the States. We are stoked they had a good time, and maybe they can get Diddy to produce an album. That would be wild!
