Jered Threatin admits fake following was part of stunt to promote real band

[Nergal]

 

He created a fake record label website and a booking agency to highlight a "huge flaw" in the music industry

Musician Jered Eames has explained why his band played a UK tour to near non-existent crowds last month.

The LA-based artist, who fronts the band Threatin, told Rolling Stone that the whole thing was a publicity stunt to show “a huge flaw in the music industry”.

Eames, referred to in the media as ‘Jered Threatin’, admitted to creating fake websites for a record label, a PR firm and a booking agency as well as inflating the numbers of Threatin’s Facebook following.

He said: “The fact that people look at these numbers that are so easily fictionalised and hold them as any kind of merit — that shows a huge flaw in the music industry, as well.”

Eames also said that he fabricated ‘likes’ and booked the tour to bring rock music back into focus, and took inspiration from rock “villains” like Marilyn Manson as well as the chameleon nature of David Bowie.

“If you’re the hero, you’re going to get a quarter of the attention of the bad guy,” he explained. “A happy story lasts a day, but a tragedy is going to last a lifetime.”

Threatin, he clarified, is very much a real rock band with real music. He has plans to record another album and hit the road again. Eames’ girlfriend will make a documentary about the band’s ‘ European tour in which Eames duped venue owners into booking his band. He also hired musicians for the tour who were unaware of the stunt.

Until now, Eames’ only comment on the stunt was a message posted to Twitter on November 14: “What is Fake News? I turned an empty room into an international headline. If you are reading this, you are part of the illusion.”