so my band was asked to be photoed for a magazine, which upon closer inspection appears to be ...a LAD MAGAZINE?!

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my band has been approached by a magazine for a photoshoot. i'm not sure, but googling the magazine in question would lead me to believe it is a LAD MAG! and not even a music lad mag. they had a very traditional "babe of the day" on their homepage and, yeah. if this had been my choice, i would have said no. but it was a group decision and not really up to me, and, i really don't think it's going to be standard lad mag tartiness as there are 5 people in the band and 3 of them are guys. they said we would be wearing hug0 b0ss clothes...it can't be too awful, can it? at least it doens't sound like they are going to make us wear underwear or something...i hope?

who knows if it will even end up making it into the magazine in question, i mean, are they going to photoshop me into someone who even looks like they should be in that genre of magazine? are we going to look really hilariously douchey? probably. will any of my friends see it? probably not.

but i personally feel bothered about being approached by magazines for our "look" (we don't have a publicist, or a label, or anything like that). i reallly struggle with this because in a way it is people being nice to us and flattering us and offering us a favor, why be the asshole who says "no i will not wear you fine clothes, and be photographed by your professional photographers! fuck off!"

however, LAD MAAGHHH. i don't know, i feel really conflicted.

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 03:37 (nineteen years ago)

I thought this was going to be a Masonic Boom thread.

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 03:40 (nineteen years ago)

(ok, i'm also going to add that this post was written after 2 cognacs and half an ambien and upon second reading i realize it is quite obvious in my writing! oh well i've already posted though so, yes, i am looking for guidance and advice.)

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 03:41 (nineteen years ago)

i summon hello cthulu to thread!

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 03:43 (nineteen years ago)

I like the googleproofing of Hugo Boss, as though he's going to wind up here.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 04:02 (nineteen years ago)

hug0 b0ss, u forgive you for subjecting you to needless google-proofing. you may now run free ....hugo boss...

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 04:09 (nineteen years ago)

so tomorrow, soberly i hope to continue this thread because i honestly feel apprehensive about the situation and would like to discuss this with my musical peers and learn from their experiences in similar situations.

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 04:21 (nineteen years ago)

The first thing to learn - publicity is publicity.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 04:29 (nineteen years ago)

but, why care about publicity?

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I mean if you don't care about publicity you don't care about publicity. But at least it will be a funny thing to tell your friends.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 04:40 (nineteen years ago)

that's true, i can see this resulting in a hilarious souvenir of pop-culture at least

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 04:44 (nineteen years ago)

What's your band?

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 04:49 (nineteen years ago)

Uuuuhhhh... ha ha, oh dear.

Part of me says "there's no such thing as bad press, only no press" but then again...

My attitude towards appearing in i-D was "OK, I might be, erm... philosophically *against* Edgy Style Magazines, but still. What will do more good, both for my band, and my philosophy? Refusing to appear, and then they'll get someone else? Or else going and doing it, on my own terms, wearing my own clothes, not being a gormless 14 year old model, but a fat, middle aged woman who is doing something cool, and sod the load of fashion magazine readers' preconceptions."

You might be able to do the same thing with a Lads Magazine (though I probably think that lads' magazines are several tiers down on the philosophical badness level than ESMs). So long as you don't take your clothes off, pose with dignity, be yourselves, do it with self awareness?

I don't know. Sorry, I'm not sounding very compus mentis right now myself.

But I tend to think it's better to change things from the inside, if you know what I mean? I'm not sure if I'll still feel this way tomorrow. Or even this afternoon. God I need sleep.

― Wild Woman With Steak Knives (kate), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 09:55 (nineteen years ago)

do you get to keep the clothes? if so I say do it!

― haitch (haitch), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 10:12 (nineteen years ago)

Also, with regard to product endorsement, I would say this...

(And yes, wearing a fashion label's clothes in a shoot is, actually endorsement.)

Is it a product you would normally use? Is it a clothing brand you would normally wear? If it is, then do the endorsement/shoot. If it is not, then don't.

― Wild Woman With Steak Knives (kate), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 10:47 (nineteen years ago)

It sounds fun. As long as you don't get pressured into anything you are aesthetically uncomfortable with you should be fine. Are you getting paid anything for this gig? If not, you can always tell them to fuck off if they try to make you wear underwear.

― Polysix Bad Battery (cprek), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

the photog will probably set up the shot so they're the focus and put you/rest of the dudes in the background. no one will care about you, obviously, as its in a men's magazine. concern yourself with making sure your female bandmates arent tarted up.

― mts (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

to clarify, i actually am one of the female band members, which is why i'm so concerned about the being-tarted-up aspect. i mean - after they take the pictures, they can pretty much do whatever they want after the fact with photoshop, right? the difference between a lad mag and say, an edgy style mag seems that while both retouch their photos, it is really only in the lad mags that the women always seems to have their "proportions" cartoonishly enhanced.

i don't know if i will find this hilarious or horrifying on myself. the other woman in my band (the singer/bass player) is total sexy hotness, but i'm not exactly lad mag fodder (and therefore probably a candidate for photoshop breast augmentation).

and i have no idea if we are getting paid for it or will get free clothes but i'm hoping we at least get a free dinner or something!

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

Finding out what kind of crazy photoshop augmentation they might come up with sounds like a fun experiment in it's own right really. I would be too curious not to do it no matter how it reflected on the group.Then again, my band just had a photoshoot last Sunday for PR on our upcoming album. We came up with this idea that basically makes us look like we are in a hillbillty homosexual cult. It could be in an entirely different kind of 'lads' magazine. haha.

― Polysix Bad Battery (cprek), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

You can probably expect to have a third breast after the retouching is done but otherwise I wouldn't worry.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 15:45 (nineteen years ago)

You may not get anything. We didn't get anything; in fact, we didn't even get our names (or even the band name!) printed in the mag. Which kind of defeated the purposes of doing it. :-(

― Wild Woman With Steak Knives (kate), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

Also, we didn't get photoshopped or retouched at all. Even though I kind of wish I had. :-/

What I would reccomend is that you buy an issue of the magazine - or look at it in a shop if you don't want to buy it - and look at the sort of retouching that is done to them. (I mean, in music articles, if they have any, rather than ads.) And base your expectations on that.

― Wild Woman With Steak Knives (kate), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 16:35 (nineteen years ago)

bands don't receive monetary compensation for appearing in magazines, radio interviews, etc etc. thats the nature of publicity. at the very least, you'll be able to keep the clothes, but even thats a pipe dream

― mts (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, i really doubt we'll get any money for this, but i'm starting to think of it more as something that will be fun/funny/possibly humiliating, but in a harmless way.

a band i was in years ago did a shoot for, i forget exactly, but more of an edgier-style-magazine (it was for a synth-pop themed fashion feature, and the model they shot before us was photographed robert-palmered out and limply holding a yamaha shs-101...grrr, oh electroclash.) the picture wasn't ever used but it was alright, as an experience. we didn't get any money for it of course. the stylist thought it was cute that i apologized for getting smeary make-up on their fancy clothes.

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

I reckon you don't have to worry too much, most band pics in these lad mags are really just pics of bands rather than the celeb in bikini/tart in underwear that they're famous for.

― haitch (haitch), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 08:55 (nineteen years ago)

(unless you're a lesbian teenpop sensation, obv.)

― haitch (haitch), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 09:04 (nineteen years ago)

ah, update. it turns out this is not for a lad mag at all, but a (german?) edgy style mag that just has the same name as a lad mag. and they just asked for all of our shoe sizes!

i'm kind of relieved, though honestly still really nervous.

― bell labs (bell_labs), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

they also sent us a list of about 50 other bands to be photographed for the issue, and one of them is BABYSHAMBLES!

― bell labs (bell_labs), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

hillbillty homosexual cult

Please to be sending me such photography. Thanks.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

i would like to see the hillbilly homosexual cult photos as well.

― bell labs (bell_labs), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

you're going to be in Der Maxim!

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

ßtüff (für Männer)

― bell labs (bell_labs), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

Blimey! Ha ha, funny mixup, though.

― Wild Woman With Steak Knives (kate), Thursday, 30 March 2006 09:30 (nineteen years ago)

I'm waiting to see the cult photos myself. I think they were sent off to the label already.

lol @ ßtüff

― Polysix Bad Battery (cprek), Thursday, 30 March 2006 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

What will do more good, both for my band, and my philosophy? Refusing to appear, and then they'll get someone else? Or else going and doing it, on my own terms, wearing my own clothes, not being a gormless 14 year old model, but a fat, middle aged woman who is doing something cool, and sod the load of fashion magazine readers' preconceptions."

Kate, you are totally my hero.

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