They’ve played on the Warped Tour, gotten air-time on TRL and will play at Bamboozle.
Consider Meg & Dia one in a slew of up-and-coming acts whose popularity is the result of free promotion courtesy of Web networking – and by no means is it any feat of petty exposure.
They’re scheduled to perform at the Theater of the Living Arts this Saturday, Feb. 24, supporting Anberlin and Bayside with Jonezetta.
Formed in 2005, Meg & Dia have released
two records to date but most still consider them a new band. Musically the sister duo falls in the same category as The Veronicas, Ashlee Simpson or Evanescence. But for a band that’s trying to pay its dues into legitimacy, there’s barely any difference between new and established – only talent.
“I feel like we’re an old band, and I should be a lot better at what I do. I feel I’m way far behind,” said Meg Frampton, via telephone in Oklahoma City. “A lot of times we’re just so focused on getting our music to sound good on stage. It’s hard to make things sound how you want it,” she said.
“I consider myself a new musician, so most of the time I’m trying to staying in tune, and really concentrate on those kinds of things. It’s hard to relax and play music to its full potential,” Frampton added.
For a band so humbled and worried about how it presents itself, it’s ironic that they have the attention of the media. Most of their fans first heard about them through the featured artist section on their Myspace home page.
“There were a lot of factors [to being the featured band on Myspace]. We had a virus
on our page, and (Myspace creator and moderator) Tom was going to shut down our page, but we got a message from Tom and he said, ‘I was going to shut down your page, but I like your music,'” which led to the eventual selection as the official Myspace band of Warped Tour 2006.
“Since we were the Myspace band of the Warped Tour, and the featured artist of the week our Myspace page has exploded,” Frampton said.
Yet they still remain devoted to their fans.”
Before then and right now, we’ve always
replied to messages [from fans] ourselves,”
Frampton said.
Even the collective band itself is the result of promotion and exposure on the Web. Nick Price (drums), Meg (guitar) and Dia (vocals) Frampton have always been mainstays, but they’ve worked with three different guitarists before settling on their current axe-man, Carlo. They met him through messaging on Myspace and his demo videos on Youtube, and now he’s a part of the band. Just like that.
And then there’s MTV. Falling further and further behind popular music trends, the station finally started to push lesser known “indie” darlings (some more talented than others) such as TV on the Radio, Gnarls Barkley, Lily Allen and Meg & Dia.
“I don’t think we should be on [MTV], I don’t think we’re even close to being on TV. I think we need four more years before that happens, but it’s totally exciting,” the 21-year-old from Utah said.
Nonetheless, it’s still exciting when your music airs to millions. “I was jumping up and down. It was like I just won the jackpot and didn’t even put the quarter in the machine, I don’t feel like we deserve to get that spot yet.
“I don’t feel like we’re ready to take over the world yet, but …we eventually will.”
Chris Zakorchemny can be reached at chris.zak@temple.edu.
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