Gear Stolen from The Pistol Annies (well, kind of…)
About right about now would be a proper time to cue up the immortal words of Sweet Brown and tell our dear friends The Pistol Annies “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
Earlier today the bawdy trio launched an interactive, animated, content-unlocking, grab-your-contact-info-so-they-can-bombard-you-about-sparkly-pink-merch-in-the-future internet timewaste as part of the advertising run up to their upcoming album Annie Up to be released May 7th. The interactive internet experience begins with a comic book-style storyboard that explains how the Annies’ arch nemesis, record producer Cassius Banks steals their gear with the help of his “flavor-of-the-month” band The One Tones.
Where does it go from there? That’s for you to find out if you care more than I did to whip the ass of your Facebook friends / Twitter followers by reposting links to “unlock” the next three installments of the comic. I on the other hand quickly awoke to the realization that I’m a grown ass adult and have better things to do than oogle at comics during the middle of a Wednesday. The whole exercise seemed like the modern-day equivalent of straining through the 80’s-era television static of a blocked cable channel trying to spy the distinct outlines of a female nipple, with the “nipple” being this supposed “exclusive content” the experience promises to convey. Seriously girls, just give us the goods and get on with it.
Spoiler Alert: Though I did not take the time personally to reach the end of The Pistol Annies new interactive animated internet adventure, knowing the horrifically-predictable progression of American storylines, I can garan damn tee you The Pistol Annies get their gear back, and the evil Cassius Banks and his flavor-of-them-month band The One Tones are vanquished, and Castle Grayskull is once again saved from the evil forces of Skeletor.
I give The Pistol Annies and their marketing team an A for effort, but as I have said about them before, with the dress, some of the songs, and some of the other elements that surround this band, it sometimes is hard to take them seriously. Is this a bit, or a band with serious substance as they’ve been sold by so many country music critics?
So seriously ladies, if you have some new content to share with folks, just share it. It’s 2013 and we’ve all got shit to do. And nothing short of animated nipples will stimulate me to sort through comic book shorts and voluminous link sharing to see them.
Go On The Pistol Annies “Annie Up” Adventure
April 17, 2013 @ 12:22 pm
You don’t have time to read a comic book but you always have time to pointlessly bitch about some music.
April 17, 2013 @ 12:37 pm
Hey, business before pleasure!
April 17, 2013 @ 12:38 pm
I’m not pointlessly bitching about music, I’m pointlessly bitching about NOT music, but other weirdo periphery stuff that keeps you from the music. And as I explained above, it is not as simple as “reading a comic book.”
April 17, 2013 @ 1:04 pm
My adventure with the Annies ended when they asked for access to my twitter from a Sony app. My next adventure with the Annies will be May 7th when I hit ‘buy’ on iTunes for their new album! The comic sucked, anyway.
April 17, 2013 @ 1:29 pm
This type of intrusive music marketing which I’m seeing on a dramatic rise probably deserves its own article. Not cool.
April 17, 2013 @ 6:14 pm
This type of marketing has been happening for years. I’ve noticed a lot of it in pop music, Band X will have a new video or song out, only way to hear it is to play some dumb online game, usually followed by “whats your email/twitter/phone number” Or like our facebook/ follow our twitter for exclusive content. Its dumb and annoying.
April 17, 2013 @ 1:07 pm
Thinking outside of the box is one thing, but this is kind of silly.
I bought my girlfriend the first Pistol Annies CD last week and she loves it. So I’m excited for new stuff from them, as long as there’s no douchebag Blake Shelton involvement.
April 17, 2013 @ 1:28 pm
Generally speaking I think people gravitate more towards music performed by the same sex, but with The Pistol Annies, the discrepancy between male and female listeners I think is even greater because of the way they play themselves up as female folk heroes.
April 17, 2013 @ 1:59 pm
I know Iiked the first album, despite the record sales, requests and folk hero thing. My biggest gripe was that it was too slick. The production was over the top. Would’ve preferred it to be more raw, definitely don’t use AutoTune. One song (can’t remember the title) that I do have to skip sounds like Alvin and Chipmunks doing harmony on the chorus.
April 17, 2013 @ 1:48 pm
It is a fun way to maybe get some new listeners. I’d much rather have my teen sister listen to them than britney, katy perry or taylor. God forbide they have a little fun w/ the comic.
Seriously people are saying it is tacky b/c mnay musicians have actually had their gear stolen. First off-WOW taken this way to serious. Second Ash, Ang ad Miranda have all had some geart stolen since starting out in the business.
If ya don’t want to play the game, then don’t! Can’t wait for the new Annie CD!!
April 17, 2013 @ 2:12 pm
I totally agree that it’s being oversensitive to act offended because the premise is stolen gear, or for folks to be concerned it’s a comic that may appeal to kids when it’s the “PISTOL” Annies tend to deal with adult themes.
But nonetheless, it still feels pretty tacky.
April 21, 2013 @ 6:10 pm
I presume that Pistol Annie’s name comes from Annie Oakley. My sister played Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun for some junior community theater when she was 12 or 13–which would have been in the mid 1990s. Somehow that wasn’t seen as improper for young girls.
Yes, I agree that they deal with adult themes (i.e. drinking, casual sex, and pills) but that seems pretty par for the course with teenage entertainment these days; but even in our PC era, I don’t think their name somehow makes them “Adult.”
April 17, 2013 @ 4:02 pm
Hell, I draw comics all day. As a grown ass adult, it’s how I earn my subsistence level living. I just never read them, unless it’s Carl Barks level work. Two panels in, I can tell this ain’t that.
I’m less picky about music, perhaps because I have no idea whatsoever how to make it.
April 17, 2013 @ 4:44 pm
I’ve got no issue with cartoons and comics as a form or artistic expression, and have in fact been looking for a cartoonist for a while now to help contribute to SCM (this is not a underhanded recruiting tactic, btw) because I think in the right context, and illustration can be much more powerful than words. Unfortunately in this case, it’s the content that makes it adolescent, not necessarily the comic book format. But having said that, if some people find it fun, I don;t want to poop on their parade. I just think The Pistol Annies are confusing the image they want to convey.
April 18, 2013 @ 3:23 am
I’m not disagreeing with you, believe me. I could write what I bet is a fair critique from the two panels you’ve shown here. At its’ best, the medium is anarchic and chaotic (think fifties Mad) in a way no other medium is. This appears to be the brainstorm of some marketing types. As such, there’s nothing terribly wrong with that, aside from the fact the offspring of such shotgun marriages are usually spectacularly unreadable and waste perfectly good paper and ink (pixels, too). Add in the information harvesting and you’ve got a PITA too big to bother with. I’d rather read an old Wonder Warthog. Gilbert Shelton never asked for my twitter account, just wanted my disbelief suspended in mid-air so he could smack it around some.
This is a cute idea, and if someone liked it, fine. My standards for this type of work are just a bit higher. I’d probably write a meaner crit than yours, but from a completely different angle.
I’m in the middle of a book I want to have done by end of June just now, but I’ve been known to sidetrack. I’ll give your underhanded recruiting tactic some thought.
April 18, 2013 @ 1:35 am
i don’t really see the harm in this.
Castle Grayskull is once again saved from the evil forces of Skeletor.
Nice Nod to he man
April 18, 2013 @ 5:34 pm
I think this was Blake Shelton’s idea.
April 26, 2013 @ 7:45 am
Personally, I think the Annie Adventure is a really fun way to interact with fans. Especially the younger crowds! I was inspired to get my preorder of Annie Up from http://smarturl.it/AnnieUpPre! So excited and enjoying this promotion
April 28, 2013 @ 2:09 pm
I think this is a creative and fun way to learn more about the group and hear their new music. If their album is as good as their track Hush Hush then we are going to get a great album. check out the track here: http://smarturl.it/HushHush
May 1, 2013 @ 7:20 am
I found out yesterday that the Pistol Annies’ new album is streaming at Amazon the week before its release:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1001176851&tag=engin145-20
“Hush Hush” is indeed a fun first single, but I was even more impressed by “Unhappily Married” (which made me laugh out loud), Ashley’s vocals on “Blues, You’re a Buzzkill” and “Dear Sobriety,” the lyrics on the Angaleena showcases “Being Pretty Ain’t Pretty” and “Trading One Heartbreak for Another, the harmonies on the opener “I Feel a Sin Coming On,” and the disarmingly pretty closer “I Hope You’re the End of My Story.”
Without the gimmicks, it just feels like a pretty solid batch of tunes overall. (I might even go back and give ‘Hell on Heels’ another listen — I checked it out on Grooveshark recently and thought it was okay, though it did have its moments. I especially liked Ashley’s solo showcase “Beige,” the Angaleena-penned “The Hunter’s Wife,” and the closer “Family Feud”…)