Band fakes fanbase to land European tour, plays empty venues
Nov 10, 2018 18:12:25 GMT -5
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Nov 10, 2018 18:12:25 GMT -5
US rock band creates fake fan base and plays at Bristol venue - to NO ONE
Hard rock band Threatin created a fake fan base for Bristol gig and funnily enough, no one turned up
An American hard rock band which created a fake fan base to land a European tour were left playing to an empty venue in Bristol - after no 'fans' turned up.
Jered Threatin - who describes himself as a musician, singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist from Los Angeles - is currently performing across the UK with his Breaking the World tour and had booked a gig at The Exchange in Bristol.
But despite claims by Stage Right Bookings who hired the venue that 180 tickets had been purchased, no one turned up.
Threatrin was left to perform to an empty venue, watched only by the sound engineer, the tour manager and two members of the support band.
Andrew Williams, a member of one of the support bands, posted on Twitter: "No one showed up for him.
"We had 13 arrive for us."
"The other support band cancelled and he wasn't even good. The musicians he hired to play with him were far better."
Threatin was asked by the owners of The Exchange to pay the hire fee before taking to the stage.
Billy Bingham plays with the band Ghost of Machines who were booked to support Threatin at The Exchange.
Billy told the music website NME: "After our sound check at 6pm everything seemed normal like any other show."
"We were told 180 tickets had been sold in advance and we anticipated a great evening."
"Just before we were about to go onstage at around 8.45pm with only a handful of people through the door who were on our guest list, I was told to postpone as the owner of The Exchange had pulled aside Threatin’s tour manager to explain why no-one had entered the venue with advance tickets."
"It turned out that the promoter had lied about tickets sales and all of the confirmed attendees on FB were fake accounts based in Brazil."
"Threatin was asked to cover the venue costs or the show would be cancelled."
"In the end he agreed to pay and due to our later stage time, reduced our set by 15 minutes.”
And it seems as if it's not just The Exchange which has fallen foul to Threatin's tactics.
Only three people turned up to a planned gig at The Underworld in Camden in London as well.
Posting on Threatin's Facebook page, the venue said: "What happened to the 291 advanced ticket sales your agent said you’d sold? THREE PEOPLE turned up."
"Please don’t lie about ticket sales, and please don’t contact us again for a show.”
Threatin has 38,000 likes on Facebook and the event page was listed as having 100 or so people attending the event.
However the majority of those who said they were attending are actually based in Brazil.
The Facebook likes are believed to have been bought, rather than genuine, in a bid to boost Threatin's social media status.
His Facebook page cannot now not be found along with many other of his social media posts.
And on his Twitter account, only 'confirmed followers' are allowed access to his tweets.
The website Threatin.com now only appears as a black page featuring the band's name.
Videos of Threatin performing on YouTube also show the crowd obscured. The video for his track Living is Dying on YouTube features Jared not only singing, but playing every single instrument.
On Threatin's tour page it says the long haired rocker is due to appear at Le Klub in Paris on November 13.
A spokesman for the Exchange told the Bristol Post: "On the face of it Threatin were a successful band with a record label, PR company, promo videos and a strong social media following."
"We regularly ask promoters for ticket updates and were told 180 advance tickets had been sold."
"Fast forward to the night and there is no sign of the promoter."
"The singer tells us that she is not here and in Hollywood."
"This means we don't have a ticket list and the venue hire hasn't been paid."
"The singer and tour manager aren't here at the time we open doors, so we just have to wing it, only an hour after doors not one ticket holder has turned up. We can't reach the promoter to discuss."
"When they arrive back at the venue we explain that without the hire fee we are unable to continue with the gig as we are racking up costs by just being open."
"The singer and tour manager walk off in a huff and return with the full hire fee."
"At this point there are only a couple of guests that the support bands have brought in the venue."
"Eventually Threatin hit the stage, and instead of playing to expected crowd of 180, they play to the sound engineer, the tour manager and two members of the support band who feel sorry for them."
Bosses at The Exchange then contacted the Birmingham and Manchester venues where Threatin was due to perform to make them aware of what had happened.
The spokesman added: "They inform us that Stage Right Bookings are the promoter's for their event as well, and they have also been told that around 200 tickets have been sold."
"Upon challenging them, the Manchester venue are told that the reason Bristol was a bad show was because 'the venue hadn't promoted the gig properly' (this would be the promoter's job) and that 'the tickets updates we sent were just estimates'."
"In all fairness we can understand that it's easy to get confused between 180 sales and 0."
Further investigations by the venue revealed that the US tour by the band didn't actually happen and that only 26 people have listened to Threatin in the last month on Spotify.
The spokesman for The Exchange added: "In short, one of the strangest things to have ever happened to us."
www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife/rock-band-creates-fake-fan-2204472
Hard rock band Threatin created a fake fan base for Bristol gig and funnily enough, no one turned up
An American hard rock band which created a fake fan base to land a European tour were left playing to an empty venue in Bristol - after no 'fans' turned up.
Jered Threatin - who describes himself as a musician, singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist from Los Angeles - is currently performing across the UK with his Breaking the World tour and had booked a gig at The Exchange in Bristol.
But despite claims by Stage Right Bookings who hired the venue that 180 tickets had been purchased, no one turned up.
Threatrin was left to perform to an empty venue, watched only by the sound engineer, the tour manager and two members of the support band.
Andrew Williams, a member of one of the support bands, posted on Twitter: "No one showed up for him.
"We had 13 arrive for us."
"The other support band cancelled and he wasn't even good. The musicians he hired to play with him were far better."
Threatin was asked by the owners of The Exchange to pay the hire fee before taking to the stage.
Billy Bingham plays with the band Ghost of Machines who were booked to support Threatin at The Exchange.
Billy told the music website NME: "After our sound check at 6pm everything seemed normal like any other show."
"We were told 180 tickets had been sold in advance and we anticipated a great evening."
"Just before we were about to go onstage at around 8.45pm with only a handful of people through the door who were on our guest list, I was told to postpone as the owner of The Exchange had pulled aside Threatin’s tour manager to explain why no-one had entered the venue with advance tickets."
"It turned out that the promoter had lied about tickets sales and all of the confirmed attendees on FB were fake accounts based in Brazil."
"Threatin was asked to cover the venue costs or the show would be cancelled."
"In the end he agreed to pay and due to our later stage time, reduced our set by 15 minutes.”
And it seems as if it's not just The Exchange which has fallen foul to Threatin's tactics.
Only three people turned up to a planned gig at The Underworld in Camden in London as well.
Posting on Threatin's Facebook page, the venue said: "What happened to the 291 advanced ticket sales your agent said you’d sold? THREE PEOPLE turned up."
"Please don’t lie about ticket sales, and please don’t contact us again for a show.”
Threatin has 38,000 likes on Facebook and the event page was listed as having 100 or so people attending the event.
However the majority of those who said they were attending are actually based in Brazil.
The Facebook likes are believed to have been bought, rather than genuine, in a bid to boost Threatin's social media status.
His Facebook page cannot now not be found along with many other of his social media posts.
And on his Twitter account, only 'confirmed followers' are allowed access to his tweets.
The website Threatin.com now only appears as a black page featuring the band's name.
Videos of Threatin performing on YouTube also show the crowd obscured. The video for his track Living is Dying on YouTube features Jared not only singing, but playing every single instrument.
On Threatin's tour page it says the long haired rocker is due to appear at Le Klub in Paris on November 13.
A spokesman for the Exchange told the Bristol Post: "On the face of it Threatin were a successful band with a record label, PR company, promo videos and a strong social media following."
"We regularly ask promoters for ticket updates and were told 180 advance tickets had been sold."
"Fast forward to the night and there is no sign of the promoter."
"The singer tells us that she is not here and in Hollywood."
"This means we don't have a ticket list and the venue hire hasn't been paid."
"The singer and tour manager aren't here at the time we open doors, so we just have to wing it, only an hour after doors not one ticket holder has turned up. We can't reach the promoter to discuss."
"When they arrive back at the venue we explain that without the hire fee we are unable to continue with the gig as we are racking up costs by just being open."
"The singer and tour manager walk off in a huff and return with the full hire fee."
"At this point there are only a couple of guests that the support bands have brought in the venue."
"Eventually Threatin hit the stage, and instead of playing to expected crowd of 180, they play to the sound engineer, the tour manager and two members of the support band who feel sorry for them."
Bosses at The Exchange then contacted the Birmingham and Manchester venues where Threatin was due to perform to make them aware of what had happened.
The spokesman added: "They inform us that Stage Right Bookings are the promoter's for their event as well, and they have also been told that around 200 tickets have been sold."
"Upon challenging them, the Manchester venue are told that the reason Bristol was a bad show was because 'the venue hadn't promoted the gig properly' (this would be the promoter's job) and that 'the tickets updates we sent were just estimates'."
"In all fairness we can understand that it's easy to get confused between 180 sales and 0."
Further investigations by the venue revealed that the US tour by the band didn't actually happen and that only 26 people have listened to Threatin in the last month on Spotify.
The spokesman for The Exchange added: "In short, one of the strangest things to have ever happened to us."
www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife/rock-band-creates-fake-fan-2204472
