Guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboarder, violinist ... interns?
Some students look for internships at hospitals, newspapers, corporations and design studios, but local band Longfellow has coordinated an unconventional internship opportunity with Ohio University's business school to provide students with experience in the music industry.
Longfellow is looking for someone to do Web design, marketing, research, image consulting, managing and promotion, said violinist and vocalist Heather Pinson. The internships are designed to be a very open-ended internship
said keyboarder and vocalist Matt Harvey. We're looking for self-starting people like ourselves that want to promote something and get their hands in there.
The atypical acoustic pop group said they created the position out of necessity.
When Longfellow decided they wanted to sell their records online, they found out that the only legal way to do it was to create a business. So they launched their own record company, Crowded Dandelion Records.
The band formed in 2002 and changed lineups until settling on the current chemistry in fall 2005. They earned such a large following that they could not manage themselves, so they hired manager Ryan Wonnacott in November. However, with a business to run and odd jobs to complete, they will hire three to five interns this quarter.
We know how to do everything that we have to do we just don't have the hours in the day said bassist and vocalist Zach Quillen.
With drummer Grant Cambridge living in Cincinnati, and guitarist and vocalist Nick Long residing in Columbus, the group has managed their time by relying on each member's educational background.
Each member trained at OU's School of Music, and their education has helped with impromptu practices minutes before a show and chord changes in the middle of performances, Pinson said.
We've gotten past the point of 'just your average bar band
Quillen said.
The group's melodic lullabies and cross-county driving songs of heartbreak, friendships and social commentary are kept interesting by their collective appreciation of different music. We all have our own musical styles
and instead of each person shining away from one and molding it into one musical style
we add our musical styles into it
and it really makes for some interesting (songs)
Harvey said.
When it came time to record their latest album jangling tea trolley
which was released Feb. 26, 2005, the band was overwhelmed with ideas for the direction of each song and would spend up to seven hours on one song, Quillen said. Longfellow got free studio time because Cambridge works at Rooftop Recording Studio in Cincinnati.
Now that Longfellow has a CD, a record company, fans across Ohio and an internship program, what do they say to Athens musicians looking for success? Talk to your fans.
It is easy after an out-of-town show for a band to pack up and head home, Harvey said, but it only takes a second to make personal connections with fans and convince them to come again, Quillen said.
Longfellow said it has bought a couple cases of Natural Light after a show and has invited fans back to one of the members' houses before.
You give one person one cheap
gross beer
and you get the opportunity to talk with them
