with friends like this who needs… i guess if i dish it, i gotta be able to take it. well while i have your attention attention: click the picture.
A message from Ashbury originally posted on Pete’s blog:
Dear Friends,
Dear Enemies,
I guess it’s time to break the fourth wall a little bit. We want to apologize to any of Pete’s fans who feel like we used or ‘betrayed’ them. These were never our intentions.
As Pete explained, the music industry has become increasingly difficult to penetrate, especially in the last few years. We’ve watched you guys post a lot of the bands that you’ve love and passionately plead for their case as well. And I think that further reinforces the point, that there are great bands out there that are flying under the radar, purely because there’s no bottle necking going on to concentrate them to a particular audience. We think as a result, the music industry has to transcend being just a “music” industry. I think it is evolving into a multimedia industry. That’s a big reason why we found it appealing, and necessary, to work with Pete. He understands that it is about the music, but it’s also about emotional investment, and entertainment.
We started our campaign in hopes of doing more than just dropping off a press kit to Pete as he passed by. Ian had a story to tell, and Ashbury had music that we wanted to touch people with. We thought it would be cool to go beyond the “webisode” or the music video, and create a story that people could not only read, but participate and become characters in. Ian, Jason, HateFilledBox… even Pete and his future counterpart are all characters that we hoped you would all get invested in, including Pete. The story didn’t completely resolve because in our opinions, there is so much to be told.
To us, this was like a television pilot, or an epic commercial. Honestly… we wanted Pete, even if for just a second, to think, “holy Shi….. what if a future version of myself really did this.” Just that trippy feeling of true immersion. It was so much fun for us to play along with everyone. There were a lot of speed bumps (like the imposter twitters) that we had to come up with solutions for at the last minute. Ultimately though, we have music and SO MANY IDEAS to share with the world, and we thought Decaydance was the perfect vehicle to that end.
We chose the songs Make a Scene and Figure Me Out to put on that final page because they were in context with the story and we weren’t sure that Pete or Alex would even play along. There was LOT of luck involved.
I know you asked me to communicate in private with you Pete, but honestly… I think everybody here deserves an explanation as to what our intentions were. We did this on our own, there was no label or any other company involved. We think Decaydance is the perfect place for us. I think Pete’s understanding of the music industry (and the fact that it’s a bands initiative and hard work coupled with creativity that gets them anyway) is exactly what we’ve been looking for as artists. We’ve seen a lot of positive feedback. Thank you so much for those of you who have give us support. For those of you who felt wronged by this, we apologize.
We also want to thank you, Pete for playing along. You didn’t have to give the final solution. You didn’t have to listen to the music, but you did, and this blog alone has been more than we could have ever asked for. I guess the ball has been thrown right back in your court. I’ve tweeted my email. I’m sure we have mutual friends that have a way of getting into contact with me. We would love nothing more than to be a part of what you’re doing.
Sin/Scene Surely
Brian Lee
Ashbury
Looks like the cat is out of the bag. One of our fellow citizens via Twitter confirmed that the band behind this ingenious viral marketing party is Ashbury. You can take a look on their MySpace page here. You can also find a video of Alex DeLeon singing with the band on their page. But does that mean Alex was involved? Maybe he is a guest on one of their songs?
Right before this was revealed, Pete posted that last blog entry and delivered the password to unlock a fake petewentz.com site, which is why I had found the fake header a few days ago. If you enter prosopagnosia on welcometothenewhate.com you are sent to the fake pete tumblr. There you can hear more songs from the band and some entries in the same form the letters were written. Pete also says that he was not involved and whether or not we care about the music or the marketing? Do you think they should be signed? Do you guys like the music?
I give major kudos to the band for pulling this off and getting people talking.
its interesting in the new age of music getting peoples attention and getting the industry to notice you is so much harder. i have been involved in a few “games” myself. they are fun and honestly i believe the person who solves “it” feels more ownership over the art and sometimes as though they have taken part in the art. i know that people think im involved in “welcome to the new hate”. im not, honestly but i played along. sometimes i like to see people games play out. i think they hav done a very successful campaign for a band that is unsigned. im gonna play out their final step for you. it will take you to a website that is designed to look like pete wentz.com- at the address: alliesandenemies.com it is not however and i did not write any of the words. i considered not leaking the final “password/prescription” but i think they have done a really good job with their viral content. in a world here people put out crappy content left and right. like i said i have nothing to do with them or their campaign but the question is do you like the music as much as the marketing?
ive recieved their last message. type: prosopagnosia - (which is a disorder where people cant recognize other people’s faces).where it says please medicate me. it ill unlock two songs and text (not written by me). know i happen to know the bands name and what not but i feel like its “fair” under the rules of the game to let it out.
so now answer me here do you like the music as much as the marketing? would you like to see this band on decaydance if theyre not signed somewhere else?
my hats off to those who designed this campaign that went around the world and tricked both me and singer (not sure how tricked or in on it he was honestly).
I am definitely interested now in both the music and the marketing.
Here is the MP3 that ICH posted and reversed from what was originally put up. MAJOR KUDOS to them. :) Could it be Hayley, Cassidee or even Sierra?
And thus it continues! The site has been updated with the letter above along with this MP3. Sounds like it’s been played backwards? What do you think?
UPDATE: Looks like ICH has reversed the MP3. You can grab it here. After listening to it the other way around, the letter contains some of the lyrics. But it does not sound like The Cab or FOB to me. However, it could be a new song from all the Decaydance bands or something. Anyone hear Hayley’s vocals on there or is that just me?
Looky looky what I have found!
CHANGE eh? I typed in pete.jpg on welcometothenewhate.com and that’s what came up.
Updated shenanigans! I just got back to my hotel after spending all day at Mt. Fuji, riding gondalas up the Hakone mountains, and cruising an awesome pirate boat. But trust me, all I kept thinking was about what shenanigans were going on! LOL.
Anyhow, www.welcometothenewhate.com has been updated on the front page. I think we can all agree that everything keeps pointing to September 13, 2009 which could possibly be something at the VMAs. The message also pretty much says that @hatefilledbox is a fake. Maybe perhaps something will be delivered via FriendsorEnemies? Maybe Ian Hinden is behind everything? Either way I am excited to find out where all of this will lead.
My overall theory is that back when Pete got the chest he thought DeLeon was behind it, then Deleon gets the pill bottle and thinks Pete is behind it, but obviously they both aren’t. The pieces are being manipulated by a third party, another entity altogether. If that is the case then they are simply being used to draw more attention because they know we will wrap our heads around this and rip our hair out until we figure it out.
Here are the past shenanigans that are connected to take a look at in case you haven’t seen them:
Pete receiving a weird chest back in July and the letter inside
The discovery of Ian Hinden and his search for the one they call HateFilledBox
Lets discuss in the comments!
SHENANIGANS AGAIN! As I type this quick blog entry before I leave for dinner here in Tokyo, Japan I will try my best to update. I only have internet at the hotel and I spend very little time here.
If you are wondering what is going on as I was when I got back to my hotel room about 30 minutes ago watch DeLeon’s vlog for most of the info. Even he “says” he doesn’t know what is going on and is asking for everyone’s help.
Our friends at icecreamhdaches are keeping track of everything that happened in the last 24 hours, so kudos to them! To read up on that go HERE.
Quick points: New site from a pill bottle DeLeon received at his hotel in a undisclosed package that lead to www.welcometothenewhate.com
Various words give you different outcomes when you input them on the site.
Make sure to follow @symphnysldr for any other updates from DeLeon.
Time to put on our thinking hats in case anything comes our way.
I AM STAYING AT THE HYATT REGENCY IN SHINJUKU if anyone wants to send me a package. I will gladly receive. :)
dazed and confused.
LOOK WHAT I FOUND! Call the number! 1-312-651-6600 .
It sends you to www.fallouttoyworks.com/pictures for sneak peek at more images from the new issue of Fall Out Toy Works that is coming out. I’m a huge comic book geek so this is pretty rad. I posted a few pics below, the rest are on the FB page that the link above goes to.
SHENANIGANS?! A birdie told me there was something hidden in the video. Let’s put on our thinking caps. Thanks to icecreamhdaches for the posting the video.
We’ve got an exclusive contest for all of our Twitter followers! We’ve teamed up with Go! Merch and WinMusicWin to give one lucky fan the last Jensen V-tines Clandestine hoodie (size small.) Plus, you also get to pick one shirt from any band of your choice on Go! Merch’s roster. Pretty sweet, right?!
First, make sure you are following both @WinMusicWin and @GoMerch on Twitter to qualify. Then, all you have to do is head to the contest post and click on the button at the bottom of the post that says TWEET THIS and share with your friends. We’re going to pick one winner randomly from those that tweet about this contest. So get going and tweet away!
Visit http://www.gomerch.com to check out other band merch they carry.
Visit http://www.winmusicwin.com for more music contests.
ENDS: 8.10.09
P.S: We’re going to be doing more contests with Go! Merch, so if you have any ideas let me kno by commenting. And if you want to share on Tumblr, re-blog this. :)
Operation Octo is complete. I managed to get one of the octo drives into the hands of a worthy citizen. Watch out for the suits Daniel. Over and out!
Operation Octo has commenced. Meet me in front of secret L.A rendevouz point. Keep checking @cfobmania via Twitter for more detailed coordinates. Clue #1 is above. Please have in hand proper octo credentials.
