MySpace offers new outlet for musicians

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‘d like to take a moment to acknowledge a phenomenon that has arisen in the past few years. One that’s had a far-reaching impact on music scenes across the country and the world, and has changed the way many people – musicians and fans alike – find out about and hear new bands. One that also has helped people waste countless hours rearranging their top eight and taking unrealistically flattering pictures of themselves. But, I digress.

I’m talking, of course, about MySpace, the online networking site with more than 100 million users. As little as three years ago, there was no single resource for bands to promote themselves, and for fans to find out about them. Now, you can be friends with anyone from Kanye West and Green Day to local Maine bands such as the post-hard-core six-piece Sparks the Rescue, who play Saturday night at the Underground in Bangor – and who are as perfect an example of a MySpace success story as you’ll find anywhere.

“Let me put it this way,” said Sparks bassist Ben Briggs. “We booked an entire month and a half tour through MySpace. We contacted bands where we wanted to tour, and asked them if we could play with them on their shows. It’s a very, very important resource for us. For a band, it’s the best thing you could possibly ever come up with.”

The band boasts nearly 6,000 friends on their profile (www.myspace.com/sparkstherescue) and nearly 4,000 comments. Through their relentless touring and the personal touch they extend to anyone who “friends” them on MySpace, they’ve developed not just a local or regional fan base, but a national fan base – though in their native land, the Auburn area, they’re hometown heroes.

“It’s a way for us to keep our fans informed about what we’re doing, and to keep it personal,” said Briggs. “If someone comments on our page, we’ll comment back on theirs.”

Sparks the Rescue grew out of a Blink-182 cover band called Pozer, formed by Briggs, guitarist Toby McAllister and drummer Nate Spencer when they were attending Poland Regional High School. After keyboard player Marty McMorrow joined the band, things started to change, and as lead guitarist Pat O’Connell and singer Alex Ray signed on it was decided that a name change was in order.

“You know the cheesy novelist Nicholas Sparks?” asked Briggs. “He wrote ‘The Notebook,’ and he also wrote a book called ‘The Rescue.’ There was a copy laying around that we always walked past, and we wanted to call our band The Rescue, but it was already taken. So we said, ‘Let’s be Sparks the Rescue.’ And it stuck.”

A long way from their pop-punk roots, Sparks plays an invigorating, edgy blend of hard-core, emo and straight-up rock that translates incredibly well to a live setting – all six band members seem to be bursting at the seams when they take the stage. Whether it’s sheer enthusiasm, the unbridled energy of youth (the average age of the band is 19), or that they’re secretly going through cases of Red Bull before every show, no one can really say.

That alone would have placed them above the local band fray. Add the ease of networking and booking provided by MySpace, and the odds are even better. But consider their third asset – a devout (some would say slightly insane) work ethic.

“Three of us graduated from high school in 2005,” said Briggs. “We went to college. We did that because we didn’t know where the band was going, or what we wanted to do. Then we recorded our song ‘Nurse Nurse (I’m Losing My Patients),’ last November, and our fan base went from 20 to 220 in less than a month, just from shows and radio play. And it kept growing.”

All six band members then made a really big decision.

“We decided that college wasn’t what we wanted to do with our lives,” said Briggs. “We wanted to be a band and go on tour. We did a month and a half on the road, to test it out and see how it would be. And we’re going to do it. We’re going to tour nine months out of the year next year. It’ll be rough, but the more we can do it, the better it’ll be. You’ve got to build it, one fan at a time.”

Sparks is now negotiating with several well-known indie labels to secure a distribution deal, and has just finished recording a debut EP, “The Secrets We Can’t Keep,” due out in October. Then it’s back out on the road on Sept. 18, on a tour that will go as far west as Ohio and as far south as Florida.

Don’t worry, though, the band isn’t all business. They couldn’t do any of what they’re doing if they didn’t love it.

“We don’t want our fans to be disconnected from us,” said Briggs. “We take time to talk to people. We want it so they know that we’re just kids that love music, too.”

Sparks the Rescue plays Saturday, Aug. 26, at the all-ages rock club the Underground in Bangor, with Cambiata, Radiation Year, the Symmetry, Burning Valhalla and Agnes Grey. Doors open at 7 p.m.; tickets are $12 at the door. The Underground is located on Outer Hammond Street, on the Bangor-Hermon town line. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.