Patience, persistence, and being relentlessly positive in the face of never-ending challenges are all character traits of successful people in the music business. Paperback Hero personifies these traits in their one-step-at-a-time approach to building a lasting career that will take them onto the national stage and beyond.
In a city (Los Angeles) where saying, “I’m in a band,” is heard as often as, “I’m an actor,” the 4 members of Paperback Hero knew that to stand out and become popular in ...
Patience, persistence, and being relentlessly positive in the face of never-ending challenges are all character traits of successful people in the music business. Paperback Hero personifies these traits in their one-step-at-a-time approach to building a lasting career that will take them onto the national stage and beyond.
In a city (Los Angeles) where saying, “I’m in a band,” is heard as often as, “I’m an actor,” the 4 members of Paperback Hero knew that to stand out and become popular in the most jaded of all cities, it would be a long, hard road – but that they would arrive, as long as they stayed dedicated to the craft of rock and roll. Out of the ashes of a signed band that sparked but didn’t ultimately ignite, singer Bryan Hopkins and bassist Dan Fine began the hunt to find a drummer and guitarist to round out a band that they themselves would want to pay to see as fans. After countless auditions, Bryan ended up jamming with a former band mate - guitarist Chris Latham. They banged out five songs so easily and of such quality that Chris joined the band immediately. Dan’s goal was to enlist a drummer to complement his driving bass rhythm style. When the band couldn’t find a drummer they liked through the endless audition process – they hired noted local session drummer Pete Burke to complete their demo recordings. Pete was far too busy as a working musician to be tied down to an original band in its infancy… But upon hearing the finished recordings 3 months later, Pete signed on and Paperback Hero became the hard-charging unit it is today. The band collectively decided to not just play out and “hope to be discovered” as so many groups do. Paperback Hero from it’s inception have embraced a “Do-It-Yourself “ method of booking their own gigs, creating their own tours, licensing their songs for film and TV, building and maintaining fan support through web presence, live appearances, and networking with radio personalities wherever they toured. Patience, persistence and being relentlessly positive have sustained the band through the rough and tumble world of “DIY” rock n’ roll. From the “high” of playing a sold out show as the headlining musical act for the Alaska Ultimate Fighting Championship in March, 2008, at the 4000 seat Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, AK - to the low of almost dying on their way home when their tour bus overturned on the icy, mountainous back roads of Oregon. That accident injured singer Hopkins and completely destroyed their gear hours before their next show. A lesser band would have folded and bailed on the show – but this band of brothers soldiered on and lived up to the “Hero” part of their moniker: They pulled together borrowed equipment and with their relentlessly positive attitude forged ahead and lived up to their commitments to finish out the tour. Through all the trials and tribulations of being fiercely dedicated to their vision of finding a place on the national and world stage - Paperback Hero are united by their passion for performing. The band’s tight and energetic live shows have them growing their audience, show-by-show, city-by-city, and they continue to expand the Paperback Hero brand beyond the Hollywood Rock scene to other West Coast markets. The fall of 2007 into the winter of 2008 found them opening for the legendary Alice Cooper on his West Coast Major market tour. Concert Promoters in a variety of markets, including far flung locales from Honolulu, HI to Anchorage, AK – are now fans of the band, which have led to sold out shows in both of those markets. This in turn has led to great exposure for the band on influential stations like KYSR - 98.7/Los Angeles, CA; KSCF/San Diego, CA; KWHL in Anchorage, AK; KUCD in Honolulu, HI; and KRCK in Palm Desert, CA. Step-by-step, City-by-city, station-by station – Paperback Hero is building a lasting music brand and career. Their belief in their music has also spread through patient and persistent outreach to TV/Film Music Supervisors – they’ve placed songs in the CBS Network show “Shark”, and in the DVD releases of the WB Network show “Felicity” and NBC’s “Friday Night Lights”. Most recently, the band placed a song in the independent thriller “Killer Pad” directed by Robert Englund, star of the “Nightmare On Elm Street” and “Freddy Vs Jason” films (as Freddy Krueger). Paperback Hero’s song “Call Out” is in the National Cinemedia Entertainment Networks – which exposes the band to a potential audience of millions of Movie Theatre patrons during August and September 2009 in 1400 Theatres in 46 states. And “Call Out’ was recently featured on the Delta Airlines “Indy Rock” channel throughout their system in June and July of 2009. The band is currently finishing up it’s new Full length, titled “Cautionary Tale” with producer Jay Ruston (The Donnas, Steel Panther, Army of Freshman) for a September 22nd, 2009 release. **Paperback Hero won the KYSR - 98.7 FM (Clear Channel/Los Angeles) “Rock Star 3” competition – among the prizes was a performance at the opening of the new Grammy Museum @ LA Live on the Nokia Plaza to a crowd of more than 3000 fans. Paperback Hero continues their patient, persistent, and relentlessly positive march onto the national & world stage.
show more...
