Saw my first Of Montreal show Monday night in Boston. Killer show. The music and the persona certainly make for interesting discussion.
However, as a marketing guy, I have to say I am blown away by the sophistication and consistency of the branding that Of Montreal has working for them. Absolutely every detail is in line and tells the Of Montreal story. The music, the lyrics, the album art, the projections, the outfits, the extra performers on stage, the merch, the merch girl, even the paint job on the tour bus...everything you can touch, see, or hear that involves this band has been carefully selected and arranged. They have some very, very sharp people organizing this act.
I first noticed this when I purchased the albums Hissing Fauna and Skeletal Lamping at the same time and saw the obvious consistency between the album art. The newer album (Skeletal Lamping) takes the same motif one step farther than the previous album. Then when you see the band live it all comes together. The projectors behind the band feature the same art as the albums. The band dresses like the people in the projections. The album art depicts things that happen in the songs. The extra performers on stage act out what happens in the songs. The performers all look like they could be brothers and sisters. The designs on all the merch are tied into everything. Even the damn tour bus is hot purple with a light purple spiral design; it\'s not just any stark black or maroon tour bus. Overall it\'s the most thoroughly put together band brand I\'ve seen in a long time. This is what is driving their growth.
I had chained my bike up to a parking meter right in front of the bus. As I was unchaining to go home, someone came out of the bus. I struck up a conversation. Turns out he is the band\'s artist, and he is always on the road with the band. Read that again. This band takes their artist on the road to every show. His primary role is to make sure everything at every show is consistent from an artistic standpoint, from the lights to the merch table to the personal appearance of every person associated with the band. This is no joke. These guys take their art and brand extremely seriously, and it is working.
I think their Bonnaroo show will be ginormous.