We have a real weakness for Kaiser Cartel, a band that is truly able to warm our hearts with their gentle and intimate folk pop, and which will celebrate the release their new album "Secret Transit" at Joe’s Pub on June 8. BUT… they did something that cannot not be mentioned! Here it come Kaiser Cartel people – you asked for it!!!
I often wonder if the format of a band name can really have any influence on its popularity of or any other related factor (the usual answer I give myself to this question is: "uhm…no.") Bands contact me all the time because they want their names to be printed in all caps or all lower case, or a weird combination of the two (like "sTickLiPs"). My first reaction is "DUUUUUDE…" followed immediately by: "…ok, I will fix it because I care!"
This kind of stuff happens so often that I got used to it… but then a band takes the whole thing to the next level: I remember distinctly being contacted by the Kaiser Cartel guys last year while we were promoting their appearence at the Best of NYC Fest 2009 – they asked me to fix the spelling of their band name by removing the space between their two last names: "it’s KaiserCartel, not Kaiser Cartel". Sure, counterintuitive – but ok, there you go: fixed. Then one year later (today) I get an email from a PR person promoting Kaiser Cartel’s (WITH THE BLOODY SPACE!) new album. I ask for "space confirmation", and I get it – WHA??? No dudes, you can’t do this to me.
Now, to ensure that this will never happen again with any other band, I officially ask KC to answer these questions in our comment section below:
1. Why did you initially decide to go without a space?
2. Why did you subsequently decide to get rid of the lack of space? (uh, yeah, that’s what happened, right?).
3. What was your fans’ reaction to this change?
The world needs to know. – PDG