This brew’s foryou
Lights Out drinks up to unique album release
Boston band The Lights Out released its latest album, “T.R.I.P.,” on a beer can. You could call that an empty gimmick if it wasn't such a success — in sales, sound and taste.
The marketing plan was a little crazy: The label on Aeronaut Brewery's “T.R.I.P.” beer instructed buyers to tweet a specific hashtag to @thelightsout, at which point they would get a link to download or stream the album.
It turned into one of those socrazy-it-just-might-work schemes. Initially thought of as a onetime run, Somerville's Aeronaut is now sending a fresh batch of “T.R.I.P.” to stores. Having long ago sold out of the initial run of about 2,000 cans, the company has amped up this run to 5,000 cans of the brew.
The Lights Out and Aeronaut both think the release proves the approach of pairing rock and beer is a good one. “If people go into a record store today, they are usually headed in to buy something they already knew they wanted. They're not browsing anymore,” Lights Out guitarist Adam Ritchie said ahead of a launch party concert at Brooklyn Boulders tomorrow. “But at the beer store, people take a risk. They're looking for something new. Why can't that something be beer and music?”
For Aeronaut, the combo serves its mission of staying close to the local arts community.
“Aeronaut is, among other things, a music venue, and we take that seriously. We've had chorale groups from Scandinavia, members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and, of course, local bands perform here,” Aeronaut co-founder Ben Holmes said. “We are also longstanding partners of the Honk Fest, and brewed a beer for Somerville Porchfest. We love using beer as a vehicle to help support the arts. Working with The Lights Out was just a new way to do this.”
The Lights Out has a history of working outside the system. It releases each album independently and depends on creative rock and marketing to fuel sales. Last year, the quartet custom-built a wearable, synchronized LED light show (get a look at crazy tech on YouTube or at tomorrow's Brooklyn Boulders show). This year it's an album of furious, fast rock 'n' roll that you can drink.
So far, the band has been happy with the results.
“Just putting the new album on Spotify has all the excitement of dragging and dropping a jug of milk into your online shopping cart. This at least got people to be curious, excited,” Ritchie said. “I know it has already helped us get better shows. We have been on the best bills of our lives this year, shows with Andrew W.K. and members of Dream Theater, and a cruise around Boston Harbor with Electric Six.”
Any time the word gimmick creeps into the conversation, Ritchie refers people back to the sound of the music and taste of the beer.
“From the beer to the artwork to the LED suits, it's all just a funnel leading people to the music,” he said.