Yr My Favorite (Lady)Bird.

Having a friend and work associate like David Lewis is a super special life treat. Not only is the dude effing brilliant, but he’s clever to boot and has a sense of honesty and integrity coursing through his veins that few people in the music industry can claim. He runs a thriving Chicago-based PR firm, Riot Act Public Relations, that represents a gaggle of awesome bands. The most admirable part of his operation is that you’ll only find music-makers on his roster that he clearly believes in ten bazillion percent. Here’s a glimpse at the life and history of one of rock and rolls most legit-n-amazing publicists.

Someday if you wanted to, you could have a job just like his.

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David Lewis! Tell the kids yr town of origin, yr high school's mascot, what the topic of yr college application essay was, your top 3 records of sophomore year, and the fanciest store in yr local mall. Go!

Hey dude.  I was born in Sheffield, England actually.  But moved to Branford, Connecticut.  Home of the Branford Hornets.  We had a bee.  I always skipped pep rallies to smoke with the metal kids in the woods.  Sophomore year was a weird time.  Public Image Limited, Fugazi and The Bangles I think.  I’m not trying to be cool either.  I always had weird taste.  I would listen to my Bangles cassette single for Eternal Flame over and over again.  Cry for the entire song.  Then rewind and start over.  My mom was concerned.

How did you break into the business of musics: Internship?  Merch lad?  Drummer?  Disgruntled counter boy at a Sam Goody?  Came upon a windfall of cash after winning a civil case against Cinnabon for irreparable damage caused to yr upper palate by the lava-like white icing?

I went to shows and like most teenagers I was shy and weird.  Super nervous even at these weird gigs where nobody cared.  I figured out early on that if I was the guy in charge I could...you know kind puff out my chest and have a purpose.  So I started booking shows at 15 or 16.  At first hardcore stuff and Oi punk bands.  Then eventually I was booking bands like Chisel or The Wrens.  Early on.  Cat Power, Bright Eyes.  I once booked Death Cab For Cutie, Atom & His Package, The Explosion, and Hot Rod Circuit at a venue in Connecticut.  Like 30 people paid.  I think I gave Death Cab $15 gas money.  I hope they don’t remember that.

Eventually I moved to Chicago.  I was selling merch for my friends in AM/FM.  This girl Joan Hiller was selling merch for American Analog Set.  She worked for Jessica Hopper who was running Hopper PR at the time.  She asked me if I ever wanted to be a publicist and I said, “What’s that?”  A few months later I knew...

Word on the streets is that you went to art school.  How awkward was it when you had to draw an actual naked person?

I went to the Art Institute Of Chicago.  It’s a school with no grades and something I will be paying off for like the next 40 years.  But we had an open course load.  So I didn’t have to draw per se.  I can’t really do much traditional art.  I did more video projects and writing.  I did take one drawing class and left after the first day.  The weird thing is that the models just aren’t that hot.  My wife has a story wherein she took a class and the model brought his girlfriend with.  When he took breaks they would cuddle and make out.  Kinda gross.  Right?

We know each other.  How/Why?

Well...you and I went to Vegas in 1997 and got arrested for peeing on a slot machine in the MGM Grand. That’s not true.  Also doesn’t make any sense, really.

You worked at Hopper before I did.  So I knew you through that and we’ve been in touch for years.  But honestly we didn’t meet until 2007.  7 years after we first spoke on the phone.  We just met like 2 months ago.  I described myself to you as the love child of Craig Finn and John Cusak.  But the more I think about it that’s not right.  I think I look more like a hot Edward Norton mixed with equal parts chiseled Brad Pitt and American Psycho-era Christian Bale plus about 60 pounds and minus about 60 million dollars.

You slay at yr job of musics publicist.  I, at one time, was also a musics publicist, so I can ache like you ache.  What is your favorite part of the job?  Is it calling people on the phone, getting to go to shows as a job, or scoring a review for LadybiRdS in Thrasher Magazine (SUP)?

I love PR.  I think the hardest part is really empathizing with the writers and editors whom have to dig through literally thousands of guys like me every day.  Everyone is being paid to have an opinion.  I take pride and skirt the issue by simply working bands I believe in.  That’s not to say whoever does PR for...ummm, Hinder doesn’t like Hinder or isn't legit, but I work with bands from a community.  Some are pretty big, some not so much, but as long as these bands come from my extended family then I feel like I can be a conduit or advocate for their press.  I also feel that way for bands I don’t work per se but still come from this same world; I will big up Ted Leo till the day I die because he rules.

Oh I just reread your question.  My favorite part of the job.  Honestly it’s working something and feeling like you had some impact on the arch of the band.  Like made a dent in a tangible way with your efforts.

Your superincredible company, Riot Act Public Relations, just joined forces with another superincredible company from Los Angeles called Sargent House. Tell us more about this exciting new development!  This question brought to you by Riot Act Sargent House Intell Frito Lay Corp.

Yeah Cathy Pellow is rad.  She owns Sargent House and is just a real music fan.  Sargent House is kind hard to talk about because it’s not concrete or definable in some ways.  By design it’s open to interpretation and change. Cathy manages a slew of great bands: These Arms Are Snakes, Daughters, Rx Bandits, Maps & Atlases, Matt Embree, Russian Circles, Nurses, Moonrats, and Days Away.  But the company is not like the sort of typical management firm.  No douche bags allowed.  The first time I met Cathy was at a These Arms Are Snakes show in New York.  She danced so hard she fell off the stage.  Who dances at shows?  And not slam dancing.  Like she straight up felt the music.  I was smitten.  So when we got a chance to work together in a broader sense it was a no brainer.

Sargent House is also a label if need be.  We are releasing Maps & Atlases EP and the new Nurses record in September.  Riot Act is the PR component and there is also Refused TV, which is both a production company and a TV show.  All in all it’s about taking care of these bands and really trying to put good music into the world.  I am pretty honored to be involved at all.

We've talked about how, in general, you roll pretty shy guy styles. This is interesting because being a publicist requires a real chit-chatty, brodeo-like nature. How do get around the shyness when yr at a business dinner and there's a lull in the conversation and you know it's yr in to pitch yr band du jour/go time?

I think that’s what’s weird about it.  I am not shy when doing this job.  I think most people who know me would say I am quiet.  Like a serial killer really.  Ok not really, but I am happy being behind the scenes.  At the end of the day I feel pretty soft spoken.  I also don’t roll with my agenda on my sleeve.  I don’t think I would ever bring up a client in a business dinner.  I might talk about bands, but I don’t believe in the hard sell.  I know editors and writers get it and I feel like a conversation about something real will always last longer than a pitch meeting.

And, to take yr shyness one step further, you've told me thatcha have lotsa phobias. Yr not afraid to talk about them, which is super rad! What are they exactly? You've also said that these fears give punk rock special meaning to you. How so?  Feel free to talk about the most private stuff possible, since this is only the Internet and forever.

Yeah I try to talk about this stuff because it was such an issue growing up.  Not so much now, but I had some serious agoraphobia, lots of panic attacks.  Lots of neurotic tendencies.  But what you come to realize is that so many people go through that and as you get older you think, “honestly if I was with someone and they pass out because they were freaked out or whatever” I wouldn’t make fun of them I would want to make sure they knew it wasn’t outside the norm, that it was ok.  That they were ok.  So I would always go to shows when I was younger to meet girls or to be a part of something, but wound up puking or getting wound up.  Normal feelings I guess, but I think the punk scene made me feel a little less awkward because everyone was a mess...which now that I am a little older I like, I like nervous people, being a mess. I like the quiet kids.  I think I got into this job because it was such a challenge for me: the socially phobic publicist is a total oxymoron but also makes perfect sense to me.

Backstory: A little bird told me that you threw up on yr now-wife on yr first date. OMG, is this true? Details, please. PS - Yr a total dream dude, sayin.

Yeah in terms of nerves girls were the worst.  My wife doesn’t really fuck around.  She told me she liked me and wanted to go out.  I was such a mess I couldn’t talk.  So we just walked around and I dry heaved in the alley next to the Vic Theatre.  She married me though.  We have a baby and it’s been 6 years.  So I have to be worth it...

As a black belt nerd, you enjoy playing and reviewing video games. Who do you review them for? Yr feelings, if any, on Guitar Hero? OMG LOVE IT SO BAD.

I did.  I don’t so much these days because I am so busy.  I wrote for Time Out Chicago for a bit and then for a publication in Connecticut called Play Magazine.  I love games but I feel like I talk about them more than play them.  I do have an Xbox360 and love Fight Night Round 3.  It’s at my office right now that I share with the guys at Flameshovel.  We take breaks and I gotta say I kick everyone’s ass.

Since yr new to the world of driving, have you yet completed the following drivers rites of passage:  Flipping off a fresh direct truck, honking at an SUV, parallel parking by Braille/repeatedly bumping the cars in front and in back, getting flipped off by a USPS truck, having someone make you cry during the NYC street cleaning alternate side of the street Battledome parking melee, and/or spilling a Dunkin’ Donuts 64 oz cauldron o'coffee all over due to a really sharp turn, probably taken in order to cut off a cab?  Please note:  the judges will also accept a 32 oz. coffee, and wouldn't mind a donut, if yr already going and everything.  Thenx!

I just drove across country.  18 hours straight alone from Connecticut to Chicago.  I got my first ticket in Ohio.  I was going 85 in a 65.  I was air drumming to Slayer after drinking like 6 double shots from Starbucks.  I found out today that the ticket is for $200.  If I don’t pay I think they put out a warrant for me.  Which sounds tough.  It might get me laid.  To be a fugitive. Fingers crossed.

What's on yr to do list for today, and on your goals page in your day runner for tomorrow?

Oh.  Just so much really.  Building websites.  Doing administrative stuff.  And keeping up with email.  Trying to find that balance between being persistent and being a pest with various editors and writers.  But ultimately I have a ton going on:  Ladybirds of course, Maritime record, Mannequin Men, Nurses, Maps & Atlases, The One Am Radio, Rx Bandits, Russian Circles, These Arms Are Snakes.  All touring.  Most releasing fall records.  Also getting geared up for 2008, which is looking pretty awesome.

What kindof adviceses wouldja give to a teen looking to get involved in the world of musics publicists?

Just have heart and passion for it.  Give it time.  Work with your friends and don’t look for money.  I have a family and support them doing this.  For that I am really lucky, but I have also done it for the better part of 16 years.  Many of those I spent paying out of my pocket just to be involved.  If you are smart you can intern your way up.  Everything takes much longer than expected.  Many bands forget this too.  Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Death Cab For Cutie, whoever.  These bands did not blow up overnight.  This took years.  I am sure many almost broke up.  Many do.  Just stay the course and be kind, have vision.  You’ll be fine.



-http://www.riotactmedia.com-