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The Real World DC premiered last night to mixed reviews, but that hasn’t discouraged three local musicians who are hoping to gain some national attention from the 23rd season of the MTV phenomenon.
“I’ve never watched The Real World before this year,” said Will Whitney, a Takoma Park native and the drummer for Real World cast member Josh Colon‘s band, Wicked Liquid. “But I hear it’s huge in the Midwest, so that’s where we are going to try to tour.”
At a premiere party at Tattoo Bar last night, Wicked Liquid, which has recorded a four-song EP and played one show, said it hopes that interest in the band will grow as The Real World airs.
Whitney hooked up with Colon about halfway through the Real World‘s filming this summer, at a Capitol Skyline Hotel pool party, where the half-Italian, half-Puerto Rican heartthrob grabbed the DJ’s mic and freestyled poolside. Afterward, he and Whitney hatched a plan to make a band.
“I explained to him, basically, my style and what I was going for,” Colon said. “I said punk and I said hip-hop and I said rap, and [Will] put it together, auditioned them in front of me, and they did great.”
Tapping friends and former bandmates, Whitney created a group that Colon christened Wicked Liquid. (Colon’s former band, in Philadelphia, was called Whiskey Living.) “We know we didn’t make the first three episodes,” said Whitney. But the band, including guitarist Fasil “Fuzzy G” Girmey and bassist Ben Martinez, is holding out hope it will be featured later in the season. Though the members may not be as camera-ready as The Real World cast, Whitney said, the group certainly has a lot of personality.
“Ben is, he is just one of the funniest people alive. Fasil is super hardworking; he is a character too,” Whitney said. “I wish we could have our own reality show; it’d be funny.”
Camera crews recorded the band’s practices and “there was some friction” that might interest drama-hungry viewers, said Whitney, who is not allowed to elaborate on what that friction entailed.
In the meantime, Whitney and his friends are working hard to position themselves for whatever publicity might come their way. Their EP will soon be available on iTunes, they recently created a MySpace page and blog, and a Web site is in the works. They are also working with booking agents for that Midwest tour. And, at the premier party last night, they lapped up local press, posed for photos, and conducted interviews behind velvet ropes.
They didn’t, however, appear to sell many CDs. But Whitney said he isn’t concerned that his frontman’s fame will overshadow the band’s tunes.
“Any attention is good attention in this industry. And I think the music is good enough that people will pay attention to it, too,” he said.