Montreal-based all-female punk rock band Bad Skin on music promotion and social media

Here at Show4me we like to explore the world of music not just by studying data, talking to experts, looking through themed articles or working with musicians. We listen.

In our interview series with up-and-coming artists, we are releasing the interview with Montreal’s all-female punk rock band Bad Skin.

The band came together in 2014 when founder Tamara (aka Dope) decided to create a band that would represent her values and beliefs and help express her rage against all the injustices in the society.

Bad Skin’s rebellion starts with the name — society seems to be pressuring everyone to fit one single definition of perfect and Bad Skin is rioting to disband that expectation. Be true to yourself is their motto.

More about Bad Skin in our blog

Here are excerpts from our interview with the band’s lead singer Dope and drummer Caro.

Caro: I am Caro.

Dope: And I am Dope.

Caro: And we are from the band Bad Skin.

We started with the question of music promotion — something every musician and band member worry about, as just producing quality sound is often not nearly enough to be a successful musician and be able to make a living off your music.

Caro had some useful insights:

It’s really to do some promotion all the time. Like, even when you walk outside — have some flyers with you and just pass it to people as maximum as you can.

Dope compared music promotion practices of the before social media era with what musicians have to do today to make their music heard and known:

With all the social medias, you have to push a lot of the social medias. The younger generation, even the older generation are [on] Instagram and all those media. It’s really important to always put stuff, put pictures, and make your fanbase into a team.

Caro also explained that connecting with fans via social media can be a useful source of material for an artist — fans like to share their stories and concerns with the artists they trust, and that can make for a great lyrical inspiration:

Sometimes they can tell us stories and we can transform them into songs. [Fans] really feel connected that way. It’s really cool.

By the end of the interview Dope also touched upon the topic of money and fair rewards for musicians. For more, watch the full interview on our blog here.