Truckin’ with Bonepony
Watchers of television and the local music scene may have noticed the presence of Nashville rock act Bonepony in Dodge truck ads that have been nearly ubiquitous for the past month or so. The commercial’s running across the Southeast, as part of a new campaign by Dodge to enlist lesser known regional musicians. Bonepony leader Scott Johnson says that the opportunity came about via a friend of the band, who loaned the band’s 1999 CD Traveler’s Companion to an acquaintance from Dodge’s ad agency. The company put together a sample clip before it called the band in, and then it offered the same trade-off that it’s been offering other groups: the licensing of music to a corporation in exchange for MTV-like text on the commercial that clearly identifies the band and the song. Dodge’s ad begins with the words “Bonepony, 'Mountainside,’ Traveler’s Companion,” which is a clear boon to a band who self-release their own music.
The exposure comes at an opportune time for Bonepony, as Johnson says they’re looking to put aside some of their independence and partner up with a label for their in-the-works fourth LP. “We tour so much,” he says. “We’d like to have an affiliation that lets us get off the road and spend some time on the record, to do it up right.”
In the meantime, Johnson says that there’s been a noticeable increase in hits on www.bonepony.com since the ad started airing—“2,000 in a week,” he whistles—and retail orders for Traveler’s Companion are up, though it’s too soon to say how that will translate into sales. All Johnson knows is that his 2-year-old daughter “freaks out” every time the ad airs, and that he’s getting e-mails from old fans who remember the band from their stint on Capitol Records in the mid-’90s. “We’ve been hearing from people in parts of the country where we haven’t been in a while,” he says. “People who didn’t realize we were still around.”
Another commercial venture
Speaking of car commercials, Cadillac chose the Super Bowl to unveil a new series of ads featuring Led Zeppelin’s “Rock ’n’ Roll” as background music. The use of classic rock in advertising has become commonplace, but this is the first time that a Led Zeppelin song has made its way into the pitch. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page have always been protective of their work, not allowing film productions to license their songs—not even “Dazed and Confused” for Dazed and Confused. Much ado was made of the fact that they allowed Cameron Crowe to use the track “That’s the Way” for the soundtrack of Almost Famous, and now this sudden opening of the vaults is a little unnerving.
Led Zeppelin probably have more of their catalog in regular rotation on the radio than any artist besides maybe The Beatles or Frank Sinatra—but radio’s pretty much the only public forum where they can be routinely heard. That limited exposure has helped their mythic, epic rock maintain some of its mystique over the past 30 years. They’re the gold standard for hard rock. There’s only one Zeppelin, and if protecting that means that only old pal Cameron Crowe gets to put their songs in his movies, then that’s a fair price to pay to preserve a rock ’n’ roll treasure. But now...Cadillac. A classy choice for the first licensing agreement, but no less depressing. Another domino has begun to fall, after a long lonely lonely lonely lonely (but glorious) time.
—Noel Murray
