BUZZ BANDS

Not content with a quiet arrival

After Quietdrive signed with Epic Records, the Minneapolis quintet didn’t sit back and wait for the label’s marketing machine to turn them into stars. They took matters into their own hands -- and computer mice -- using the social networking website MySpace.com to build a massive cyber-following.

During breaks from recording their Butch Walker-produced debut, “When All That’s Left Is You,” members of Quietdrive solicited the MySpace “friends” of other bands on the site to check out Quietdrive’s music. “It’s a totally indie attitude,” guitarist Matt Kirby says. “We wanted to make ourselves apparent to our label -- like, ‘Look what we can do on our own. Imagine if you help us.’ ”

The results were staggering. The band has more than 33,000 friends, as they’re known on MySpace, and its two songs have been downloaded almost half a million times. “We all had our MySpace work time,” Kirby says of band mates Kevin Truckenmiller, Justin Bonhiver, Droo Hastings and Brandon Lanier. “Somebody would tell us we remind them of Jimmy Eat World, or Fall Out Boy, so we’d go to their MySpace and write their fans and say hi.”

Kirby reports an increasing number of MySpace contacts showing up at concerts (next: Monday at the Knitting Factory), but whether the buzz can translate to sales after the album is released early this summer remains to be seen. Purveyors of Quietdrive’s brand of hooky emo-rock, with its spit-polished guitars and soaring choruses, crowd the marketplace right now. But at least the band has earned a hearing. “It’s so easy,” Kirby says of using MySpace. “The possibilities are endless.”

The unsigned heroes of rock?

Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of most of the 130 nominees (in 26 categories) for the inaugural Southern California Music Awards. Unearthing the unknowns is precisely the point, says Martin Brown, the promoter responsible for similar awards competitions in Orange County, the Inland Empire and Toronto.

“The purpose is to gain exposure and recognition for unsigned bands,” says Brown, acknowledging that “some of these [kinds of] shows have been met with skepticism because they don’t have as much integrity as others.” His O.C. event is in its fifth year and has earned coverage from daily and weekly newspapers in the region.

The winners, culled from entries that artists paid $25 to submit, will be announced Saturday night at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro at a show headlined by Dick Dale and Young Dubliners.

Fast

forward

* Touts: Her album “Fate Is the Hunter” has been around for almost a year, but Kate Earl’s music is sweet and honest and demands you revisit every once in a while. She performs at the Hotel Cafe on Wednesday.... And just before Earl’s set is a special performance: Russian-born singer-songwriter Marina V celebrates her naturalization as an American citizen. The Moscow native suggests you dress in something “very American.” ... Not only are the hot Australian psych-rock revivalists Wolfmother playing the no-cover Monday night show at Spaceland (where the Willowz are the resident band this month), but the Scottish six-piece Driveblind is on the bill. Wolfmother plays again Tuesday at Cinespace.... It’s a free Monday at the Echo too, where local luminaries Helen Stellar are joined by NYC buzz band the Cloud Room.... And there’s also no cover Monday at the Troubadour, where Controlling the Famous headlines and Fielding and the Valley Arena support.

* Shouts: To the dub/psych-rock sonic explorers in Future Pigeon, holding forth every Monday this month at the Silverlake Lounge. The eight-piece outfit’s new album, “The Echodelic Sounds of Future Pigeon” is due April 4 on Record Collection.... And to old faves Charlatans UK for bringing a slice of Manchester to the Little Radio warehouse on Saturday, when the quintet recorded the video for its new single “Blackened Blue Eyes.” The new album, “Simpatico,” from the band fronted by L.A. resident Tim Burgess, is due in April.

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Kevin Bronson

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Recommended downloads

* Stream Quietdrive’s “Rise From the Ashes” at www.myspace.com/quietdrive

* Stream Kate Earl’s “When You’re Older” at www.kateearl.com

* Stream Wolfmother’s “Mind’s Eye” at www.myspace.com/wolfmother