Virtual World Tour

It would sound so 2006, if it hadn’t happened in September ’08. “We went to the studio and recorded our first song,” says Joey Catacomb, guitarist for Spokane’s 10cc Love Affair. “We put it on our MySpace and began adding people like crazy because we wanted everyone to know us.” The band wasn’t concerned about multinational recognition at that point; they were having enough trouble finding a local fan base. And yet, at a pace that at least matches their local success (still small), multinational recognition is coming.

10cc Love Affair is essentially a quintet of young men fulfilling every MySpace stereotype there is — their photos full of swooped hair and eye shadow, their songs full of complex guitar riffs and overbearing drums, and their vocalist full of growls, yelps and straight-up screams. Their combination of loud-quiet-loud dynamics with a beauty-in-chaos instrumental whirlwind is nothing new, nor is their embrace of teen angst.

Among the band’s 12,395 MySpace fans, are from the 72 U.K. and 124 hail from Australia. Without the promotional muscle of a label, 10cc Love Affair has become a very minor international phenomenon.  They have street teams in Oklahoma and New York, London and Australia.

It’s anecdotal proof that teenagers are similar people all over the globe, whether in Glasgow or on Garland Ave. A little makeup, a little pathos …

Not surprisingly, given the way misunderstood youth tend to band together into family groups, the fans they’ve gained — even the ones on the other side of the globe — are apostolic. “One girl in the U.K. printed off 1,200 little slips of paper with our MySpace URL on them and handed them out around her city,” Catacomb says. “Our Aussie street team hands out flyers too, and one of the girls that runs it is flying up here to meet us and go to Warped Tour with us this summer.

“We’ve had people offer to save up money to try and help us make it to their countries,” Catacomb says. “We’ve always been aiming for full U.S. tours and world tours, so we had planned on going to these places anyway, but knowing that we’ve got friends waiting for us and willing to help us definitely influences touring plans.”

The band’s U.K. and Australian teams have offered to help them book gigs, should they bypass local, regional and national touring for the truly international. “They already know the venues,” Catacomb concludes, “and even which local bands we should play with when we come.” For a band that’s been around less than a year, that’s gold.

10cc Love Affair plays with Haze at the Northern Lights Brewery on Saturday, August 1st at 9 pm. All-ages. Tickets: $9. Call 325-SEAT or visit ticketswest.com.