Dumb PR Pitch O’ Week: Colin Armstrong

In which we open up our mailbag and let you peek inside. Don't throw up, please.

By Fred Mills

In between strategy and planning sessions (held down at the local Hooters, natch) and trips to the john every 15 minutes for a "jolt" (you know what we're sayin'...), we here at BLURT central actually devote some time going through our in-boxes and spam folders to make sure that nothing currently going on within the music industry escapes our steely gaze. We pride ourselves at being way ahead of the fucking curve.

Of necessity, as a major media player we also have to field a lot of correspondence that is, shall we say, somewhat misdirected. (Memo to the person that keeps sending us Buckcherry updates: thanks!) We're not sure if these are acts of p.r. desperation, inexperience-bred naivete, or a willful ignorance of what BLURT is all about.

On the latter point, an occasional glance out our website and digital magazine might be helpful in terms of how labels and publicity firms target their pitches. But that's out of our control. What we CAN control, however, is what we do with the dang emails, which is where you, gentle readers, come in. Presenting the first in an occasional series: Dumb PR Pitch O' Week. Guarantee: all dialogue repeated verbatim. Some names may be changed/deleted to protect the clueless. Void where prohibited by law. Caveat emptor. Enjoy!

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Hi There

I want to pitch you Colin Armstrong for feature or profile or guest on your show. 

He found his passion for music in his early years. Though it's not uncommon for independent singer/songwriters to play the guitar and piano, Colin's love of music evolved into learning how to play the bagpipes at just twelve years of age. He knew then that music was his calling. By the time he was fifteen, he was touring Europe and competing with bagpipes internationally, which lead to an invitation to play shows with the infamous band KORN. That's when Colin got a glimpse of the rock lifestyle-while meeting and hanging out with Billy Idol and Robbie Krieger of the Doors.

Today, he is a world-class bagpiper.

Colin's first break came when he won the "BE A STAR" contest on Los Angeles' leading rock radio station STAR 98.7. The victory landed him a demo deal with Hollywood Records.  Although he was excited to garner a development deal with a prominent label, he didn't feel like the time was right-- he wanted to work on his material. Good wouldn't suffice, it had to be great.

In order to reach his musical goals, Colin knew he had to continue to write, record and hone his skills, gathering the best material possible for his future debut album. In the meantime, Colin's song "Lonely Fall" won "Best Male Vocal" and "Best Song" at the San Diego Music Awards followed by a "Best Pop Vocal" nomination for his song "Hey Yoko" at the Los Angeles Music Awards. His song "In Your Eyes" was also chosen for the top ten finals of the 2007 American Idol songwriter contest. It didn't end here, early 2008 brought Colin a worldwide publishing agreement with NorthStar Media who placed one of his songs, "Nothing More to Say" on the hit Lifetime network show "Army Wives."

Colin and his team have been busy in the second half of 2008 finishing up his record, forming his band and getting ready to hit the road in support of the January 2009 release of his full length debut album, "Lost and Anonymous." Produced and mixed by Mikal Reid (Mick Jagger, Ben Harper, Aerosmith, Wang Chung), Colin has also collaborated with several A-List songwriters.

Colin Armstrong's debut album "Lost and Anonymous" will be available in January 2009 and I'd love for you to consider a review or feature with Colin.

Please let me know of your interest in this unique artist!