DIESEL fuels Epic Battle: Fire vs. Extinguisher

With the introduction of low cost, high speed cameras, it’s really no surprise to see so many people creating fantastic slow motion videos.  I came across this music video on Gizmodo, but I just had to know more about it. So here’s the video and then the research below.

The video was commissioned by Diesel:U:Music and directed by Tomas Mankovsky for the band Dancing Pigeons. Wait… what? The video was “commissioned”? by who?  Diesel used to make clothes, but sometime when I wasn’t looking, they began to identify themselves as, “DIESEL – the jeans, clothes, shoes and distraction company, not the fuel.”  They have expanded their brand name and worked to create a culture around their products by being involved in more than clothes.  So while looking into this video, I learned from their music site that Diesel:U:Music (D:U:M) launched 10 years ago (I am soooo clueless).  It’s a yearly (unsigned) music talent awards and a worldwide support network built to promote new artists, labels, radio stations, and journalists across most countries.  As D:U:M evolved and grew they began connecting fans to the bands, and in 2009 went on tour with two lucky winning bands.

To celebrate Diesel’s first decade in music, they’ve created a music contest.  Here’s more from their site about the contest.  “In line with our prodigal Be Stupid philosophy we’ve screwed with the classic branded music contest, here’s the idea – now you the fan take centre stage and commit ‘stupid’ acts to win gigs, recording fees and global infamy for your favourite bands, and thousands worth of actually amazing prizes for you. Easy…Through a series of heats and knockout rounds we will find the most obsessively followed new band in the world. It’s the ultimate battle of the fans, it’s survival of the stupidest and it’s online now.”

They have a “Be Stupid” philosophy?  That sounds dumb.  I guess to their targeted demographic the term “Be Stupid” could also mean, “Be daring, be spontaneous, be original, take risks, live life to it’s fullest, and have fun”, but that doesn’t grab your attention like being stupid.  So to help bring attention to the contest, it looks like D:U:M made a music video for the band Dancing Pigeons.

From the band’s MySpace page, I learned that their “bedroom-recorded electro pop songs” really started to gather attention in spring of 2008. Within in a few months they began to support international acts and traveled around the world without even releasing any records.  Now as they work to make their first Studio-recorded album, they’ll be getting even more attention from this D:U:M contest.  😀

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