Face-Space cases

Boys Like Girls like the
Internet, and vice versa

POSTED PUPS: Boys Like Girls

by ERIK LEIJON

Boston pop-punk quartet Boys Like Girls’ story of unexpected success is a familiar one in this new century. After having only been together for a few weeks in 2005, the young group posted two songs on music Web site PureVolume. As Internet lore grew, they cut an eponymous debut record, gained a half-million Facebook friends and have been relentlessly touring ever since. To understand what the deal is with young people and their music, the Mirror spoke with lead guitarist Paul DiGiovanni.

Mirror: Your first album took over a year before going gold. Were you guys ever dejected when things were going slowly?

Paul DiGiovanni: Not really, because it was basically how we planned it. Anyone can release a song that’s radio-friendly and record companies will jam it down people’s throats. There are so many songs on the radio that are good, but you never hear from the band again afterwards. We could have been that, but we wanted to work really hard and develop a grassroots following without any radio support. I think that made all the difference for us, because now that we have a song on the radio [the teenage coming-of-age yarn “The Great Escape”], instead of people forgetting us, we’ve built a group of dedicated fans.

M: When you originally posted those two tracks on PureVolume, had you performed live yet?

PD: The other three guys [Martin Johnson, Bryan Donahue, John Keefe] were in a band together before, but we hadn’t played much when the songs were posted. We started touring Boston a few weeks after and we haven’t stopped since.

M: You guys are well known for being very active with your MySpace and Facebook groups. How time-consuming is that?

PD: In the studio, when we weren’t in recording, we’d be at our computers literally all day, adding friends and answering messages on MySpace.

M: Is it true a fan went to your house, took a picture of your dog and posted it on her MySpace page?

PD: I was on my MySpace and I got a comment from someone saying they just met Willy, my dog. I told that story on MTV because I thought it was funny and she found out about it and freaked out.

M: Err... “freaked out,” in a good way?

PD: In a good way.