DeepRock brings live music to fans

Buttressed by walls of video screens and enough lights to dilate every pupil in the room, David Draiman is getting bras thrown at him from chicks in Michigan.

The Disturbed frontman growls and hulks through an hourlong set of barrel-chested metal inside a black-walled studio nestled behind the Palms, while dozens of come-ons, put-downs, goofy questions and serious queries from fans are shown on the monitors at the rate of thousands per second.

"What's my favorite color?" Draiman asks incredulously between songs, his wardrobe as black as a moonless night. "Isn't it obvious?"

In addition to the comments, icons -- dubbed "emotapplause" -- flash across the screens, reflecting the mood of the audience, from images of lighters in the air to digital brassieres hurled from adoring female fans.

And so it goes on a recent Thursday night at DeepRockDrive, an interactive, online concert site where fans log on and see and participate in shows.

Before the concert begins, the band chooses the songs they are willing to perform, then fans vote on the order they are played, from one song to the next. Viewers select the camera angles, and can send messages to the artists while they're playing, to which they can respond.

Disturbed's set was the 80th-plus show at DeepRock, which was launched last October, and by far their biggest yet. More than 10,000 people took part in the show, contributing some 350,000 shout-outs to the band from all over the world

"Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom," DeepRock co-founder Danny Socolof enthuses as he rattles off some of the cities from which fans are tuning in. "This is live. Right now."

A longtime music industry veteran who produced Woodstock '98 and has worked with acts like Led Zeppelin, Socolof was drawn to the very medium that was causing headaches for so many of his peers.

"I was watching the Internet melt down a business I love, just obliterate it," he says, speaking at a rapid-fire clip. "I was watching artists scratching their heads, friends of mine losing jobs. But where everyone else saw chaos, I saw opportunity."

And so DeepRockDrive was born. Upcoming concerts by artists as disparate as pop punks Motion City Soundtrack and jam band O.A.R. are sponsored by Pepsi and are free. Other shows, including an upcoming set from doom rockers Trouble, are priced at $4.95.

But hey, just think how much you'll save on all those $8 concert hall beers. Now that's innovation.

"For musicians and artists and fans to have a healthy future together, it's really important that people get to experience the artist they love in a variety of different situations, including live," Socolof says. "It's about access. We're bringing it to the people."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.