Metal Maria
Independent PR may be the way to go
By Julien R. Fielding

Maria Ferrero got her start in public relations by accident.

When she was a teen in the early 1980s, friends of hers, Johnny and Marsha Zazula, opened a record store and flea market. One day they received about $182 worth of heavy metal music, including Motorhead and Black Sabbath records. Rather than send those back, these “Dead Heads” got the idea to sell them. “Their store, ‘Rock N Roll Heaven,’ became the heavy metal Mecca of New Jersey,” Ferrero said from her East Coast office. “I became a customer, and I would hang out there for hours.”

As time went on, the owners branched into other areas, including starting Megaforce Records. This label gave Metallica and Anthrax their start. “They [Zazulas] ran the record company out of their home,” she said. “I was hanging out, so I would help them. It turned into a job.”

Since Ferrero regularly read the magazines that covered the heavy metal scene, Johnny Z, as he was called, would tell her to write to their editors and inform them when one of Megaforce’s bands had a new singer or ask them if they wanted to interview one of the bands. “At that time, Europe was the only place really covering heavy metal, so I wrote letters to those magazines,” she said. “They would say, ‘Maria, this is great they are doing stories on us.’ I didn’t know what I was doing; I didn’t know what a publicist was.” But at 17 years old, that’s what she became. “I never went to college,” she said. “I’m just a people person who likes to hang out.”

Ferrero developed relationships with her contacts, making sure that they received music, photos or information about the bands. “You have to constantly stay in touch and make things happen for people,” she said. As the label grew, it added more groups, including Testament, King’s X, Exciter and Merciful Fate. Ferrero grew with it, and remained with Megaforce for 12 years.

Part of the reason that this publicist has been so successful is that she herself is a fan of the music she promotes. In fact, it was Black Sabbath’s Paranoid album that made the then sixth-grader’s jaw drop and gave her “balls.”

“It changed my life,” she said. “I was a metal head.” Over the years, she’s even earned the nickname “Metal Maria.” “It’s amazing how this happened,” she said. “This is what I’m supposed to be doing.” In 1999, a tragic event made her rethink her career path, and for a brief time she changed directions. “I always wanted to be a chef, and I went to cooking school,” she said. “But on the second night of work, I got hit by a truck while I was walking to the restaurant. I couldn’t physically stand for 12 hours a day, so I crawled my way back up in the music industry.”

She joined Imagine Entertainment where she did PR for 18 months then moved to Metropolis, a Goth-cum-Industrial music label. About one-and-one-half years ago, she struck out on her own and launched Adrenaline PR. “I was afraid to do this, but my advice is don’t be afraid of anything,” she said. Her first job at Adrenaline was promoting Soulfly, which was sitting on a nearly two-year-old release. Ferrero said that she enjoys a challenge and came up with a creative promotional idea that worked. She told the band to take a video camera with them on tour and record a video diary. “They went where bands didn’t go – Macedonia and Serbia,” she said. Her idea paid off. Fuse TV’s show Uranium ran an entire week of coverage. From this experience, she learned the truth of “dare to be different.”

One of the acts that has proven to be a huge success for her company is Lamb of God. She was able to get them coverage in everything from Rolling Stone to Blender; and they were co-hosts of MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball twice. In fact, because the band got so much publicity, she said, it encouraged other bands to seek her out. She’s even had groups arrange their contracts so that she could be hired as their publicist. “That’s like amazing,” she said.

To those bands that might not know why they should pay the extra money for a publicist, Ferrero said it all comes down to receiving that extra special attention that they usually don’t get from a label. “The record company’s PR department usually has three people who aren’t interested in them,” she said. “We get to pick and tailor the work to the bands.”

This businesswoman, who has worked with Ministry, KMFDM and Metallica, also can boast that her motto is: “T urning artists into household names since 1983.”However, Ferrero and her peers can only do so much. “You have to bowl them over with your music,” she said. “And show them that you have a rabid legion of fans.” She cites Linkin Park as a good example of a band that started on a grassroots level and has since become international superstars. “They credit their fans, and they have the fans organize meet and greets at each show,” she said. “The fans are active in making it happen; they feel like they are a part of it. And [the band] sets them up with cool stuff. They are very fan-interactive.”

To a band that’s starting out, she suggested recruiting a friend, girlfriend or boyfriend to help out. “Develop a scene,” she said. “Invite the papers to every show whether it’s a weekly or a regional magazine. Develop those relationships. Get publicity, and once you’re confident, put together a press kit. If they say no, then keep doing it. Hit them up again the next time. Don’t annoy them but don’t go away. Be persistent. Have photos and bios; have a professional do it. You want to have a professional look. Don’t be afraid to call the PR Department at a label; ask them to take a look at it. Get some professional tips.”

If the band already has a CD, she suggested sending it to the various music magazines and asking them to review it. The key, though, is to send only your best work. Because if they do review it, they’ll review it honestly. “The press can help you, but if it’s crap they will give you a bad review,” she said.

If your label isn’t getting you press, it’s time to seek out a publicist, who should send out press releases and try to generate interest in you. That person also should do follow up calls and keep your name in the public eye. But even all the press in the world won’t sell your records. “You could be a press darling like P.J. Harvey and you still won’t sell albums,” she said. “It might be lack of retail support, so you need someone to make sure that you have all of the components.”

Another important part of creating success is not sitting back and waiting for the phone to ring. “You should play every rat hole,” she said. “Nirvana played to 20 people. You have to bring it to the people and keep going back. Metallica kept going back until they created a scene. You gotta get out there. Stop feeling entitled. Go get a fat slice of humble pie and do what you say that you love, whether that’s to one or one million. You’re a success if you’re doing it. You’re a failure if you’re hoping and wishing. Be it. Do it. You never measure success by what you have. If you try it, you’re a success.”