Already a 'Guitar Hero' in Cyberspace, a Texas Teen Brings His Game to Maine
Posted on: Friday, 4 July 2008, 12:00 CDT
By ANNE GLEASON
Conrad Curry developed quite a following after posting a video on YouTube eight months ago.
Curry, a college sophomore from Texas, played to near perfection the hardest expert-level song on the video game Guitar Hero 3: Dragonforce's "Through Fire and Flames."
This week he was in Maine, where the fledgling Portland-based company Axewraps made use of his newfound fame in a promotional push of its vinyl electric guitar wraps - appliques to dress up guitars - and Guitar Hero controllers. It was Curry's first product endorsement.
On Thursday night, Curry was scheduled to attempt the hardest song on the recently-released Guitar Hero: Aerosmith video game, "Guitar Battle vs. Joe Perry." The video will also be posted on the popular video-sharing site YouTube.
Axewraps will be promoting its product largely through video sharing and social networking sites like YouTube and Facebook, as opposed to more traditional advertising venues such as TV or print ads, said Andrew Earle, public relations manager for Axewraps.
At a media event Thursday at Covenant Family Fellowship on Larrabee Street in Westbrook, Curry said he sometimes catches flak from musicians who say Guitar Hero players are "not real" guitarists. The student from Dallas Baptist University in Texas said he's played electric guitar - an ESP Viper - for the past six years, long before he picked up a Guitar Hero controller.
"I get slammed all the time - 'Oh, you can't play real guitar,'" Curry said, demonstrating his electric guitar skills.
He later demonstrated his Guitar Hero skills at the Howard Johnson hotel in Portland.
Curry is a music business major, and his real ambition is to go into music production. He said his sudden celebrity from Guitar Hero is "just for fun."
Curry's YouTube video has had more than 11.5 million views in the eight months since it was posted.
"Within the second day, I was already on expert level. It really did just come naturally," he said. "I was like, 'Dude, I'm going to put this on YouTube.'"
When Earle saw Curry's video a couple of months ago, he decided to bring him to Maine for the company's YouTube promotion.
The company is also trying to set up a battle between Curry and the current Guinness world record holder for Guitar Hero 3, Chris Chike of Rochester, Minn.
"I saw the video and thought, 'Man, this kid's sick,'" Earle said. "He can read (Guitar Hero prompts) like a classical musician reads a score."
Curry was accompanied on the trip by his father, a pastor in Texas. Scott Curry learned about his son's growing YouTube following days after it was posted.
"When you have a teenager, he doesn't tell you anything," Curry said. "His (younger) brother is green with envy."
The Axewraps video created Thursday night was scheduled to be posted to YouTube. Once posted, it will be found by typing "Guitar Hero Aerosmith Conrad" in the YouTube search box.
Staff Writer Anne Gleason can be contacted at 791-6367 or at:
agleason@pressherald.com
Originally published by By ANNE GLEASON Staff Writer.
(c) 2008 Portland Press Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Portland Press Herald
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