Bobby Long's 'Twilight' Zone
How far can a do-it-yourself artist go? For singer/songwriter Bobby Long, a friendship formed at a club’s open-mic night led to getting one of his songs in a hit movie.
Long, who was born in northern England and grew up in the southwestern area called Wessex, met actor Robert Pattinson in a London club while both were making the open-mic rounds.
When Pattinson was tapped to portray vampire Edward Cullen in the 2008 hit movie “Twilight,” a song written by Long and Marcus Foster – “Let Me Sign” – was selected for one of the film’s dramatic scenes, with Pattinson singing the lyrics.
How DIY is Long? He independently released a 10-song disc of original material recorded in his bedroom. Called Dirty Pond Songs, which the singer refers to as “a big EP” or “bootleg album,” is so raw you can hear street sounds in the background on some of the tracks. One song from the EP (or bootleg) – “Let Me Lie” – reached #1 on iTunes’ Unsigned chart and #8 on the music download store’s Folk chart. Long’s second single – “Being A Mockingbird” – is available through online outlets
Long graduates from London Metropolitan University next month, and will embark on a U.S. tour shortly thereafter. Called “The Dangerous Summer Tour,” the first two dates are in New York City, July 26 and 27 at S.O.B.’s and Arlene’s Grocery, respectively.
Then it’s off to Philly for a gig at the North Star Bar on July 28; followed by the Wicon Film Event in Dallas on July 30 and August 1, with a Poor David’s Pub show sandwiched in between on July 31.
Other stops on Long’s “Dangerous Summer” tour include Phoenix Aug. 3; Los Angeles’ Hotel Café Aug. 5-6; Denver Aug. 12; Memphis Aug. 17; Nashville Aug. 19; Chicago Aug. 31; D.C. Sept. 1 and Toronto Sept. 6 before heading back to New York for two more nights at Arlene’s Grocery Sept. 9-10 and one evening at Drew Hall Sept. 11.
In addition to posting performance videos on YouTube, Long also promotes himself through his MySpace page, and recently discovered rotating the songs streaming from his MySpace home often results in people shouting out requests for the tunes during his performances.
Next stop for Long is the U.S. in July. Needless to say, the 6-foot-two, shaggy-haired 22-year-old singer is more than a little excited.
“I haven’t released anything and to come over here and to do it is a dream really,” Long said. “You know for any English artist to come to America and play is just the pinnacle of what you want to do. So being able to do it so early is a really, really cool thing.”
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