Sounds like someone is finally capitalizing off of hipsters in a non-ironic fashion (which, for a subcultre that prides itself on irony, is an interesting twist).
In the TheWB.com‘s new web series, Rockville, CA., twirly mustaches and played-out trucker hats will presumably abound throughout 20 episodes set in the world of indie rockers and twentysomethings working in the music industry. We’ll watch them converse about Baudelaire and Glassjaw as they rock out to real bands in a fake venue – club ‘Rockville’ – in L.A.’s Echo Park.
Created by youth-targeting magnet Josh Schwartz (The O.C., Gossip Girl), and tagged with music supervisor cohort Alexandra Patsavas, Rockville CA is being toted as the new The Hills for this region of La-La land, with a focus on the neighborhoods around Sunset Boulevard between Alvarado Street and Elysian Park Avenue.
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Shooting on-location at the uber-cool Echoplex, in four-minute installments Rockville, CA attempts to genuinely capture the music-club feel – it features guest appearances by such chic bands-of-the-minute as Lykke Li and The Kooks – as teenybopper drama unfolds offstage. In trying to stay authentic and keeping that rock band stamp of approval, all the bands are taped live rather relying on the Ashley Simpson-approved method of lip syncing.
Here’s what Josh has to say about his web show baby:
“That age is such a time of little money and great dreams You care so much about music and it’s so fun, and this is an attempt to reflect that life. The club is a home for these kids, and when the show’s over, they don’t want to go home.”
Sounds good on paper (or as a great web TV pitch) but we’ll have to wait for Rockville, CA to debut in early 2009 to determine for sure.
If hipsters are your thing, and don’t make you nauseous in a non-ironic fashion, then this could be a hit. Or, maybe it’s an ominous sign that the scene is coming to an end when the creater of The OC is turning it into web TV? Or maybe the hipsters will play backup to the sweet live music in the series? Will indie music fans revel in the show? Or be repulsed that their fave bands are on the same website as the Gilmore Girls? We’ll have to grab a Pabst and wait to see.
