As the 24-hour O Music Awards came to a close on Thursday, Nashville natives Darling Parade were just getting their celebration started. Moments before Andrew W.K. broke the world record for Longest Drum Session in a Retail Store, the Sklar brothers announced that the foursome had beat out fellow nominees Chill Moody, The So So Glos, Striking Matches and Syd Arthur for the coveted Make a Band Famous award.
“We love our fans, and we love our fans’ support,” the band told Vh1’s Jim Shearer before their performance. Their dedicated fans are to thank for something else that may have led them to the OMA road: their full-length album Battle Scars and Broken Hearts, which came to be thanks to a Kickstarter campaign.
“We started that [Kickstarter] right before our album and we’ve had a lot of fan support so far,” lead singer Kristin Kearns said. “It’s been awesome.”
As a band from a small town, it can be a challenge to gather the funds for studio time and an actual album. “Everybody pulled together, and it was unbelievable. We raised more money than we expected,” bassist Dustin McCoy said, saying they managed to raise $16,000 for their album.
The pop/rock band performed “Ghost,” “Crash and Burn” and their rendition of Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield” throughout the 24-hour “Live Music Day” web stream. A shiny, cube-shaped award isn’t all the band gets either; come August, they’ll get the opportunity millions of bands’ dream of by playing VMA weekend. And keep an eye out for Darling Parade as they are now one of MTV’s Artists to Watch.
“Seriously, this is the best feeling ever,” Kearns said after accepting the award.
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