Ed Blann, better known to thousands of online fans by his user name Eddplant, is one of the internet’s new fab four – Sons of Admirals.
The band comprises Eddplant with Tom Milsom from Surrey and Doctor Who devotees Alex Day from Essex and Charlie McDonnell from Bath. They release their debut single, a 21st Century revamp of Cat Stevens’ song Here Comes My Baby, in the UK on October 25, 2010.
Each one of the band is a global star in his own right with combined views for their YouTube channels topping 100 million.
YouTube
Between them they have more than 830,000 YouTube subscribers. To put this in context, Lady Gaga has just over 330,000 subscribers as of the time of writing, in the fall of 2010.
A former pupil of King Edward VI Five Ways School in Birmingham, England, 23-year-old Eddplant studied Information Technology and Film Studies at Dudley College before leaving his home in Harborne to study psychology at London South Bank University.
Now based in the London borough of Hackney, where he shares a place with Tom Milsom, Eddplant has put his studies on hold to pursue projects online.
Doctor Who
"We met up about three years ago through YouTube gatherings," said Eddplant. "We were making similar sorts of videos and making music."
After posting online their own music videos and comedy sketches, and in Alex (also known as ‘nerimon’) and Charlie’s case a sideline in pop music inspired by TV show Doctor Who, the guys got a massive following.
Stephen Fry
Many of those fans are teenaged girls but they also include celebrities, including internet devotee Stephen Fry. Then their subscribers began to suggest they formed a band.
"We’re different to the traditional idea of a band. If a band doesn’t do something together for a while people ask if they’ve split up – we want people to ask when the band is getting together again. There will be no question of members going solo because we’re already ‘solo’ and sometimes we’ll work together.
"This isn’t a lead singer with a backing band. Instead, we’re trading off the lead among all four of us and we all combine for the backing harmonies.
"We all bring something to the table."
The Sons of Admirals is a cover versions project in which they will introduce songs from their favourite artists to their fans.
charlieissocoollike
The single was arranged and produced by Tom Milsom and the video was written and directed by Charlie McDonnell and was launched on his own YouTube channel, charlieissocoollike, the most subscribed channel in the UK.
"There’s no pressure," said Eddplant. "This is our own project. The single will be out on our own record label, for which we’ve got a distribution deal, and there will be no record label breathing down our necks for the album and then the second album.
"There are record labels interested in us – Island want to talk – and management organisations but we want to do it our own way. If we didn’t, it wouldn’t work."
The four have a strong Do It Yourself ethic. The sketches that have been seen worldwide are often made using a laptop webcam and sometimes they use HD camcorders.
A television sketch show has been called for by fans but Eddplant doesn’t see the point when they can already reach millions who do their watching on a computer screen rather than a TV set.
As a band, their way of rehearsing would baffle most 20th Century rockers; instead of the back room of a pub they do their collaborating in cyberspace.
iPhone
"We talk a lot online and are on our computers a lot. We are also in touch via our smartphones, the other three have got iPhones and I’ve got an HTC Hero.
"And if we do need to meet up, Charlie and Alex are only a short bus ride away."
Their ‘virtual fame’ on the internet does now impact on their real lives. Eddplant was stopped several times at the Reading Festival (where he’d gone to see favourite new band Mumford & Sons) and their DIY video shoots have been interrupted by fans.
As for Sons of Admirals gigs, they’re more likely to happen online than in a venue.
Eddplant is himself a regular gig-goer who saw his favourite pop-punk outfit, Florida’s New Found Glory, five times at the old Carling Academy in Birmingham.
Meanwhile, the home-made video for Here Comes My Baby – in which the quartet vie for the attention of a young woman – has already been viewed more than two million times.
Here Comes My Baby will be released as a digital bundle with an acoustic version and a new video, the content of which will be decided by fans. It will also feature the band’s version of the theme from kids’ cartoon show Arthur.
Leon Burakowski - A British journalist based in central England with 28 years experience in newspapers. Writes about travel, theatre, technology, history, ...
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