24 OctOber 24 - 30, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents eras. It’s been a lot of work for sure. But we genuinely think it’s different than other streams people do.” Of course, the main point of streaming is to get the music out there and to widen the fanbase. Sadly, it turns out that building an audience is just as challenging as doing it IRL. “I think the stream is in a really great place. I think the only thing that’s missing is the audience,” says Jeff Collins. “It’s defi- nitely an untraditional Twitch streaming format, meaning we’re not just playing cov- ers or DJing, which are the two most com- mon formats. And we don’t have boobs.” Sax player Ryan Dahir confirms, “Yeah, we don’t have those, which is definitely a barrier, but I mean technically, we have all the bells and whistles that everyone else has, and I do think we bring definitely a different creative approach to live streaming by invit- ing artists in regularly. So the format’s unique and that kind of hurts us a little bit, in terms of natural growth. But I mean, I’m really happy with the way the stream looks and the cool stuff we’ve got going. “I think it’s a tipping point thing. Like, we have a unique, very high-quality product that we all believe in. I think it’s just a matter of time, then there’ll be an influx.” That’s not to say the stream has no view- ers. Besides a small but loyal following, sometimes the band gets the benefit of rid- ing what’s referred to on Twitch as a “Raid Train.” “Essentially everyone hangs out in one of these channels. And when it’s over at a pre- determined time, they will send all the view- ers to another channel,” says Sidelsky. “And so they’ll do that five, six, seven, 10 times or something [and it] snowballs. So we were one of the top slots on one of the raid trains. It’s called High Vibes Raid Train. It’s like a music festival online every Saturday. We’ve had as many as 100 people watching, but we average 20–30 solid viewers.” In a perfect world, the stream could fund itself along with even more camera and sound upgrades. The band agrees that would be cool, but they’re adamant that money was never the point of the stream. “I wouldn’t say that’s really the goal of it,” says Jeff Collins. “It’s more like for sharing, or having a space for us and all our creative friends to be able to freely just create.” Much like with any creative endeavor, the artist must still find their audience. Websites such as Nugs prove there is an au- dience for livestreaming (as does Marc Re- billet’s career) but it remains to be seen if those same folks would be interested in new music. MTV did change the way we con- sume music by marrying audio with visuals, so it’s not out of the question for interactive livestreams to change how we discover up- and-coming music. The band continues to do live venue shows, including an album release at the Double Wide in November 2022 for their al- bum In This Economy? But there’s no need to wait until the next in-the-flesh show; catch the Electrik Ants every other Tuesday night from the comfort of your own living room. If you’re feeling salty, throw the band a tip and have some fun with the lights or give Dylan Collins something to rap about. Music from p23 HOLIDAY GUIDE 2024 SCAN HERE FOR MORE INFO ON STANDS NOVEMBER 21 ENTER TO WIN TICKETS!
