UNITED STATES—This video is pure magic. It was one sporadic take that led to the viral nature of the YouTube upload. Here were the events that led to the creation of the video starring the viral dog Bailey, the golden that truly loves guitar.
I was hanging out at my friend’s house just strumming some guitar; when my friend left the room, I was one-on-one with the pup (dogs are so ADD and can only hone in to something with very little distractions). As I continued to strum along with some blues rock guitar. I noticed I was getting quite the reaction from Bailey as she was bobbing her head along to the beat.
Yet, when I stopped, she wasn’t too pleased. It was at this point, I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket, set it on the table in a careless fashion, hit record, and played on. At first, I didn’t realize how special the footage I took was. An all American golden retriever pup, some blues guitar, and on top of it all, a mistakenly placed Bud Light beer can in the foreground (which gave this video some extra buzz, viral marketing by Bud Light)? In fact, it wasn’t a play by Bud Light, yet it was conspired by an aspiring college singer songwriter! This video wasn’t staged, practiced, and honestly very little thought went into it. That’s why it went so far, because it is as real as it gets.
Bailey had grown up in a very musical environment in which we had many recording sessions and rock band rehearsals in. Maybe that’s why she reacted the way she did, because she was around it and was just waiting for the opportunity to show that she can rock too! As far as myself, this video has put my YouTube channel on the map, bringing some of this viral traffic through my cover videos and original music.
The video aired on the “Ellen Show,” “Good Morning America,” “The Today Show,” “Nightly News with Brian Williams” and many many more. Perhaps the greatest thing to come out of the ordeal is that I was brought out to Los Angeles to record and write two singles with producers Jimmy McGorman and Robb Vallier. Jimmy McGorman is the musical director for Avril Lavigne and Weezer and is currently touring with “The Voice” winner Cassadee Pope.
Maybe someday ‘Drew Arcoleo’ will be a household name and Jimmy can add his discovery of me to his resume!! We are all guilty of wishful thinking, right!? I just came off three months of live solo acoustic performances throughout Martha’s Vineyard. I plan on heading to LA when I graduate from UConn in spring 2013. I will be focusing on songwriting and developing my talents as well as my relationships with industry experts (producers, artists, ect.). I also plan on releasing an EP in the near future with a professional music video!
By Drew Arcoleo
