We’re pleased to announce that as of today RevSpike will be taking over the reins of User Heavyweight for the month of January from thehoseman.

RevSpike’s irreverent, twisted and hilarious sense of humor can be seen in the bands he’s created including Fustercluck, The Frozen Cement Explosion, Dick, Creepy,  The Flammables, Wonderschlub, Smug Fungus, Slobber Molecule and Byron Udderfly among others.  His new label OEdible Media is not only a delicious play on words, but fast becoming a home to an ecclectic array of artists whose quirks are not only front and center, but celebrated.

Check out his band descriptions, in addition to being well written and funny, they also sport incredible detail, like publicity stills that are priceless.

His album cover design skills are also terrific.  He clearly takes time to create images that are engaging and speak to his artist’s musical style.  Not content to just troll the interwebs for found images, RevSpike often enlists his friends, and in some cases himself (the image above is the picture he used to create Creepy’s “The Devil Made Me Duet” cover), to populate his bands, creating fake artists that seem downright real.

Check out his recent covers for Smug Fungus, Slobber Molecule and Horst Oeuvre and The Hors D’Oeuvres (clearly he’s listening to our podcast – big points Rev).  We can only hope he enters a poster in our Figment Concert Poster Contest!

He’s no slouch when it comes to new ideas either.   Whether it’s producing the first video interview with our Figment News blog, or creating the first soundtracks for a breakfast cereal (Hey Lady!  Ya Dropped Yer Kid!) and an underwear catalog (Under Here…), RevSpike is on the cutting edge of all things fake!

So congratulations RevSpike!  Your work on Figment has earned you Heavyweight status and a big AMEN from all of us!

We’d also like to thank thehoseman for serving as our User Heavyweight last month.  He did a great job reviewing albums and lavishing lucre on those bands he thought deserved it.  My guess is we’ll see him earn the honor again soon, but in the meantime AMEN to you too brother!

All of us at Figment are pleased to announce that thehoseman has been selected as this month’s user Industry Heavyweight of the month.  Why?  The answers are myriad.

We could start by pointing out the incredible musical fantasy world he’s created in the form of Uncle Duff Records.  Led by it’s iconic freak-rock impersario and ringleader, Zandergriff Miggs, it is in many ways one of the most complete “figments” on Figment.  When at you look at the bands under the Uncle Duff umbrella – Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls, Secret Scurrility, The Notorious A.i.G., AlphaHistamines, Stalker Channing, Gorgan Zola, The Elder Berry’s, Gunshot Love, Vortromeda, Agua Netz, Hanz Openschut, Grover “Neck-Bone” Clifton, Cerrnunos, Manifold Spaceport, Sludge Cartwright, REPLACEDmints, Serpentinuum, Van Q., Karkass, Gnome – he’s arguably created one of the most diverse, both musically and creatively, collection of artists on Figment so far.  Not only are they diverse in scope, but the level of detail and craftmanship used in creating each band is simply staggering.  When you encounter a band created by thehoseman I dare you not to walk away feeling as if you’ve encountered a new “real” band.

Furthermore, thehoseman is an incredible writer.  Not only are his band and album descriptions a textbook example of how to create a backstory and style for a fake band (case in point – the band bio for Zandergriff Miggs and The Parliament of Owls), but his album reviews are among the best on the site.

Lastly, the creativity shown in his album covers is incredible.  Whether it’s creating an homage to a “real” band (REPLACEDmints) or creating something entirely new (Karkass) his designs are always not only top notch, but really reinforce the band’s sound and ethos.

I suggest you take a look at his whole portfolio and become a fan of as many of his band’s as possible, because he’s truly an Industry Heavyweight!

We’d also to thank frizbee for being such an incredible Industry Heavyweight over the past month.  His reviews have been nothing short of incredible and he’s really embraced the role while still putting out incredible stuff himself (check out Xenophilia Live and 3).  So thanks frizbee!

So who is this month’s user Heavyweight?  Well it’s none other than frizbee!  You may know him better as the mastermind behind RA Records, and such bands as Eccentric Arcade, Coxswain Insignia, Neutron Emission, The Rubbers and Solomon X. Lambert.

His design work is top-notch, as evidenced by his 3rd place finish in our 2009 Figment Album Cover Design contest.   His label RA Records has signed Fait Accompli, Dark Brotherhood and Lady Annabel, and Eccentric Arcade’s Xenophilia Tour with Fait Accompli was one of the first full-scale joint tours on Figment.

When it comes to promoting his bands he’s no slouch either.  He was the first Figment user to create a Twitter account for one of his bands, and the first to begin recording vlog posts on YouTube.

Needless to say he’s industry heavyweight material!  So congrats frizbee!  Visit his profile page and check out all of his incredible work and be on the lookout for his reviews, etc.!

We’d also like to thank javdoc for his work as an Industry Heavyweight last month.

Well, it’s time to announce the lastest user Heavyweight and we’re happy to say that javdoc will be taking over the reins from overground as of today!  Javdoc has an impressive Figment resume:  he was the winner of our Figment Concept Album Contest 2009; finished fifth in our 2009 Figment Album Cover Design Contest; won a Band Merch Award; was the first Figment user to create a Music Festival on Figment – Merchants of Metal Festival I and MoM II, and the first to launch a magazine, New Metal Masters.  More importantly, he was the first to reach 10,000 pieces of lucre.

His bands include Zeroth, Rastapharaohs, Amish Militia, Crimson Eye, Blackened Skull Ensemble, Lords of Winter, Supercrusher and The Funky Caboose among others.

He’s a gifted graphic designer with an incredible eye for album cover images, writes great band/album descriptions, song titles and album reviews, and is a master marketer.  In short, he’s an Industry Heavyweight!  So check out his stuff and work hard to impress him!!!

As for overground, thanks for all your hard work as an Industry Heavyweight over the past month!

Here on Figment we are always in search of experts who can provide our users with feedback on their fake band creations.  We call these people Industry Heavyweights and you can tell who is a Heavyweight by looking for this icon.  If you see the “H” pick by their name that user is an Industry Heavyweight and if they become a fan of your band, buy or listen to one of your albums or provide you with a review/shout you’ll earn more lucre than if an normal user did the same.

Up until now, the only people we’ve made Industry Heavyweights are people who work in the music industry or the media, but starting today that changes.  From this point forward we will making one user who we feel has earned it an opportunity to be an Industry Heavyweight for one month.  He/She will be able to throw their weight around and reward those bands they feel deserve it and provide reviews to any band they see fit on the site.  Needless to say this person has to be someone who has distinguished themselves on the site, so not only will we be making them an Industry Heavyweight, but we’ll also be paying them a one-time fee of 500 pieces of lucre for their expertise!

So who is the first user to receive this award?  None other than the mastermind behind Fait Accompli – overground.  Overground has been a Figment user for over a year now and has systematically built Fait Accompli into one of the strongest and most popular fake bands on Figment.  We are continually impressed by his work and are thrilled to make him the first user to be named an Industry Heavyweight.  Congrats overground, start throwing your weight around!

Figment is pleased to announce that Curiosity, the leader of the Gothic Lolita Industrial band of the same name, has agreed to become the latest Figment Industry Heavyweight.  An independent artist who writes, sings, performs and produces all of her own material, Curiosity creates her own style of moody, hard-hitting piano-centered digital synth music layered with heavy guitars.

Although based in Chicago, Curiosity dresses in the puffy, lace-covered Japanese Gothic Lolita style of Harajuku street fashion.  She speaks fluent Japanese, with some of her songs containing Japanese lyrics intertwined with English.  The band’s current lineup features Curiosity on vocals, keyboards and guitars, supported by the charming angel fairy guitarist Noël Heresy.  The two will be touring Japan in January of 2009 in support of Curiosity’s upcoming Liquorice EP release.

Curiosity will be reviewing Figment releases and buying/listening to those releases she feels warrant it.  We’ll also be announcing a contest soon to win a copy of Curiosity’s newest EP as well as some other band swag, so be on the lookout!!!  In the meantime, check out her MySpace page where you can hear some of her music, check out her videos, read her blog, keep up with tour dates and maybe even become her friend!

Figment is proud to announce that Vince Neilstein, co-founder of Metal Sucks a blog devoted to the intelligent discussion of all things metal, has agreed to become an industry heavyweight on Figment.  Vince will be reviewing metal bands on Figment and rewarding those lucky few he thinks deserve it by buying and listening to their albums.  So if you’ve already created a metal band on Figment be on the lookout for Vince’s feedback, and if you haven’t there’s no better time than the present.

Vince co-founded Metal Sucks with Axl Rosenberg in December of 2006, because “there was no online heavy metal community where intelligent thoughtful discussion took place, so we decided to create our own.”  Committed to “breaking the stereotype that metalheads are a bunch of ignorant neanderthals” Metal Sucks provides up-to-the-minute metal news, reviews and interviews with some of the biggest bands on the scene, all with a sense of humor and style that make it a must read for those in the metal community.

So be on the lookout for Vince’s reviews and pay Metal Sucks a visit, it’s a great read.

You may have seen this symbol next to a comment on a band page or a review on an album page and wondered what the hell is that?  Well, it’s the mark of the Industry Heavyweight (don don daaaaah)!  So what is an Industry Heavyweight?  Industry Heavyweights are Figment site administrators and professionals from the real music industry (record label employees, musicians, publicity agents, music journalists, etc.)  who can favorite bands, buy albums and listen to them just like any other registered Figment user.  The difference is that they carry more clout because when they favorite a band, buy/listen to an album or review a band/album they award the creator of that band more lucre than a normal registered Figment user.  What they can’t do is earn any lucre themselves!  So just like in the real music industry you’re hoping to get the attention of an industry heavyweight.  To get a feel for the additional lucre you can earn check out our blog entry on how the Figment Charts and Lucre System works.