Today's guest post is from Energy BBDO brilliant-guy, Peter Carnevale.
This documentary, while not particularly well-made, shows a bit of what Greg and Jim seem to cover a fair amount on Makin' Ads: Doing something completely different creatively might make you better.
It's about a band, or more accurately, two bands. (Note: They are not everyone's cup of tea, but the bigger point remains.) The Bronx is a hardcore-ish punk-ish rock band. Mariachi el Bronx has the same members, plus a couple more, but they operate as two different bands. And yes, they perform in mariachi garb. The two bands are remarkably different, and the members discuss in this documentary how shifting gears completely has helped revitalize the creative process. Sound familiar?
I personally need to do more of this. I'd wager it would improve my work, and if nothing else, I'd probably enjoy the process.
Backstory of how Mariachi el Bronx came about: As I understand it, someone asked for an acoustic version of one of their songs for a compilation. They decided that they didn't like acoustic versions of hard rock songs, so they did a mariachi version instead and it snowballed from there. Pretty cool.