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By MELISSA SCHNEIDER
Staff Writer

How to forget your fans 101. Not only was the Swollen Members' concert, originally scheduled for March 31, postponed for a week, but the band has forgotten its fans.

As a reporter for the Niagara News, I am supposed to get interviews. Imagine my surprise when I got to the concert and saw Moka Only sitting at the end of the bar in After Hours at the college's Welland Campus. He seemed like a nice person, telling reporters Swollen Members would gladly grant us an interview after the concert.

We were elated. Throughout the concert we snapped off picture after picture. We figured that these pictures would fit nicely with the interview about to take place.

Swollen Members provided hit after hit and shook hands with fans. They seemed happy to be there and kept telling the crowd that its energy level was incredible.

Unfortunately, this was all a hoax, a ruse if you will.

When they were done their set, they left the stage and entered the conference room at the back of the pub. We gathered our cameras and headed back to do the interview we were promised.

What did we get from Swollen Members? Nothing. Nada. Zip.

We went back to talk to their manager and, to our shock, were told that if we wanted an interview, we would have to go through their main offices in Vancouver. We were told that all interviews were done before shows and if we weren't on the list, we were to get no interview.

Now, being the type of reporters who won't stand to be lied to, we got the headline act to go back and talk to Only for us, reminding us that he promised an interview.

The final verdict was still no. Unbelievable! Only said that the band members were tired, and then they climbed back into their bus and left. After all that we went through, what a complete letdown it was.

Why is it that when musicians become famous they forget the people who put them where they are: the fans and, often, the press. We are only wanted until a band is famous. Then the members of that band forget their roots.

As a fan, I deserve respect. As a reporter, I do too. Without the support or the people who appreciate their music, or coverage of their performances, bands would never amount to anything. They would still be in Vancouver playing the bars for people who don't appreciate them.

It just seems to me that whether famous already, or on the way to fame, they should always remember their fans, and the media, for without them they are nothing.