Josh Freese might spend a lot more time poolside if his bizarre marketing stunt for his new album pays off.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comAUSTIN, Texas – Drummer Josh Freese's musical skills have landed him gigs with major bands, but his marketing genius has generated a huge buzz about his coming solo release.

Freese, who's recorded on hundred of albums and played with top acts like Nine Inch Nails, Devo and A Perfect Circle, roped in famous friends to offer extravagant, limited-edition packages to hawk alongside his new record, Since 1972, which will be released Tuesday.

For example, you can download a free song or buy the digital download of the whole record for $7. But $20,000 will get you a signed CD/DVD, plus you get to play miniature golf with Freese, singer Maynard James Keenan from Tool and Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo. After the outing, Freese promises to "drop you off on the side of the freeway (all filmed and posted on YouTube)."

At a time when the music biz is struggling to come up with special-edition collectibles to spur sales, Freese has cranked the "freemium" concept to 11 with a wacky and creative tiered pricing system that he maintains is "100 percent" serious. Wired.com caught up with the California drummer/marketing whiz during the South by Southwest music festival in Austin to discuss the genesis of the idea and what surprises might lurk inside his closet.

Wired.com: Is this for real?

__Freese: __I am serious. This isn't a joke, you know? You haven't been had – this is all readily available.

__Wired.com: __How did you come up with these ideas?

Freese: Six months ago, my pal says to me – he's sitting at his desk and he goes, we were laughing about how many records I sold last week or the week before ... "last week you sold one, and the week before you sold two, and the week before you sold none, and the week before one." And I was like, "OK, I get it.... Maybe I should call those people and personally thank them." And we started laughing. It was like, "Yeah, maybe you should offer a free drum lesson." I was like, "Well, maybe I should just take them to lunch." And we started laughing about that – it really came up that easily. And I was like,

"Wow, this could be a great idea."

__Wired.com: __The packages are pretty outrageous and funny.

__Freese: __Really, the bottom line for me is, "How am I going to market this myself – literally, just myself, no marketing team, no company – on the internet to have people know that I've got a record coming out and talk about it. So exactly what I wanted to happen has happened, which is a bunch of people have taken notice of the fact that Josh Freese has a record coming out.

I'm putting my record out myself. I've got a name that's attached to bands but I'm not a celebrity or a success like Trent Reznor [whose tiered pricing for Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts was] obviously a very serious endeavor, and more realistic with the pricings of things.

Can you trust these eyes? Freese says he's 100 percent serious about the crazy package deals he's peddling alongside his new album, Since 1972.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comSuch a Deal!Highlights of Freese's packages:

$7: Digital download of *Since 1972 *(including three videos)

$15: CD/DVD double-disc set, plus digital download

$50: CD/DVD double-disc set, T-shirt and five-minute "thank you" phone call from Freese for buying the record.

$250: (limited edition of 25): Add a lunch date with Freese to P.F. Chang's or The Cheesecake Factory.

$500 (limited edition of 15): Float with Freese in a sensory-deprivation tank and get dinner at Sizzler.

__

$2,500 (limited edition of 5): __Take three items of your choice out of Freese's closet (first come, first serve).

$5,000 (limited edition of 3): Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam will send you a letter telling you about his favorite song on Since 1972.

$10,000 (limited edition of 1): Freese takes you and guest to Disneyland and gives you his Volvo station wagon.

__$20,000 (limited edition of 1): __Maynard James Keenan, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo and Freese take you miniature golfing and then drop you off on the side of the freeway (all filmed and posted on YouTube).

__$75,000 (limited edition of 1): __Take shrooms and cruise Hollywood in Tool drummer Danny Carrey's Lamborghini.

Wired.com: You've gotten a huge publicity bump.

__Freese: __Every interview I've done and everything, it's all based around the price tier, for better or worse. The good thing is people are talking about it, but it's like, "OK, my record's a good record, you know, and I'm proud of it...." It's gotten to the point where it's

[almost overshadowing the music]. It is a great story, I think, so I guess I'm kidding myself to not think that people wouldn't want to talk about it, you know what I mean? I'm askin' for it.

Wired.com: What's been the response so far?

__Freese: __I've had folks ranging from people hitting me up on

MySpace going, "I want the $50 phone call" or "I want to go have lunch at P.F. Chang's" to a few people who have discussed the more serious packages, but no one's officially taken me up on it. A friend of mine knows a big advertising agency out of Portland, and they said they want to buy, like, a $5,000 one where I write songs about their agency and put 'em up on iTunes.

Wired.com: It seems possible people might actually go for the more elaborate packages.

__Freese: __Who knows? The band Fallout Boy, I have not talked to them directly and I've never met them, but a friend of mine works for them, said, "Oh, the guys in Fallout Boy, they were talking about your record. They're so stoked about your promotion, they want to buy the

$75,000 package and have you join the band for a month and make a concept record with them and have you write a whole record about the band Fallout Boy."

Wired.com: How long did it take to cook up these wild ideas?

__Freese: __Not to pat myself on the back, but I put a lot of thought into it.... I have my short list of funny, smart-ass friends that I consult about things. Guys in [my band] The Vandals, guys from Devo, one of my buddies from The Dwarves – funny, sharp characters....

I didn't tell anybody about it, because ... I was like, "Man, I don't want anybody knowing about this. I don't even want my close friends knowing about it," because it's that whole "they tell one person, they tell one person," and the next thing you know ...

Wired.com: The secret's blown.

__Freese: __'Cause my record wasn't ready to come out yet. I was six months away from putting it out.

My friend that manages a pretty popular band, even a couple months ago, said to me, "When's your record coming out, 'cause these guys have a record coming out," this popular band that he manages, and he goes, "I

want to use [your idea]." I'm going, "You motherfucker! Don't you dare." He was just messing with me in an e-mail. He goes, "No, I wouldn't steal that from you, I'm just kind of fucking with you, but come on – get it out already."

Wired.com: Did you have any help with the list?

__Freese: __It would've gone quicker if I sat with a little think tank of friends of mine, but I really did it on my own.... I'd say out of the 50 different things, or 70 different things that are for sale, I might not have come up with maybe two or three of them. [The rest] were mine.

Wired.com: Did you clear these packages with your friends who are involved?

__Freese: __I called Mark Mothersbaugh, I called Maynard, Danny

Carrey from Tool, Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam, you know: "Hey, are you willing to write three letters if people buy 'em?"

Wired.com: Seems like you had a blast getting creative with the different deals.

__Freese: __I was cracking myself up doing that stuff. I mean, coming up with those things? I was loving it, man. I was cracking myself up, and I was really hoping that people would pick up on it and people would spread it around the way they did. It was a nice success already in that way.

Wired.com: What do you think will happen when the packages are officially available Tuesday?

__Freese: __I hope it translates into some sort of sales.... [but] I'm not kidding myself.

When I came up with these, like, someone goes, "Man, do you really need money or something?" It's like, if I really needed money – well of course, we all need money, right? – but if I really was wanting to make money, I would make them a lot less [expensive] than I did, because I really – put it this way, I'll be floored if someone buys the top package. I'll be completely shocked.

Wired.com: You could rake in quite a haul.

__Freese: __Setting those prices so ridiculously high worked to get attention in a humorous way.... People that know me, and people that don't know me, go: "This guy's got a record coming out. Here's his website." If it means they get directed to my website and they spend seven bucks to buy the album? Great. I couldn't really ask for much more than that – except for maybe 20 grand to give you a tour of

Disneyland.

Wired.com: Tell us a little bit about your music.

__Freese: __I start feeling pretentious, pondering, "What does my music sound like?" It's just dumb rock 'n' roll music, you know what I mean?

Wired.com: You play all the instruments on the record, right?

__Freese: __For the most part.... I'll give you a good example, let me think: Song No.1, all me, all the instruments, all vocals, everything, written by me. Song No. 2 – all me, everything, solo. Song

No. 3, all me up until the guitar solo.

Any guitar solos you hear on the record where it sounds like one note, sounds like Meg White playing guitar – that's me. Any real guitar solo where a guitar comes in and you go, "Fuck, that sounds awesome!" – that's not me.

Wired.com: Any worries about any of the offerings?

__Freese: __[My girlfriend and I are] scared about this package going on sale for different reasons. I'm scared that nobody's going to buy any of them, and she's scared that I'm going to have to go to The

Cheesecake Factory like 25 days in a row. She's like, "You shoulda set the Cheesecake Factory/P.F. Chang's thing a little higher, because people are going to take you up on that."

Wired.com: That could be brutal.

__Freese: __I love P.F. Chang's. And the funny thing is, it's so uncool to mention it.... That one made me laugh really hard.

Wired.com: One of the packages lets the buyer take whatever they want out of your closet. Anything in particular you don't want to lose?

__Freese: __They can't take stuff out of my girlfriend's side of the closet. But who knows? If I have one jacket that I really don't want to part with, maybe that'll be the jacket I'm wearing that day.

Wired.com: Tricky. You don't have anything hidden in the back of the closet?

__Freese: __You might find a little midget like in the R. Kelly video, trapped in the closet. You might find a little black midget with a cherry pie.

See also: