Looking for that special someone can be a chore. Picking up a random mate at a bar can be frightening, being set up by friends can get tired, and let's face it, we're not all cut out to fight for the love of Bret Michaels or Tila Tequila on some dating reality show.And now there are so many dating Web sites that filling out the same standardized questionnaire for each one can get tedious and boring - and even then it doesn't guarantee you'll find your soul mate.
A new Los Angeles-based dating site, Rocknrolldating.com, offers an edgier experience, a rock 'n' roll lifestyle-focused questionnaire and a database that allows users to browse profiles by music artist. From AC/DC to ZZ Top, site users have entered thousands of rock artists. There's a variety of categories to file your profile under, whether you're a rockabilly or a metalhead, or even an emo-punker who's into Fall Out Boy.
Building a online dating rockin' community
As a longtime musician who also owned a record label, Daniel House wanted to create a dating site that was different and that fit his lifestyle and that of his friends.
The 40-something Los Angeles resident has been involved in the music world for more than 20 years. Before moving to L.A. five years ago, House lived in Seattle and was in a grunge-rock band called Skin Yard that toured with the likes of Faith No More, the Meat Puppets, Nirvana and Soundgarden in the early '90 s. House also ran a record label, C/Z Records, which released singles of many of these bands as well as music from the Melvins and Seven Year Itch.
"Music has always been such a critical part of my lifestyle and it's an important part of who you are," House said. "I can't tell you how many times I've had a friend say 'He's a cool guy, but his taste in music sucked so I knew it wouldn't last.'
"I realized that there was nothing like this out there and that there's a lot of community that revolves around broader styles of music, like punk rock or goth, and specific bands like Radiohead or Queens of the Stone Age, even Hall and Oates - you'd be surprised how many fans there are out there that meet at shows and then start dating."
House spent a year working on the layout, design and overall feel of the Web site. He admitted that he hadn't really given the world of online dating a try, but his years of thumbing through weekly personal ads gave him a good idea of what he wanted for his site.
His online dating site does allow users to list their favorite artists, all-time favorite concerts and favorite movies, and create a personal concert calendar where users can flag the shows they plan to attend.
Looking for love
Rocknrolldating user Lejoiedevivre, 29, of Long Beach, joined the site after hearing about it on KROQ.
In an e-mail interview, she explained that she's been on the site since March and exchanged e-mails with a handful of single men. She met up with one, hung out a handful of times, but no love match.
"I loved the concept, since I thought other sites came off as too serious (eHarmony) or meat-markety Match.com), and I'm a big music lover," she wrote. "I've found that I don't really meet people into the same kind of stuff/music as I am at the places (we) go. Seemed to me, much easier, to go through a person's profile and see what interests you share rather than try to read a complete stranger ( ... such a waste of time)."
The future of dating rock-style
Following an aggressive marketing campaign this summer, House hopes to increase the number of users to 10,000 by September.
After four months of activity, he has taken users' site-improvement suggestions to heart and will soon be incorporating a few new features. Other upcoming features include adding a "tattoo" category and a band keyword search, as well as a keyword search by various interests. There is currently a clickable but limited "browse by artist" and "browse by interest" area on the home page.
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