'Foo Fighter' seeks 'Dixie Chick'

Never mind hair color -- LA-based rock 'n' roll dating service lets users browse by favorite artists

By Kelli Skye Fadroski
The Orange County Register

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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 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.

Online Dating Tips
Do include a photo. People who've uploaded a photo get 15 times more attention than people who haven't.

Do make sure you smile in your photos.

Don't hide your face behind a pair of sunglasses or a hat.

Don't show too much skin.

Do make your profile headline a grabber.

Do consult friends and family for help in writing your online profile.

Don't use clich�s. You may love long walks on the beach, but who doesn't?

Don't forget to run spell-check.

Do respond to every e-mail that you receive.

Don't reveal confidential information in your e-mail exchanges.

Don't meet in person until you've actually talked on the phone.

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.

The site is simple, easy to navigate and it's free to sign up and create a profile.

The site launched in January 2008 and has a few thousand members so far.

As a longtime musician who also owned a record label, site creator Daniel House wanted to create a dating site that was different and that fit his lifestyle and that of his friends.

The fortysomething 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, Meat Puppets, Nirvana and Soundgarden in the early '90s. 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.

To keep up with the subculture and defiance of rock 'n' roll, the profile questionnaire offers a few options that one certainly wouldn't find at eHarmony.com: under the smoking category, "420 only" is an option, and under the "here for" section is the brutally honest "purely sexual" response.

"I made a conscious effort to leave certain things out -- like a person's ethnicity," House said. "The profile doesn't ask for your hair or eye color -- first of all, if you have a picture up, people can see that, and in the bigger picture of things, those things and ethnicity are sort of irrelevant.

"I also didn't include an income category -- that's just obnoxious." The 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.

"It's a great way to meet someone -- at a show," House said.

"If someone is searching profiles and sees that you are going to the same show that they are, it gives a great conversation starter like, 'Hey, I've got an extra ticket.' It also creates a safe and central place for people to meet for the first time, where there's music and lots of people around." Rocknrolldating user Lejoiedevivre, 30, joined the site after hearing about it on the radio. "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 in an e-mail interview.

"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)."

Dodgerbarbie, 40, heard about the site through an e-mail list and joined because it was free, looked fun and "Why not?" She wasn't necessarily intrigued by being matched by music taste (her favorite artists include Foo Fighters, Judas Priest, Dixie Chicks and Carly Simon).

"Being matched by what you listen to doesn't really sound that helpful to me ... mostly because a guy who listened to the same stuff I listened to would be a really weird guy," she said.