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One Direction Or Consider Me Dead: Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan And Brandon Pettitt Experiences In Music

By Kim McLendon
Published on: 21:38 PST, Dec 11, 2016

One Direction’s Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan have experienced quite a different set of opportunities than Consider Me Dead’s Brandon Pettitt, Chris Brewington, and Kevin McGuire. X-Factor and Simon Cowell made a huge difference in the lives of Styles, Malik, Tomlinson, Horan and Payne. So what did they get, and what did they sacrifice for it.

One Direction’s Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik were in the same band but experienced the situation differently. Styles loved the stage that made Zayn Malik so anxious. Huge stadium crowds were at times terrifying for Zayn. Harry, though, loved center stage.

One Direction provided a far different experience for Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan than being in a band called Consider Me Dead. Brandon Pettitt, Chris Brewington, and Kevin McGuire are Consider Me Dead. They are guys who, like One Direction’s Harry Styles and Zayn Malik, have been interested in music since their childhood and in bands since their teens.

One Direction’s Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson got a huge start from X Factor and Simon Cowell. Simon Cowell financed their start, taking a big risk, and because of that, he took a huge percentage of their earnings, perhaps as much as 50 percent according to IMMF, a group that advises music managers.

Also, One Direction probably signed an option contract. In an option contract, the band cannot escape the contract for five or perhaps even seven years, but management can end the contract when they choose. The Inquisitr has more on One Direction’s recording contract. These kinds of contracts represent risk on both sides.

One Direction made five albums. Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson traveled five world tours in five years. Zayn Malik didn’t make the fifth and final tour. Consider Me Dead has made three albums in the same time period according to Last FM – Young at Heart, Up In Lights, and Consider Me Dead. One Direction has merchandise and so does Consider Me Dead. There are some cool T-shirts, hats, stickers and posters on Merch Now.

Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and the rest of One Direction were very supervised on tour. Cowell provided a huge departure from the traditional band experience. Consider Me Dead is touring the old fashioned way.

One Direction’s Harry Styles thrived on the demanding job of being in One Direction, playing 80 to 100 concerts a year, doing public appearances and going on world tours. Niall, however, hated being cooped up in hotels. Niall Horan once complained of not getting to see the world that he traveled. The boys were not allowed to leave the hotel and tour bus.

Unlike One Direction, Consider Me Dead are not going on any world tours or packing huge stadiums. They are traveling throughout the United States and entertaining at smaller venues like festivals and clubs.

Unlike One Direction’s Harry Styles and Zayn Malik, Consider Me Dead drive themselves to the shows, stopping along the way if they want. Brandon Pettitt, Chris Brewington, and Kevin McGuire wander the streets of each town to their heart’s content. The videos show how much fun they have. Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan are finally traveling around unfettered too while on hiatus.

Whether in One Direction or Consider Me Dead, if one is Harry Styles, Zayn Malik or Brandon Pettitt the music industry is challenging. Technology, social media and shows like the X-Factor have changed the music business quite a bit since the 1980s, but the basics remain the same. Opportunities arise, choices have to be made quickly, and the music business is hard work, but it can also be fun.

One Direction’s Harry Styles [Image by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]

One Direction’s beginnings were televised. In 2010, Simon Cowell chose Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan and created One Direction. Simon Cowell invested a lot of money and he made millions off One Direction in return.

Unlike One Direction, Brandon Pettitt, Chris Brewington, and Kevin McGuire were always friends. Consider Me Dead was born in a swimming pool, when the two teen-aged boys, Brandon and Chris broke into a hotel pool and discussed the name of a band they’d like to create one day. Amazingly it happened.

One Direction’s Harry Styles was in a band with his school friends before X-Factor called White Eskimo. White Eskimo still exists and they sound great. There are some White Eskimo YouTube videos that are mind blowing, but Stiles gave that up for One Direction.

One Direction’s Harry Styles has millions of reasons to be glad he went with One Direction rather than White Eskimo, but there is a lot to be said for the adventure of touring the traditional way as well. Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik all benefited from their deal with Simon Cowell, but did they miss some things along the way?

One Direction Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson [Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

One Direction was kept safe and out of trouble, and in many ways that is something to be thankful for. One Direction never played seedy clubs or tried to navigate cross country, driving the tour bus. Nor did Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne or Niall Horan wander around on city streets alone as teens. Consider Me Dead members do that stuff regularly, and it sounds like they have a lot of fun adventures.

Both One Direction and Consider Me Dead love the music. Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan are all trying to contribute something musically and so are Brandon Pettitt, Chris Brewington, and Kevin McGuire. When the band was asked in the video interview above, what moments did they feel music helped them get through, Brandon said something profound.

“It’s not just one moment but all the time, there’s always music to match the emotion that your feeling. That’s all music is. It’s emotion through sound.”

Zayn Malik, One Direction’s Harry Styles, and Niall Horan are all giving us their emotions in sound, even more perhaps with their solo work. Consider Me Dead are also sharing their emotions. They have a lot of artistic freedom to do that.

Zayn Malik has mentioned before that One Direction did not have enough creative freedom, even though they wrote their own songs. They were censored by management. Now though One Direction’s Harry Styles, Liam Payne, and Niall Horan will be under another contract and free to express themselves without censorship when they get back from hiatus.

One Direction’s Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson got an exceptional opportunity on X-Factor. Not everyone gets that, but bands can still make nice careers for themselves in the same ways they always have, and Consider Me Dead is proof of that. They offer the following advice to aspiring musicians.

“It takes time. Keep going. It takes practice… and the Internet.”

One Direction and Consider Me Dead members all maintain a strong social media presence on the internet. These days it is vital to almost every field but especially music. Cultivating a social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others requires a lot of work, but Brandon Pettitt is working hard to build up that presence. Consider Me Dead has 774,000 Twitter followers.

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One Direction’s Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Luis Tomlinson and Liam Payne got a huge head start to fame, but Consider Me Dead is having fun on the way.

[Featured Image by Carlos Alvarez /Getty Images]

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