How does a teenage hardcore fan who lives in Denmark hear about a hardcore band from Ames, Iowa?

The World Wide Web, of course.

As use of the Internet has become more embraced by the music industry, Ames bands are doing their part by adding to the vast sea of bands available to anyone with a modem.

By getting into the right Web rings, local bands have been promoting themselves not only across the nation, but around the world.

“Our Web site has done so much for us,” 35″ Mudder drummer Dave Egan said. “We’ve gotten tons of e-mails from people who have been to our site. We’ve got links to a few regional bands, as well as a lot of local bands.”

Egan said selling 35″ Mudder CDs over the Web has been the best element of the band’s site. “We’ve sold CDs to people in Europe, and across the U.S. There’s no way we ever could’ve done this without a few sound clips on our Web site.”

Check out the Web sites of these Ames area bands:

35″ Mudder — www.public.iastate.edu/~gbh/Mudder

Mr. Plow — www.angelfire.com/ ia/MrPlowGRRR/index.html

Grubby Ernie — www.public.iastate.edu/~gbh/grubby

The Nadas — www.thenadas.com

Pookey Bleum — www.public.iastate.edu/~ahefley/pookey.html

Custom — www.public.iastate .edu/~mpotter/custom/splash.html

Deadfront — www.deadfront.com

Smackdab — www.smakdabonline.com

— Sam Johnson