DownTown Diary:The Blog
|
DownTown Diary:The Blog
|
|
1 Good Turn Deserves Another (Part 1)... 1 of the main goals of mine as a musician was to play with great musicians...and getting to work
with the rhythm section that propels
Bruce Springsteen's
E Street Band--Garry
Tallent & Max Weinberg, was as
good as it could get for me! It was an experience that taught me a great deal
about playing in the studio, particularly recording basic tracks... I already knew that I wanted to work with drummer extraordinaire Steve Holley, who engineer Ben Elliott had kept telling me I should do a project with, but what I needed next was a bass player for the sessions. When I called Steve up, I asked him if he had any bass players he could recommend, and he mentioned Paul Page. Paul is somewhat of an "Urban Legend" because he's based in NYC and he's played with everyone on that scene. I wanted a guy who could find the groove and Paul was that guy. The real fun
in playing with Steve & Paul is that they're such great musicians & consummate
professionals...there's never any doubt that they have your back because they're
so quick in learning and creating parts, leaving you to So there's Steve telling the story behind how he came into possession of the box and then pulling out the maracas, and then playing the part that they were used on "A Day in the Life"...or the old wooden tambourine that was used on "Day Tripper" & "We Can Work it Out" and then laying a part down on my track with the same tambourine! It was while recording
"Standing Still" that I asked
Bruce Engler to come down to the studio one
night and work his slide guitar magic
on "Rise And Fall #2". Bruce would
also add a harmony vocal and a lead guitar track to a
It would take me a few more months to finish the project and then I had to master and think about releasing it. In the meantime, we needed to finish recording more tracks to have a full album for Bruce. But the rhythm section was not available. Both Steve & Paul are busy session players or on the road
working, so it the window of opportunity closed in a hurry. It was becoming
clearly apparent to me that I needed to focus my attention on my own project and
come back to work on Bruce's when everyone's scheduled would allow for us to all
get together.
**************************************************************************
Phoenix Rising... This is my time and my turn now. It's taken me 5 years to recover and get my
sense of purpose back after I had abandoned the
DownTown Mystic project on 9/11. I had decided to do a mailing to
Triple A
Radio. As fate would have it, the packages were sitting in the post office on the morning of 9/11
when the planes hit. When I saw
I guess the packages were mailed out, but I never bothered to follow up. Everything just seemed so insignificant in the face of that tragedy. I took it as an omen and felt that I needed time to make sense of it all. I still haven't made sense of it. I don't think anyone has or ever will. I also think that we're all still in shock. One of the reasons I've decided to bring this project back was
a need to "feel" again after being
"numb" for so long. I know there's a good many people who feel the
same way but might not have the outlet that I do. My hope is that this music will help let people feel their
emotions again. This project has a I know it's allowed me to get back in touch with my feelings. That's one of
the main reasons why I hooked up with Bruce Engler this time around. He
had some songs that I always felt a connection to and thought they
It would be very easy to get caught up in the "bottle is half empty" syndrome, but it was another opportunity presenting itself and maybe the most important one of all. You just never know unless you're willing to stop feeling sorry for yourself and take another look at the situation and the possibilities. In a way, it's come full circle for me, and very apropos that I'm working with Bruce Engler on the DownTown Mystic project now. It's been a very karmic journey and in the case of Bruce, I see it as Good Karma coming back to me. They say "you reap what you sow" and I was about to find that out... To quote the famous line, "freedom is just another word for
nothing left to lose"...is pretty much how I felt about going back into the
studio to resurrect this project. Like the Phoenix rising from its own ashes, I
could feel the juices flowing once again when I got back in the studio with
Bruce and my trusty engineer extraordinaire, Ben Elliott.
Originally I had recorded a version of the song
"One More Chance", which I co-wrote
I don't know what it was about the song, except for us literally creating our future, but it always seemed to be the one track sticking out in mixing and then mastering that wasn't quite right. I became so focused on it that I knew it had to be everything we wanted it to be. I would go back to spend an extra day re-mixing it after having already finished a great mix. It always amazes me at the amount of minutia that I can spend on the details of recording a track. After listening to 5 or 6 different mixes for hours on end of "One More Chance", I had this feeling that it still wasn't right. So I went back in and discussed it with Ben. Ben thought we should get it right before continuing on with
mixing the other tracks, while it was still fresh in my mind. When we finished
the new mixes I knew we had finally nailed it. I can't tell you how satisfying
it felt, especially when Ben said that we definitely had improved on the
previous mixes! After finishing mixing the album, I went to master the project.
Again, of course, the one song that would require extra work and be the last one
that needed the last few tweaks would be "One More Chance". It got the
attention of my mastering guy Larry
Bentley, who was also scratching his head about it. So it wasn't just
me! Months after the recording was over and the cds were manufactured, I decided to finally take the project to the world of AAA Radio. I had heard all the debates about the format, non-commercial vs commercial, but it really didn't matter. I was determined to finally do what I had walked away from in 2001 and get DownTown Mystic out there. It just so happened that the annual AAA Non-Comm confab in Louisville was about to take place in a few weeks. I registered and booked my flight to Louisville, and at the last minute, I contacted my old friend Jim Nelson, who puts out the Taste of TripleA cd samplers that go out to everyone at AAA Radio. Thanks to Jim, I was able to get "One More Chance" on the Taste of TripleA cd sampler that would be in all the goodie bags at Non-Comm. I literally got it on the cd just before the deadline and almost as an afterthought. I went down to
Two days after returning from Louisville, I got a phone call from a Program Director in Florida. His name was G. Michael Keating and his station WBCG, was the only AAA commercial station in the entire state of Florida. He said he had been listening to the Taste of Triple A sampler and liked "One More Chance" so much that he was adding it to his playlist immediately...this was huge!! I couldn't quite get my ears around this news. It seemed a bit too unreal. The days of Radio Program Directors adding something new that they like, without any kind of audience research, have been over for some time now. And the chances of it happening, particularly for an unknown artist, are very very rare. This was like hitting the lottery on the 1st try! The radio promo guys I had hired wouldn't be going for adds for another 5 or 6 weeks, mainly because the cd wouldn't be mailed out to the stations for another 2 weeks...and we already had our 1st add! This was truly amazing. G. Michael became our "angel" and after 6 weeks of 6-8 spins a week, he put us in "Power Rotation", giving "One More Chance" 28 spins per week...unheard of for the typical AAA station. G. also wrote me an incredible email about how great he thought the song was and that we were "really onto something" with the project...it made my head spin! "Believe me when I say (as a 33-year vet of rock radio and a frustrated musician), One More Chance is a hit! They don't make 'em like this anymore...and they should, all day. It has all the ingredients: lyrics, arrangement, structure, guitar, vocal, length...and not necessarily in that order! It is a wonderful hit track that feels like a refreshing "throw back" to the day when bands and producers recorded songs for longevity. This is Doobie Brothers, or take your pick solid 70s-styled quality adult rock. It is unlike anything out there now, for a long while"...G.Michael Keating PD/WBCG Most
importantly, his words & actions not only validated the project for me as well
as Bruce, but also reaffirmed our belief in everything we held sacred about
Music. 6 months earlier we were totally dejected and suddenly we were on top of
the world. Talk about the
Phoenix Rising...
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story...Part 1: Bruce Engler I started Sha-La Music as a publishing company, as a vehicle to get my songs out to the music industry, as well as a way to discover and hook up with other songwriters. The company was founded in September of 1987. The music business was changing and becoming more corporate. Even back then it was becoming clear that the music was taking a back seat to business. The Indie sector was getting squeezed out by the major corporations more and more, which is exactly the way the majors wanted it. Over the next 4 years I got involved in various projects that I invested time
& money in. I was co-writing a R&B/Pop project that was co-published with
Polygram and co-publishing a New Age project at the same time. Plus I signed a
co-publishing deal in Nashville. I had been away
from Rock for 6 or 7 years and quite frankly, I didn't miss it. I'd always been
a musician with my own rock bands and Well, not that easy. Music was in my blood and I knew I could never leave it behind. It would not let me do that. So the publishing company seemed like the next logical step. It was difficult at first because I had never been the kind of songwriter to write the conventional type of songs that get covered and played on the radio. I mean my songs are "catchy" by any standard, but they don't necessarily play to the formulas that the business employs. Nevertheless, I had good "ears" and knew talent when I heard it. So I opened my mind & ears to anyone or anything that came my way. It was in the early 90's that a tape came in the mail. I think it was a Saturday afternoon. If you're wondering how I could remember something so trivial, I'll let you in on the reason. Most of the tapes I'd get in the mail were terrible. Not just terrible sounding, but most of all, terrible songs. Some were so bad, they were actually good, in a humorous way. Like William Hung on American Idol. Just horrid stuff. When something had anything that was remotely pleasing to the ear, I would take notice. So this tape came in the mail on a Saturday and I put it right on, probably because I had nothing better to do. It was from some guy in Hoboken, which was an odd little town in NJ that was famous for being Frank Sinatra's hometown. Anyway, I played the tape and was immediately surprised by what I heard.
But none of that stuff matters to me. I mean, I understand it from a business POV, but that's not what makes me tick. I go by what my "ears" and instincts tell me and they were telling me this guy Bruce had something interesting. It was only 3 songs, but it made me want to hear more from him. So I called him up to tell him I got his tape and liked it, and did he have more material? Bruce sounded like a really nice guy. I liked him right away. It seems he had been in a band that had nearly made it by getting to the finals on "Star Search", which would be kind of a forerunner of "American Idol". I never watched the show, but I knew it had been a big deal on TV with Ed McMahon as the host. The group didn't win and ended up breaking up. Bruce had started to write some songs and record them. He thought he's send some of them out to see what kind of reaction he'd get from publishers. I think I was the 1st one he had sent the tape. I told him that I liked his stuff, but that I didn't think it was an easy sell
from a publishing end. I really liked his voice and asked him if he ever
considered being an artist.
That's kind of where Bruce was at. We had a nice chat and he said he'd send me some more stuff and that he wanted to pursue the publishing thing a bit more since I was only the 1st person he'd sent anything to yet. That was certainly understandable. But at any rate. I had just had my 1st encounter with Bruce Engler from Hoboken, NJ. Bruce sent me another tape with 3 more songs, one of which was called "Letter To My Brother". I really liked that one. It was Pop & Rock, which I understood, but not in a conventional way...which is probably why I liked it. "Takes one to know one", right? So I called and spoke with Bruce again. Once again I pushed the artist idea on him. I thought he had a great voice that was very unique sounding to me that really helped to set his songs apart. Bruce was still kind of standoffish, but said he had thought about it after our 1st conversation. Little by little I began to get through to him. He began to think about being
an artist more and more, until one day he was ready to commit to it. It was also
around this time that the idea of being a manager came to But the wheels had been set in motion and within a few months I would be managing my 1st artist. The following year, Bruce became my 2nd artist. But in that year, I did a lot of soft selling to Bruce. He needed to find the confidence in himself and in someone who believed in him. I happened to be that someone. It was not easy. I always have to step back and really look at myself to see if I'm doing the right thing because this is someone's life we're talking about. Does this person have the ability and the drive to do this? It's not easy. Faith vs. Fear. It's a fine line for anyone, but especially for an artist. When you're in any business that judges everything that you do, you need something more than just confidence. That's where Faith comes in. The music business is the kind of business that can eat away at your soul until you're empty inside. So if you don't have any Faith in yourself and what you're doing, you might as well find a new line of work because you don't stand a chance. A big part of a manager's job is being a cheerleader. Sometimes you have to build up an artist's confidence in themselves. Insecurity comes with the territory. They're up there baring themselves in front of everyone. That takes a certain amount of courage as well as talent, and a good manager has to know how and when to boost an artist's ego until they gain their confidence & faith. That's why I'm so reluctant about managing someone's career. It's a great responsibility if you choose to undertake it and do it in the right way. It doesn't always work out the way you hope, so you want to be sure that you did the right thing. Meanwhile, Bruce had become a pet project. We hadn't talked about management because I didn't want to pressure him into anything. He had the talent and ability, but he didn't seem that convinced in himself becoming an artist. He also moved out of Hoboken, further away, to western NJ. He had a girlfriend who was moving out of state and his doubts were mounting. I knew this was becoming a defining moment to whether he would stay or go. One of the first things I discovered about Bruce, aside from his songwriting,
was his guitar playing. I'm a guitar player I had some music for unfinished songs that I played for him. He liked one in particular and we began to work on it together. I told him that I had a melody for it but that I didn't want to constrain him with it. It would be better to start fresh and let him run with it. A few weeks later he came over to my house and played me what he had come up with. I loved his lyrics with the new melody and the B section he had written to connect my verse chords to my chorus chords. While we sat there playing, a title came to me and I began to write the
lyrics for the chorus. By the time Bruce left that day, I know that I played a part in Bruce taking himself and his music to another level. It's one of the things I'm most proud of because he could have just as easily cursed me for it. He just needed a push and I was the one guy that provided it for him. Even though the management would end a few years later, our relationship stayed intact. Bruce decided he wanted to leave his solo thing, to join a band that began to occupy all of his time. He saw it as a chance to really develop his writing and playing skills and he wanted to see where he could take it. He asked me if I would be cool with it, and I told him to go ahead and make the most of the opportunity. He would finally find what he was looking for. They say that "good things come to those who wait". Certainly Bruce has been
patient with all the ups & downs he's faced. I'm sure it hasn't gone the way
that he would have liked. I'm sure that's true for most people. I know it's true
for me. But we're still here, a little older and hopefully, a whole lot wiser.
Most importantly, we're still making music and that's something we have to look
at as our biggest success, because it truly is "all about the music".
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story...Part 2: The Saga of Shotgun Symphony... With Bruce becoming the 2nd artist I would manage, it ushered in the next phase of my career--that of Artist Representation. Sha-La was now becoming a management company, something I had been resisting for awhile. For the next 10 years it would consume my time 24/7. But it was also an opportunity to do something different to challenge myself. For one thing, it would lead me back to rock'n'roll. It was something I understood, and as a musician, it uniquely qualified me to deal with people like myself. My 1st artist had been a very talented black female singer named Cheryl Adams, who should have been the next Tina Turner. A good looking female with a great voice should not have been a hard sell. But when she's black and sings Rock, suddenly everything changes. The labels seem to have a hard time with this, primarily I think, because they have a hard time with anything that is different and not like everything else they sell. Which brings me to what makes a star. As far as I'm concerned, a star is
someone who doesn't sound like everyone on the scene. They
The industry loves to talk about "career artists". The problem is it's just
talk because they forgot how to create career artists. Who's out Not long after Bruce signed a management deal with me, I got a call from an associate in LA that I co-published some songs with, about a band from NJ. The call from Judithe came from out of the blue. Judithe Randall is a sweet crazy lady who writes songs and is very talented at calligraphy, and would call me from time to time in the middle of the night. She would have made a good vampire.(lol) She's what they call an "eccentric" and since I've been called the same thing, we were kind of simpatico with each other. Judithe's father & uncle or maybe it was just her uncle (?) was one of the creators of "Gilligan's Island". I forget now how we met, but Judithe called to tell me her daughter had just
been over in England and saw this great band called But I listened to the cd and thought the songs were really good. The biggest problem was that the 80's were over and dead as far the US market was concerned. But I decided to meet with them anyway and see what their story was. We met and they told me that they had a cult following overseas. They had just returned and the response overwhelmed them. They seemed like good guys who seemed to know what they wanted. When they said they wanted to take it as far as they could, I pretty much signed on. After we signed the management papers I went into the studio with them to
record the demos for their next cd. Then they put me in touch with the owner of
the label in the UK. It was an indie label called Now & Then Records
and the owner was
The reality was that he probably didn't have much dealings with managers and being more of a fan, preferred to do his business directly with the artist. My first inkling of the trouble ahead with Mark was when we talked about bringing the band over for a tour. I made it very clear that I represented the band and would work with him directly on their behalf. Mark said he was fine with that. But then I got one of those calls in the middle of the night from Judithe. She had exciting news about Shotgun's tour! Really? I wonder why I haven't heard from Mark? Anyway, things would go downhill from there with Mark. It didn't seem to matter how many times I asked him to keep me in the loop. He did his own thing and I usually found out from another source. Nice way to do business, right? I won't bother going into all the details about the goings on over the next few years because it could fill a book. Suffice to say, I got my managing stripes through a "baptism by fire". I ended up getting Shotgun out of their contract with Mark. But in reality, I felt that the two were made for each other. My intuition told me they would get back together someday. Of course, that's exactly what happened once I was out of the picture, but that was 4 or 5 years later. In baseball they say that managers are hired to be fired. It comes with the territory. You can't do the job if that's what you're worried about. For the first 2 years I got pretty tight with the band. A big part of it was
the fact that when they parted ways with Mark, their future seemed up in the
air. Yes, they had a cult following in Europe, but it was mainly due to Mark
Ashton's connections. He knew the reviewers and got them great press. Mark was
part of a small group of collectors in Europe who loved the music of the 80's
that they called "melodic rock".
The easy thing would have been to cut the band loose because the odds were all stacked against them. But I didn't. Instead I made a commitment to them. It was a commitment that I kept until they decided to break it. Such is the life of a manager. But before that happened, I recorded a live cd in England, did 2 videos and made deals for the band in Europe and Japan. My role as a manager kind of morphed into being a production company for the band. I financed all of these projects and that would lead to the problems that would end the relationship. They say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and that's exactly what
this experience turned out to be. It would be easy to
The band had met Fletch while on tour in the UK. I had put the
band up at the Kensington Hilton in London and it was there they met
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story...Shotgun Symphony... The making of Shotgun Symphony's masterpiece, "Forget The Rain", was one of the toughest ordeals I would experience as their manager. For one thing, there was no money for recording it. The band no longer had a deal with Now & Then and there was not much interest in a "one off" live cd. I had made a commitment to the band to continue on and I took this on as another challenge of my abilities. After being given the runaround for almost a year by the Japanese company that had put out their 1st cd, I decided it was time to break away from the band's former contacts. I made contact with a larger Japanese label called Teichiku and set up a meeting with them in NYC. I was able to get the band a deal for their live cd and their next studio one. Of course, the only thing I could play Teichiku were the demos that Shotgun had done when I first joined them. In the meantime, Shotgun's photogapher had come to a Sha-La Christmas
party and made a point of getting me to listen to her boyfriend's band. I gave
their tape a listen and thought it was along the same lines as 2 new indie bands
that had broken through in a big way with their brand of punk rock--Green Day
& The Offspring. I thought the band might have a shot with US labels,
which was
I had a few meetings with the band. They called themselves "The Living End", which I didn't really care for. But like Shotgun, they were nice guys and I started to take an interest in them. They weren't virtuosos like Shotgun, but then they didn't have to be to play Punk. After a few months, I agreed to manage them and put them in the studio. It was March of 1995 and I flew Tom Fletcher in from LA to start recording with Shotgun. "The Living End" were scheduled to go into the studio towards the end of the month after Shotgun had finished recording the first 5 songs of their cd. This way I could be there for both projects. Fletch arrived in early March. I picked him up at the airport and drove him
straight to where Shotgun was rehearsing. He listened to a few songs and then
told the band that if they were interested in doing the same kind of stuff that
was on their 1st cd, then he wasn't The band was open for anything with Fletch and he proceeded to take another demoed song and break it down. The band took his instructions and were able to make the needed changes. After a couple of more songs, the band was totally into it. We took a dinner break and before we returned for more rehearsal, I asked Fletch if he would hang out a bit while I had a meeting with the band. I had been listening to what had be going down and was as excited as the band
about it. But the more changes that Fletch made to the songs, the more this
uneasy feeling began to come over me. By the time we had gone to dinner, I was
tense and knew what the problem was. I waited to get back to talk to the band
about it. I told them that I understood their
The problem for me was that the songs had totally changed. There was nothing that resembled any of the songs they had demoed. The reality was that if they recorded these new versions with Fletch, they would alienate their audience in Europe. I said that I didn't think the labels would be into it. It was too much of a departure from what people expected from them. As their manager I felt I had a responsibility to tell them this and that they risked whatever career they had overseas. But then I also told them that I would back whatever decision they came up with. The band could not be deterred. They said that they had been looking for something to change the style they had been locked into and Fletch was a breath of fresh air for them. He was doing and giving them exactly what they needed to make a change for the better. They told me not to worry and that their new material would blow their fans away. With that, I relented and the recording with Fletch began. Of course, there was still one small snag. The band had never said anything to the producer of their 1st cd, Alan Douches, that he would not be producing. I had actually helped Alan carry his huge mixing console down to the basement of his new house after he had moved some 8 months earlier. Outside of listening to the tapes of the live show at his place when I got back from the UK, I don't think I had another conversation with Alan. That was until the night before we went into the studio. My phone rang and a very irate Alan was on the other end, calling me every name in the book. It seems that the engineer at the studio where we were recording, had called Alan, when he found out the Fletcher would be producing. Alan was outraged by how the band and myself could stab him in the back like that. It's a funny thing how people have selective memories about certain things.
After listening to Alan rant & rave for 5 minutes, I had enough. I asked him why
he assumed that he would be producing when he never kept in touch with me or the
band? Never a call to Alan's call was just an omen of the kind of crap I would have to deal with in
regards to Shotgun Symphony. The plan, according to the recording budget, was to
spend a week recording 5 tracks at a studio close to my house in NJ, and then a
week in NYC mixing. It turned out to be wishful thinking on my part.
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story...Shotgun Symphony...10 Years After... While Shotgun was able to record all the music for 5 tracks that would become the first half of "Forget The Rain", they had not recorded any vocals. So instead of going to mix in NYC, we spent the week doing vocals. And only 2 tracks would be finished at that. With Fletch only able to stay in town for another week and not wanting to fail to get all 5 tracks finished, I busted my ass trying to find a studio on such short notice. I ended up booking 3 studios to record the vocals for the remaining tracks. Because we had run over schedule, I was not able to attend the studio
sessions for The Living End, which had
I liked Ben and the studio and we worked well together in the mixing sessions for The Living End. As luck would have it, Ben had a day open for Fletch to come in and finish the vocals for a track he had written with Shotgun called "What If". This was after spending the week in 2 other studios and we had to finish it that day because Fletch was flying out the next day. March of 1995 was coming to an end and I had 2 projects that were both half completed. While Shotgun had spent 3 weeks to finish recording 5 tracks at 5 different
studios, they were officially over In the meantime I began to shop The Living End to US labels. The response was lukewarm at best, which I could not understand. The tracks they had recorded were right in line with what was happening in the market at that time. Between Grunge & Punk, The Living End seemed to fit right in. But there were no takers and that frustrated me. I told the band they needed to come up with another half dozen songs to finish the project. If nobody was willing to sign them, then I would put out their cd.
By the time Fletcher had arrived in May, some cracks had started to appear in my relationship with Shotgun. As I had predicted at the rehearsal in March, the response from some of their European supporters was not good. In the case of Olivier Garnier, the A&R guy at their French label Arcade, who had to be their biggest fan, and who simply said "he hated the new material"! This was not good and not what the band expected (even though I told them to expect it). Add to that, my new interest in another band that played music that Shotgun didn't care for, and the stage was set for tension & trouble. Since the recording had gone over budget, I had to find a way to come up with
the money to finish the project. The initial budget for the project would be doubled, due in no small part to LA Producer/Engineer, Tom Fletcher. Fletch was indeed a character and it usually took him a few days of staying in New Jersey to come down to earth. Living & dealing out in LA was a whole other world in relation to NJ and the East Coast in general. We had no time for the kind of games and nonsense that went on, on a daily basis in La La Land. Once Fletch spent a few days soaking up the "East Coast vibe", he was a different person. But I had to get him first and that usually took some doing, like 1st class airline tickets and such. Tom Fletcher, besides being an extremely talented producer & engineer, was
also one of the funniest people I have ever met. He did an impersonation of Sam
Kinneson, with Kinneson's unique voice, down cold. I've never heard anyone
before or since, imitate the crazy
When Fletch was here, I became his manager and took care of things for him. He would always tell me I was the main reason he was doing the project. He came to respect me and my "ears" in the studio and he began to rely on my input more and more. It was at this point I had to mediate between him and Shotgun for writing credits on the songs. Fletch made his case to me and I could see his points. He had a big hand in changing the structure and arrangements. The real question was where did the producing fit in the equation? I went to the band with Fletch's concerns and got them to come to an
agreement they could both live with and consider fair to each party. But I also
couldn't help but wonder how much this would affect my relationship with
Shotgun. I could see, that in their eyes, I was taking another's side against
them. This was partially true, Toad Hall was a domed shaped building, across from the home of the
woman that owned it. She was an artist and had converted the building into a
recording studio. It was a very cool place that was situated off a wooded path
that you drove through to get to. Behind Toad Hall
But Fletcher would have to come back to finish recording at Toad Hall in
August and then it was over the GWB to Unique Recording in NYC to mix. By
the time August was over, "Forget The Rain"
had been recorded and 5 tracks had been mixed. Heading into September, The
Living End prepared for their 2nd trip into Showplace Studios.
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story...Meet The Discontent... Over the summer of 1995, The Living End had written 7 new songs and I told them we would go back into the studio in the fall with the intent of finishing a cd. The band was psyched and readied the songs for the studio. In contrast, managing Shotgun Symphony was becoming a royal pain in the ass. Their jealousy of my managing another band was becoming more obvious . In August, were were mixing at Unique in NYC. I had played Fletch the tracks that The Living End had recorded in March on our way into the city and he liked what he heard. So much so, that he wanted to work with the band and asked me if he could
meet them. I told the band and set up a time for them to come to Unique and meet
Fletcher. This was exciting news for them and they wanted to meet Fletch too.
The band showed up during a
When Fletch had finished mixing 5 tracks at Unique for Shotgun, he was still in town for a couple of days. I asked him to do me a favor and remix one of the tracks by The Living End. Fletch was happy to do it and I booked Unique for one more night. We went in and Fletch picked a song that he wanted to remix. The track was called "Bulletproof" and when he was done, it kicked ass. When I played it for the band they were mightily impressed. The following month they would return to Showplace Studios with a new name--The Discontent. I had been wanting to change the name of The Living End since I first heard it. My opinion stayed permanent after going to LA to master Shotgun's live cd with Fletch, and seeing the name on a poster at a restaurant on Sunset. From that point on, I was looking for a new name for the band. I had been listening to their demos over the summer before going into Showplace for the 2nd time, and was trying to think of a name that would capture the sound of the band. A name that would let you know what kind of music to expect, and when you heard the music, you would immediately place it with the name of the band. For some reason, the word "discontent" came to me. I liked it. It was a
perfect one word description of the band and their music. But it The band agreed and had no problem with the new name. They entered the studio the 2nd time with more confidence and stronger material. Working with them was a pleasure, made more so by the fact, that working with Shotgun was becoming more difficult. With Fletch back in LA, getting ready to work with a re-formed Yes, the band took exception to one of the final mixes that had just been completed. A big part of their problem was that they found change a bit difficult. They like everything to be planned out like their music. There was no room for improvisation. What amazed me about them was that, as good as they were as musicians, they had never jammed together. They were very uptight kind of guys, who didn't like much variation to their routine. This, despite the fact, they liked and wanted Fletch to help them change their music. It always baffled me about them. It should be said that I spent hours on the phone nearly everyday talking to
these guys. We had regular meetings to discuss business that had been talked
about for hours over the phone everyday. I had never before or since managed
anyone who had so many meetings. On the other hand, The Discontent never
bothered about meetings. There were happy to have me managing for them and they
trusted me to make decisions for them. And I never made decisions for a client
without consulting them...especially Shotgun Symphony.
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story: Shotgun Symphony...The Beginning of The End... Before the recording of Live in London, I sat down with Shotgun to discuss our future together. We had come back from Europe with a serious question mark about the band, due to a nasty incident with Mark Ashton. The band had been scheduled to do a live recording at The Marquee Club in London and were knocked off the gig on purpose by their own label. And it happened while fans were lined up down the street waiting to see the band! It was a totally underhanded move by Ashton and his people, and this was the final straw that caused the band to sever their ties with him. It was at this point that I could have bailed on the band. But I didn't. We
sat down to discuss the future together and I told them that if
I should say here that I'm one of those managers that feels artists should be very proactive in their careers. Nobody cares as much as they do about themselves and I always encourage my artists to help me to help themselves. I look at it as a team that needs to be focused and committed together. Artists have to take responsibility for their actions and all the decisions that are made by them and on their behalf. To plead ignorance is ridiculous, especially if they have been kept informed on all activities. I say this because when it comes to "ignorance", Shotgun was a prime example. Like any relationship, you have to be willing to give the other person the "benefit of the doubt" when a disagreement first emerges and the facts are not clear. It's easy to say, especially with young bands, "they didn't know any better"...or "they don't know, what they don't know". This way each side gets to feel the other side out so that trust, which is the ultimate goal in any relationship, is finally established. This way the relationship gets off on the "right footing". So I got a call from Shotgun, telling me that they didn't like one of
Fletcher's mixes and it would have to be re-mixed. This was too
As you might imagine, this did not sit well with them. It was really at this point that I needed to make it clear to them that this arrangement had turned from a management deal into a production deal. I was their partner in the project and I owned 50% of it since I was paying for Fletcher and the studio time. The project had gone over budget and would nearly double by the time it was finally finished. And it wasn't finished yet. Fletcher still had 4 more songs to mix and that wasn't going to happen until the end of the year. The situation was tense. Money was tight and this band was getting on my
nerves. And it wouldn't change. Some things were said and done that did not sit
well with me. This was all overshadowing the fact that the band had gone to
another level musically with Fletcher and were sitting on the best music of
their careers. What should have been a really great and happy time was turning
into something ugly and petty. It was a real shame. Their objection was about an
intro to a song. They always played it a certain way and Fletcher had changed
it. The truth was their original intro sounded too dated and clashed with the
new material. Fletch found a way to keep the band from shooting themselves in
the foot. But this was a band that couldn't help themselves. This had to be
their way. Otherwise, it was "unacceptable". If things were strange
between myself and Shotgun, they were about to get stranger.
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story: Shotgun Symphony...The Beginning of The End...Part 2... One day I got a call from Shotgun, telling me that I should call a guy named Jeff Odato from some indie label in Florida. What? It seems the band knew someone who knew the wife of Jeff and sent him their cd. Jeff listened to the cd and loved it and contacted them. They told him they had a manager and that they would put me in touch with Jeff. I was to call Jeff to introduce myself. This was shades of Mark Ashton all over again. This seemed innocent enough, but I had been through too much with Shotgun to buy it. This was a band that talked for days and sometimes weeks to make a simple decision. They were not what you would call "spontaneous". Sending a cd off to this guy was not a simple act for them. I had a bad vibe about it. In the past, mistakes had been fluffed off by their "ignorance". As I said earlier, at first it's easy to accept that as an explanation. But when it happens 2, 3, 4 times, using "ignorance" as an excuse, is no longer valid and distrust begins to enter. When that happens, the relationship is doomed.
It was still late summer and it was a really hot day when the showcase took place. This was just a few weeks after Fletch had left and the disagreement over his mix took place. Now they were doing a showcase for a new label. Coincidence? At any rate, the showcase was a big success. Jeff loved the band and was totally sold after seeing them play live. It would appear that things were looking up. But it would actually turn out to be downhill from here. Over the next couple of months, my relationship with Shotgun continued to be strained.
One big reason was that Jeff wanted Something wasn't right. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I felt like I was dealing with a guy who was always one step ahead of me, like he had inside information I didn't know about. I was determined to get to the bottom of it. I called Shotgun and asked them if they had supplied any info that I might not know about. They assured me that they hadn't and they couldn't understand why Jeff wasn't offering any money. The deal began to eat at me. I could not just hand over the masters that I had spent a good deal of money on, for nothing in return. In my discussions with Jeff, he let something slip about the band's deal in Japan. I didn't make anything of it at first, but when I got off the phone, I wondered how he knew any details about the deal with Teichiku. I certainly had never said anything about it to Jeff. It was one of my bargaining chips. Again, I spoke with the band and was assured that they had said nothing to Jeff. Ok, I could let it go and take their word or finally get to the bottom of that nagging feeling in the back of my head. I decided to get the information from Jeff himself, without him knowing about it. I had formulated a clever little plan and it worked perfectly. I called Jeff to talk about some mundane thing with the contract or the band and as I was about to get off the phone, I put my plan into action. Something like, "oh Jeff, before I forget, what were the songs that you had listed on the Teichiku contract?" I made it sound as innocent as I could, and also made it sound that I knew he had a copy of the agreement. He told me to hold on a sec while he looked it up, and then proceeded to tell me which songs were covered, confirming my fears and my suspicions. Shotgun had to have faxed him the Teichiku contract! There was no
other possible way for him to have it. They had lied to me over and over. It was
clear to me now why they had done it. If they could get Jeff to sign them, then
they would not need my services any
So I met with the band and told them that I knew they lied and had faxed Jeff the Japanese deal. I'm sure they had sent him every deal they had. But I did it in a way that made it sound like it was "ignorance" on their part. I used it to attack the deal. How in the world can I bargain if I have no chips? When you play poker, you don't show the other guy your hand! You've just shot off your feet, etc. I knew the meeting had been set up to fire me and I wasn't about to let that happen...yet. They came in ready to throw everything that had happened over the past 2
years back in my face as an excuse to fire me. What they hadn't planned on, was
me being aware of their plan. The meeting was at my house and for the 1st and
only time, I wore a suit. I was all business when they walked in and I never
broke character. I listened to every mistake they sought to pin on me and I
turned it right back on them. They were stunned! I wouldn't let them forget that
they had a hand in every decision that went down. They were always in the loop
and they needed to share some of the responsibility or blame. They left somewhat
befuddled. I could see them outside talking by their cars for at least another
15 minutes. They had not expected what had just occurred. It was a thing of
beauty on my part.
The next item on the agenda was to not take Jeff's deal. I had a different
option and the band agreed. I made a decision to limit the deal to basically In September I flew to LA to stay with Jeff at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood to master the EP with Fletch at Capitol Mastering. This was the same place we had mastered the "Live in London" cd, but this time was memorable because Fletch took me on the roof of the Capitol building to check out the view of LA! The mastering suites are in the basement with Capitol Studios, where Sinatra used to record. We used the same room that "Dark Side of The Moon" had been mastered! After we had finished mastering the EP, Fletch and I snuck up
to the top floor where the executive offices of Capitol Records are located and
Fletch found the door to the roof. We climbed up the ladder over where the
elevators are powered and out onto the roof...what a sight to behold...on top of
the historic Capitol building on a beautiful sunny LA day!
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story: Shotgun Symphony...The Beginning of The End...Part 3... It was time to finally finish mixing in December 1995. Getting Fletch there was another ordeal, but at this point I was on a mission
to get this record finished and nothing was going to stop me,
Shotgun was constantly compared in Europe to another great prog band,
Dream Theater. And Yes was the mother of all prog bands. So to
impress them was saying something. Fletch was also using Shotgun as a bargaining
chip
When I got back from LA, I thought I would try and reach out to Shotgun by going into the studio and doing some rough mixes on the remaining tracks. Have a little party and check out what they had done months ago, since Fletch had never done any roughs. I mean, what musician, given a free night in the studio wouldn't jump at the chance? Shotgun Symphony, that's who. Unbelievably, they said no. They seemed a little paranoid. Why would I want to do a rough mix? Who would I be playing it for? I tried to assure them that I had no ulterior motives. I thought it would be a good idea to hear what the hell these songs, that they had recorded months ago, sounded like. Didn't they want to check out the tracks. No they didn't. They'd wait for Fletcher to come back and finish mixing them. I was stunned. I hadn't expected their response. On the contrary, I thought they would be excited to hang out and have the chance to examine the tracks. But I went in the studio without them. It was strange. When I told Fletch about it, he couldn't believe it either. He wanted to hear what they sounded like! It was the end of summer when he last heard the songs, and had done another project since. Now he was working with Yes and taking time off from them to come back and finish mixing the remaining songs just before Christmas. So he was eager to hear the rough mixes that I had done by myself without the band, so he could reacquaint himself with the songs. NYC was a cold place in December 1995. Jeff flew in to check out the mixing
sessions. We had actually developed a respect for each other and were on pretty
good terms by now. Jeff understood what I had invested in Shotgun and he could
appreciate where I stood on
The mixing sessions at Unique in NYC went smoothly. Jeff decided to leave early to beat the holiday rush back to Florida. He trusted that I would get the job finished on time and on budget. That's exactly what happened and with the final mixes finished and the project finally completed, it made for a more celebratory holiday than usual. Jeff had already come up with the artwork for the EP, so we were on our way. Shotgun didn't come to my Sha-La Christmas party and I knew it was just a matter of time before we ended our deal. They had already tried and failed to fire me. I knew they would keep at it until they did.
The band thought I would be getting too much with 65% (mgt. & production). I told them that management was off the table. We were only talking about the masters and I was not going to take a management interest on top of that. No, it was too much for them. They offered me a point on each master. I thought they were joking. At the end of the day 50% or 65% of nothing is still nothing. I asked them to think about it and we continued with the new business at hand. Jeff was interested in making a video for the lead track of the EP, "What If". I told him that I had a great young director, Rune Lind, who had done their "Losing My
Mind" video and we could get a great video for
Rune is the nephew of my good friends
Monte
Farber & Amy Zerner. I set Shotgun up in a nearby motel and I stayed
with Monte & Amy, getting a rare chance to visit with them. It provided me with
an oasis in the middle of my growing problems with Shotgun. The video The following week I flew off to Cannes, France to attend Midem, the international Music Industry convention. While at Midem I won a much prized Jack Daniels leather jacket, presented to the members of the winning team of the Midem Golf Tournament. I also had dinner with our A&R man from Teichiku, where I gave him a copy of the unmastered "Forget The Rain" album. His response would be luke warm at best. On the morning of my departure from Cannes, I spoke with my wife, who read me a fax from Shotgun. The fax contained their offer for the Production Deal. It was exactly the
same as they had originally offered--1 point for each album...nothing had
changed! It was and wasn't surprising at the same time. It had been raining all
the time I had been at
Midem and I wasn't feeling too good. All I wanted to do
was get home. Shotgun could wait.
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story: Shotgun Symphony...The End of The Road... What started in early 1994 was quickly coming to an end in early 1996. In that time I had seen Shotgun Symphony go from 80s also-rans to being transformed into a modern contemporary band that had leaped light years ahead artistically & musically, thanks to the tutoring of Tom Fletcher. Unfortunately for the band, their cult following in Europe & Japan, did not like their transformation. Their new sound & look was met with criticism. Their fans did
not want to take the journey with them. They wanted to stay in the 80s and they
wanted the band to stay there with them. It would have been easy for me to say
"I told you so" but I didn't. I knew they had made a great record and it was
perfect for the 90s. If the band had any chance of moving ahead, they needed to
change their music and Every band seems to have their "Spinal Tap" moments and Shotgun was in no short supply of them. They certainly provided enough laughs for everyone, but now the situation was too close for comfort. Laughing at a joke and being the joke are not the same thing. The fun had disappeared for me and I knew it was time to get on with the business at hand. Having sent me the fax with their offer for the masters, I had to assume that they knew what they were doing. I saw this as my chance to get out, so I took it. I would force their hand to get what I wanted. And I knew they wanted me out. At a time when they needed everyone in their camp to be united, Shotgun decided to shoot themselves in the foot. It would be the first but not the last time, a band that I worked with would do this. I made them my counter offer and I was resolute to it. They responded by giving me what I asked for, but only if I stepped down as their manager. There it was...finally! I had anticipated their response and knew that they would do anything to get rid of me. I called Jeff to tell him the news. He was in shock. He knew this was not the time to be doing this and actually called the band and told them to keep me on as their manager. But I knew they had their minds made up and wouldn't budge. In fact, I was counting on it! It couldn't have come at a worse time for them...but they didn't know that yet. Jeff knew this was a disaster in the making. CJ Records was only a part time gig for him. He was a VP of an advertising agency 24/7 and he didn't have the time to be dicking around on the phone all day with Shotgun. I had been his buffer zone but now I would be gone. Their phone calls started immediately. Shotgun and I eventually signed the papers for the rights to the masters and the dissolution of our Management Agreement. They got off lightly, owing me a good sum of money and not being charged any interest. I got what I wanted and finally had Shotgun off my back. CJ folded and Jeff ended up leaving his company. He was never able to get the band a deal with a US label. Shotgun had to go back to the demos they did when we first starting working together, and return to their 80s sound for indie deals in Europe & Japan. They eventually went back to where they started...hooking up again with Mark Ashton and Now & Then, and then finally disbanding. When I look back, it was an intense 2+ years and I'm amazed at
the amount of work that I put in and the output from it. It was a tough
The most satisfaction I take from the experience is the
recording of Forget The Rain. Yes it
was difficult and basically became a "pain in the ass", but meeting &
working with In the end, my experience with Shotgun Symphony
wasn't always easy, but it certainly made me stronger and gave me the ability to
be resilient and more self-reliant.
**************************************************************************
The Sha-La Story...Part 3: Enter The Discontent... With Shotgun
Symphony now out of the picture, I was free to concentrate on
The Discontent. I
was spending more time with The Discontent since I had agreed to manage them,
and I was finding it to be a much more pleasant experience. Every time I came I remember the final day of mixing being the day that OJ Simpson was acquitted of murdering his wife Nicole. I remember it, or should say, what I remember of it, because I went next door to the bar, so incensed by the verdict, that I proceeded to do shots of Jaeger. By the time I got back to the studio, I was clearly “shitfaced”. I crashed on a couch in front of the console and would occasionally yell out something regarding the mix but soon passed out. The night is pretty much a blur. All I remember is waking up to find the ring on my pinky finger smashed in at a strange angle while still on my finger! Now, in the Spring
of 1996, I was readying
“societydidit” as my 1st release on
Sha-La Records. I
sent the cd out to College Radio and
The Discontent
were building a following playing gigs around their home base in NJ and
traveling up the East
With the summer
approaching, I decided to jump in with both feet. I knew promotion was needed to
get the project off the ground and I
He
Then
it was back to the studio, showed up to make another
cameo
Due to the last minute planning of the video, it was impossible to find a hotel
with any vacancies in East Hampton. But luckily, it
afforded me another chance to stay with my good friends
Amy & Monte,
who
graciously put me
and Barbara up at their house, while the band stayed next door with their nephew Rune. Monte
also helped us solve where to film the final scenes for
"You Can't Win"
by helping us get Then it was back to
New Jersey the following weekend to film the final shots for
"Bulletproof". As
it turned out, the band was performing
on the beach
at an afternoon gig, right before a Bikini Contest...you
just gotta love that!!! It was a great way to unwind and finish the Video Shoot.
Afterwards, we all went back to my shore house to party. We had a bit of fun at Rune’s German
assistant Sabina, who went in the ocean wearing a thong, which was tame by
European I spent the next
month editing the video with Rune and setting up national distribution for the
release of
“societydidit”. The videos came out great and were quite
groundbreaking in their use of Rune’s quick cuts, which are now standard
industry fare.
The 2 videos would get played on over 80 video shows nationally, charting in the
Top 10 on the CVC Report! This
helped get "societydidit" into many "taste maker" accounts that the
distribution company hadn't been able to. This was big stuff for a little indie band & label
from NJ!
**************************************************************************
Building The Beast… The one thing that always attracted me to The Discontent was the "groove" in their music...not exactly a traditional RnR groove, but a groove that not many of their contemporaries play with...
Playing
with
The Discontent
made my music have more of an edge and
Yet
again, another great opportunity appeared before me...The Discontent
wanted
Not only would I be producing, but I would
have a hand in I thought I would try and bring some traditional aspects of RnR to the mix to create a new kind of hybrid that might be something new for Mainstream Rock today...
The
songs at times were a bit strange to me, but at the same time I tried to
An experiment gone awry? I don't think so...
**************************************************************************
The City Of Angels… LA is the Mecca of the Entertainment Business. If you want to be in
Movies, TV, Radio, Music, anything--LA's the place to be. It's an Industry town and
Entertainment permeates everything. And if it's Entertainment you're looking
for, then the Sunset Strip is the place to visit. With this in mind,
I was off to LA to attend a Label Showcase that
The Discontent After our plane touched down at LAX, we picked up It
was late, but a good crowd was on hand, which included some girls who had flown
in from Japan just to be there! There were people from Boston, as well as It was a great show and a good time was had by all...the perfect
start to our sojourn in the City of Angels.
**************************************************************************
LA Confidential… It was the night before The Discontent showcase in Hollywood. After doing some business at The Viper Room, we were hanging out at The Roxy because Jess wanted to check out the porn stars that his friends said would be there. The night was highlighted by Alexis Arquette, cross-dressing brother of David & Rosanna, who got on stage and proceeded to fellate himself (i.e. gave himself a blowjob!) in front of a shocked capacity crowd. I think this might be one of the signs of The Apocalypse!
The
night of the showcase was Game 2 between The Lakers & Pistons. Detroit had
shocked LA by taking Game 1, causing panic in the faithful and promising to
The
next day the band's drummer Tommy caught an early flight back East. This
left Jessie & Eric free to spend some time visiting with a couple of
Industry Tommy Nast now works at AEG, a company that's involved with the Concert business (they put on Coachella) as well as owning the Staples Center in LA. Tommy's also a major Hockey fan, as are Jess & Eric, so the conversation immediately turned to The Stanley Cup, among other things, like the Lakers pulling out Game 2 in OT. As it would turn out, it would be the Lakers last hurrah.
After
a nice visit catching up with Tommy, we made our way out to Jonathan L's
Jonathan
was one of the innovators in Radio who helped to start the Alternative format,
so music was the #1 topic of conversation on his newly built deck on a gorgeous
Hollywood afternoon. It doesn't get much better than that.
**************************************************************************
©2001-12 Sha-La Music, Inc.
|
.JPG)
