A Loud Voice For Quiet Hearts - Chapter Seven
After the finale aired and they had their first show in Houston, they were sent to record their first album. Their manager, Ruth, has been working with them for the last few weeks on what they want the finished album to sound like, and it’s decided that to save time, they’d be working with a producing team polishing the songs they’ve already written and performed for the show, along with a few new songs to keep audiences interested.
They won a two-album deal with OLoPA's record label when they won the contest; Bob and Don pulled the boys aside after the finale finished taping to tell them that while the temptation would be strong to go blow all of the advance money on celebrating, they would be expected to pay it back to the label once the album was done and started selling, and they shouldn't waste it.
Their manager, Ruth Connell, was a firecracker of a human being; she was whip-smart, with a dry sense of humor and a business sense that Jared could only marvel at. She immediately set up a trust for the band for their record advance to be deposited into; their earnings from each show and their share of the merch profits were divided up and deposited into separate accounts that each member of the band could access at any time they choose. They also had weekly meetings in which she went over their accounting with them, so there was no confusion about how much money they had or where it was going. Jared appreciated this, remembering Bob and Glen’s words of caution after their contest win, as well as the conversation he’d had with Jeff after their first show.
Jeff had also taken the band under his wing; he had a lot of great ideas when it came to merch and the type of venues they could play aside from the ones they were already scheduled to perform at, and took great pleasure in riling Ruth up during their weekly meetings. Jared could see there was something there, but the two people actually involved in the relationship just didn’t see it yet.
Since the only actual songs they had to put on a demo were their five originals, as well as the songs they’d played during the competition, the label booked time for them to go and record at the Hill House in Laurel Canyon. Jared immediately felt overwhelmed when he got there; the first night, he confided in Ruth that he felt like he was just a kid and should take the advice of the production team the label had assembled, since they knew more about the business side of music than he does. She sat there and listened to him pour his heart out to her, then told him to go to sleep, that it would be better in the morning.
The next morning, Jared came down to the studio and found only Dave Cobb there, the one producer Jared mentioned to Ruth that he’d wanted to work with. He asked Jared to play their first demo CD for him, then listened to the polished version they’d sent for consideration for the contest. Only after he’d listened to both did he ask Jared to show him the songs Jared was thinking of wanting to do for the demo. They proceeded to spend the day going over the songs, picking them apart and deciding why they should or should not go on the album. Jared was excited to work with someone that was actually willing to listen to what he had to say, valued his input and weighed it against the experience they had in producing albums.
They settled on the songs the band and Dave thought were the twelve strongest, and Dave reminded them that just because a song didn't make it onto the album this time, it didn't mean that it couldn't go on the next one, if Jared didn't write another song to take its place. He nodded at Jared’s bulging notebook, and suggested that Jared spend the next few days on the bus going through and transcribing all the little bits of paper into his notebook instead of having them tucked into it, since he’s seen too many things happen to the notebooks songwriters tend to carry with them everywhere.
The band spent the rest of the three days they had with Dave working in the studio on the songs they'd selected, as well as working on some new ones they could play at shows. At night, he was feverishly transcribing all of his random notes into his notebook, and getting into the habit of backing them up on LJ as well- It never hurt to have a digital copy, he reasoned, and since the account was set to private and he’d never told anyone about it, it was reasonably secure.
At the end of the week, Dave felt confident that they had the beginnings of a great album, and was ready to send everything to the label for review and mixing before it was pressed. If anything needed to be re-recorded, there would be studios in the different cities on the tour, and in the worst-case scenario, they’d be able to use the recording booth in the OLoPA bus to fix anything urgent.
The tour schedule was grueling; seven months of almost back-to-back dates, shows in a different city almost every night, with an additional small show the night before in a few select cities. Jared looked over the schedule one night, and wondered how the hell OLoPA could keep this pace. He then realized that his band would also be keeping the same schedule, and resolved to somehow upgrade the coffee machine in their tour bus.
2008
Back in the studio, Taylor was sitting on the stage with Mike and Tom, who were sitting together comfortably on the loveseat portion of the set, seemingly unaware of the host’s discomfort at two fairly large men sharing such a small space. “There’s a couch RIGHT THERE,” she kept thinking to herself.
“Guys, tell me a bit about the process behind deciding to do a show like Opening Band. You were at the top of your game, ramping up for a world-wide tour spanning two years and six continents- Why throw a talent show into the mix?” Taylor asks, resting her chin in her hand.
“Actually-” Tom started, and Mike spoke at the same time.
“We wanted to-” They stopped and chuckled, Mike gesturing for Tom to continue.
“Actually, we wanted to do something really unique for that tour, something that we hadn’t done before. We talked about doing some sort of contest in every city, backstage passes or meet and greets or something, but realized that the logistics of that would be a nightmare,” Tom said, shaking his head.
“And then we started thinking back to how we first got started, that crazy 250-show year we had before we were signed. Traveling from city to city in our vans, getting to meet so many new people and hanging out in diners at three in the morning, drinking coffee that was always either really, really good, or really, really terrible and writing songs about the things we’d seen or experienced while we were traveling,” Mike continued, a nostalgic tone to his voice.
“And going back to our beginnings, remembering the way we all got together- If Ross hadn’t shown up when he did, Our Lady of Perpetual Astonishment wouldn’t exist. At all, really. Mischief Commandment, as it existed at the time, didn’t have the same potential that our band had once Ross joined- It was almost like the secret sauce to our hamburger, if you will- Ross alone, us alone, we were great in our own ways, sure. But once Ross was a part of it, once he and Chris started writing together, it was magic,” Tom said wistfully.
“Everything that Ross brought to the table was exactly what we needed, even if we didn’t know it." Mike said, shifting in his seat a bit. “We wanted to give another band that chance to experience what we had done when we first started, once we decided on doing a bus tour instead of flying everywhere that year.”
“So, tell me about the first few weeks of touring together- Was it anything like you thought it would be?” Taylor asked, leaning back in her chair a bit.
Mike nodded. “We all got along right away, and Your Heart and I fit right into the dynamic we already had going, but also brought new life to our tour routine. We were more likely to stop and take pictures at the tourist traps, and our diner coffee tradition started up again.”
“There was also a lot of late-night poker games, road sign bingo with walkie-talkies, that kind of thing,” Tom said, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. “We also bus-hopped sometimes, when we’d stop at rest-stops or gas stations. Someone was always coming or going on the busses, so it kept things interesting.”
“And it really was a lot of fun, you know? Like one of those late 90s movies about dudes going on a road trip together,” Mike said, like that explained anything.
“But Alona is a girl, and she was part of the band that joined your tour, was she not?” Taylor said, shooting a confused look at Tom.
”Eh, not really? She’d been dealing with Chad for so long, she wasn’t fun to prank or mess with anymore. Nothing any reasonable person can do would ever top the madness that dude has inflicted on poor Alona.”
Mike and Tom nodded sagely at Taylor, who seemed determined to finish the interview without murdering one or both of them.
“So, tell me what it was that made you vote for your Heart and I, over the other two bands that made it into the final three.” Taylor leaned onto the arm of her chair, resting her chin on the back of her hand.
“The way Your Heart and I played during every step of the contest really won us over- We got to see their audition tape a few weeks before the finale aired, and we got to see the results of the mini-camp the day before,” Mike explained.
“Those kids, man. Those kids could play! And they were relentless in their growth, taking every bit of valuable critique they got from the judges and using it to improve between performances. There was no one else in the contest that even came close to their caliber, in my opinion, and that’s before they did their final performance,” Tom said, looking to Mike for confirmation. Mike nodded, smiling.
“So, you’re saying the contest wasn’t really much of a contest, right?” Taylor asked with a coy smile, acting like she’d caught them in some sort of lie. “Your Heart And I had it in the bag before their final performance, and the winner was announced.”
“Oh, not at all! But bless your heart for thinking we had that much power.” Tom smiled slightly, and Taylor saw for the first time that maybe these two weren’t nearly as dumb as they play themselves off to be.
“We had a vote, the same as the judges and the home audience, but it was just one vote for Our Lady of Perpetual Astonishment, against the rest of the judges and the audience. We had no way of knowing if Your Heart And I had even made it to the final three, although we were all hoping they had. If they hadn’t, we probably would have reached out to them about maybe touring together down the road, if they weren’t already headliners on their own at that point.”
"What Tom is trying to say is, we loved Jared's songwriting, Chad's singing, Alexander’s drums... Alona’s a monster on the mandolin, and she can play guitar as well! We loved the whole package. Your Heart and I were the perfect band to go on the Infinity Tour with us. We thought so, the judges thought so, hell- 60% of all total votes cast during the finale episodes were for them. They were the best band competing, period.”