There are countless stories of small bands and big labels, with the former usually getting the short end of the stick. With all the fine print to wade through, it’s a wonder anybody gets a fair deal.
So, sitting across the table from Kevin Patrick, one half of Eugene’s Aerodrone, it was inevitable that I should wonder why he didn’t seem even the slightest bit nervous about his band’s recent signing with Cordless Recordings, a division of the Warner Music Group. Patrick cleared this up in a hurry.
“I just finished my law degree; the focus was in entertainment, and I’ve worked at a record label before, and so I’ve seen what these contracts mean. I know how they’re negotiated and how tough it can be to get a decent deal, but I actually feel really good about this agreement because this label’s quite a bit different than a lot of others in that it really does focus on developing the artist and it still leaves you with a lot of control,” Patrick said. “We retain ownership over our masters, for instance, so if this deal doesn’t go great we have the right to opt out of it after, like, a one-year term.”
Patrick speaks about his band’s recent success with an ease that reflects his legal savvy and his comfort with the business side of music, not just the loud parts. These traits, coupled with his bandmate Gary Zon’s establishment in the industry, and their collective willingness to go to great lengths, are the main reasons Aerodrone is where it is today. Even so, Patrick had to chalk some of Aerodrone’s success up to amazing luck.
“Last year, during the summer, we got a lot of exposure because somehow we got featured as a band on MySpace. After that happened we started to get e-mails and calls from independent and major labels and stuff. At that point we thought, ‘Oh, wow.
This is it. It’s going to happen,’” Patrick said. “But it didn’t happen.”
So the band got back to writing songs and e-mails to keep the Aerodrone name on industry radars. After its good press on MySpace, the right people knew the band – it was just an issue of tying something down.
“Two majors in particular, Atlantic and Columbia, were talking a lot with us. There was a lot of back and forth but it just didn’t go anywhere. We thought we must have messed up somehow,” Patrick said. “And then just this month, all of a sudden, we got contacted again by another label.”
That label was Cordless Recordings, and before Patrick and Zon knew it, they had a contract. Next month, Aerodrone begins recording what will be its first release on Cordless, which Patrick said will probably be a second EP.
“We actually got an initial option between doing an album or another EP, but I think they were pushing us towards doing an EP because they like releasing things in clusters and just seeing how it goes and they want to try and bring it out digitally first and see how people respond.”
Regardless of the shape this upcoming release takes, Patrick is excited to get back to the studio and back to recording.
“I like going into a studio with ideas, and at the end having something I can take away from it. You don’t really get that when you play live,” Patrick said. “I’m really looking forward to recording again, this time with the backing of the big label.”
Patrick added that not many details are set in stone for the recording, but according to Patrick, “It’s all going to be brand new. We thought about re-releasing some stuff that had gone over well or revamping an old demo or something, but we figured let’s just go for it.”
This last statement recalls the leap of faith that, Patrick says, ultimately got Aerodrone here. Tempted by the services of a relatively unknown producer, the band headed up north for the recording session that has determined its career thus far.
“We’re like, ‘Let’s make the trip to Canada.’ We drove all the way to Edmonton, which took, like, two and a half days. It was in the middle of winter. And to make it as cheap as possible we recorded straight through the night when there were no other artists who wanted to record at that hour,” Patrick said. “It was a painful thing to do. But out of that we got the ‘Spin’ EP, which was what got us to the MySpace thing.”
Aerodrone hopes the next trip to the studio will be as kind to the band as that trek was. With Aerodrone’s luck, that shouldn’t be much of a problem.
[email protected]
Local band signs with major label
Daily Emerald
May 23, 2007
0
More to Discover