Investors vs immaturity3/5/2018 by Devan
continued from "Our First CD" post Our original investors, Jim and Cindy, were still gung-ho about finishing our project. During the long wait for our non-existent CD, Greg and I had started using the services of a manager. He was only four years older than us, but was a law student and was about to pass the bar exam. He felt we could break with our current investors and do everything ourselves with his help. We agreed to this and had a meeting with Jim and Cindy about wanting to part ways with them. I don't remember the details, but I think we paid back a portion of what we owed, and out of kindness, they took a loss for the rest. Looking back, they could have demanded that we handled the situation way different, but I think they laughed us off as being idiotic immature kids who really got lucky having to deal with them instead of the real world. They could have sued and easily won, but they didn't. Well, karma couldn't have taken effect any sooner because not only did we NOT sell a lot of cassettes (fans wanted CD's), but our recording experience in the Oklahoma City studio for the new CD's couldn't have gone worse. We did get two CD's of well written songs recorded, but they were recorded poorly. Our producer was awful and offered little guidance. As a result, we didn't sell very many of those CD's and by the time we split up in 1994 we still did not have our new debt paid for. Yes. You are correct. We borrowed money from new investors, who were not as forgiving as Jim and Cindy, to pay for those two new CD's. It took me several years to pay back my portion of the debt. It's funny looking back on my behavior at that time and how I really thought I was doing the right thing. I think Greg and I both did. We were unlucky at the time, but lucky now looking back to not make the same mistakes again. Over the years I learned how to be an Audio Engineer and Greg became proficient in Graphic Design. I took the recording sessions from our first CD, remixed and mastered them, and have released our very first album FINALLY as a CD (Singin' On the Way). We then recorded and released our 4th studio CD called "Let the Light In" by ourselves. Two musicians with two extra talents and now no one looking over our shoulders. It feels good again.
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Our First CD (1991)3/5/2018 by Devan
We had just completed our first successful summer of playing shows both in Memphis (during the school year) and Tulsa (back home for summer break). We received a lot of attention and caught the eye of two local entrepreneurs named Jim and Cindy. They wanted to help us finance a CD and help us sell it. I had interned at a local Tulsa recording studio a year prior and knew they had the gear to pull this off. At first everything was running smooth. The songs were recorded and mixed and we were happy with the results. Instead of walking out of there with the master recordings in hand and going to a CD manufacturing facility ourselves, we trusted the studio owner (Mike) to do this for us. We had the design and everything handed over, but every time we asked for a completion date he would keep pushing it back. Month after month more excuses were added upon. What should have been 2 - 4 weeks for delivery turned into several months. Our investors started to smell a rat and threw some legal threats at the studio for their delay. Luckily it worked, but we still had no CD in hand. Here is what happened. The studio was having financial issues unbeknownst to us. Mike did record us and had the master recordings ready, but when he received the money for the CD duplication, he used it to pay his older debts and tried to stall us until more business came in to pay for our project completion. It hurt me deeply that a person I knew and trusted took advantage of us. Anyway, because of the long delay, Greg and I had written a ton of new material. We were ready to record a new CD. So, instead of spending money on duplicating this current CD, it was cheaper to press some cassettes (which still were used in 1992) and spend our money for studio time in Oklahoma City to record two new CD's with new music. That is how we ended up with our first recording being such a bust. But that wasn't the end of it. How did our original investors feel about this? to be continued... Greg and DevanStories from our past, present, and what we hope for in the future. ArchivesCategories |