After playing in front of representatives of major record labels such as Atlantic, Epic and Mercury, amongst others at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus Saturday night, local rock band Downplay is even closer to signing a recording contract.
Vocalist Dustin Bates flew to Los Angeles yesterday, where he plans to record a track with Alain Johannes, who has produced and played guitar on tracks for Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures.
The goal of the trip is for Bates to re-record a cleaner version of his voice on a Downplay demo to help Epic Records make its decision about whether to sign the band.
We listen to the music
decide if we like the songs. Can we imagine the band being on the radio? Then we listen to the band live. We fly out to see them locally or we'll fly them out to L.A. and we'll see them live said Jake Livingston, a scout for Epic.
A band can honestly have two things
Livingston said. They'll have great songs and they'll have a great performance and aesthetic.
Livingston said he believes Downplay has the songs. After last weekend's showcase, Bates said the labels now believe the band has shown it can put on a lively show, too. The members of Downplay - Bates, bassist Ron DeChant, drummer Brian Patrick, and guitarists Mike Mealey and Bobby Withers - also think they put their best effort forward.
For once in my life
I felt like a rock star
Withers said of the show. Not like I was just pretending to be one.
Each label has offered to bring Downplay to its headquarters to perform in front of its executives.
That may not be necessary, however, if one of the labels steps up.
If one of the labels starts to really publicly show interest
it could just happen. They could just sign us
Bates said. But if it doesn't get too public
if none of the people shows that they're all about us
then we'll probably have to play for the executives.
Before any band reaches that step, though, it must first develop a local following, Livingston said.
It starts with the band doing it on their own for a year or two
he said. The way to get on our radar is to get big in your region
