Would you have signed this....?

[Seshmeister]

It's 1988.

You just started your new job as head of A&R at Warner Brothers.

As you look across your desk at the new 'post it pad' invention you think "Shitty hair bands with catchy songs are selling like mad".

You look down and there is a demo tape with a ludicrous picure on the front.



You give it quick listen and think "These people are even better and sexier than Warrant I must give them a million bucks!"

Back on planet Earth my brother emailed me these MP3's last night from a studio demo that we recorded when I was 18. At the time I was doing the rhythm guitar and keyboards thing. Amazingly we didn't get signed...

I'm spectacularly biased but listening again I think it's not bad for a bunch of 18-20 year olds.

Spot the use of the Roland D50 keyboard preset at the start which Roth copied on Skyscraper...

http://www.diamonddavidleeroth.com/Misc_Downloads/last_night.mp3

http://www.diamonddavidleeroth.com/Misc_Downloads/hot_summer_nights.mp3

http://www.diamonddavidleeroth.com/Misc_Downloads/cheatin_heart.mp3

Cheers!

[seenbad]

To make that million bucks, you need a singer that isn't tone deaf. He ruined you. If you had some pipes you could have been playing stadiums instead of arguing with me over the last 5 years. He sounds like a cross between Stephen Pearcy and Jim Morrison trying to do Def Leppard songs.

The guitar player had some chops...albeit they weren't his own. They were mutilated EVH licks with a pinch of Vito Bratta.

Kick ass drummer.

Sincerely,

Seenbad.

[MAX]

What the fuck are you two doing?

[Panamark]

Thankgod they didnt sign ya Seshman...
Otherwise you wouldnt be where you are now..
Dont forget the Seshmistress and the Seshlette

Good vocalists are essential. I would be too embarrassed
to even post our demos. (Unless I could remove the singer)

If you meet a good singer, then you have a chance..

The music was cool Sesh.

[Panamark]

Moral: You have done great, business, love everything..

Dont look back in anger !

hmmmm, I reckon we could flog that lyric to Oasis :p

[Panamark]

I would have signed ya if the singer was good

[Full Bug]

I wonder if Sesh still uses hairspray....Or was it mousse?

[DlocRoth]

Dippity Doo...

[DrMaddVibe]

1st...I don't care what people look like. Its the music business not a modeling agency! Granted the better looking a band is the more the lil girls will spend!

I would've looked at who I had in a producing department that could recraft the material. With all of the editing effects that are out there I'm amazed that you weren't offered anything. The days of signing a band as a "project" and giving them the time and resources to develop is gone! Now its about corporate greed and hit songs.

If you want my honest opinion...The lead singer held you back. The background vocals were too much. The mixing of the tape didn't do a damn thing to push the musicians. It seemed very "flatlined". The solos weren't pushed to the front. The good thing, the music wasn't the problem, the instruments are played well. I'd blame whomever mixed that for you and the "singer"!

[Big Train]

Sesh, can I ask a question? What were you guys doing in 1988? Were you playing to large crowds, selling a lot of CD"S? That has a hell of a lot more to do with why you get signed than looks or sound does.

[nosuchluck]

hahah
great pic! which one is you?

[The Scatologist]

Originally posted by Big Train
Sesh, can I ask a question? What were you guys doing in 1988? Were you playing to large crowds, selling a lot of CD"S? That has a hell of a lot more to do with why you get signed than looks or sound does.

He was playing to a lot better crowds and selling a LOT more CDs then Ashlee Simpson before she got signed

[academic punk]

Originally posted by Big Train
Sesh, can I ask a question? What were you guys doing in 1988? Were you playing to large crowds, selling a lot of CD"S? That has a hell of a lot more to do with why you get signed than looks or sound does.

As the saying goes, "A good A&R person doesn't need ears, he needs eyes".

Attribute that to the guy who signed Motley Crue, who persued them after seeing how well they worked the crowd at a gig at the Rainbow.


(This has also been Dave's own advice to people who ask how they can signed.)

[Redballjets88]

he stage preformance and look does a lot...look at wasp they didnt have the billboard hits but they were famous bc they rocked the shows

[Redballjets88]

the*