The Road Home

Red Ant Entertainment was a small label I worked for early in 1997.  Besides being the home for a few bands that had experienced major success in the past (Cheap Trick, Salt N Pepa) they were the home to My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Love and Rockets, The Brand New Heavies, Mexico 70 and a newly signed band called Naked.  Red Ant was formed in 1996 with some major industry heavies leading the charge - Al Teller (former Chairman of MCA Records), Randy Phillips (current CEO of AEG Live) and Randy Miller (former executive at MCA Records).  I was looking to get back into record promotion when I was given the chance to join Red Ant that April and with a team like that at the top - what a great opportunity.

My wife and I were living in Grand Rapids where I was doing sales at WGRD - an alternative rock station - and my wife was working locally as a Music Therapist.  We loved the town, but we missed family and had been talking about getting back to Chicago.  So besides having an opportunity to return to the record business, this would allow us to move back home.  As we were packing the last bags in the car and the movers were closing up the truck, the phone rang.  (I think it was the only thing left on the kitchen counter.)  It was my boss.

"I don't want to alarm you, I just didn't want you to hear anything before you heard it from me.  There are rumors that Red Ant is filing Chapter 11 but all it really means is that they are securing another round of financing so Red Ant can continue the momentum of what we have been building here." 

Great.  I haven't sold this house yet, I am closing on another house tomorrow (lesson learned by the way), the truck is packed and at any moment, I may not have a job.  My wife asked who was on the phone.  "It was just Margaret with a few updates on Naked and "The Road Home."  as I write this now - I do see the irony.

As a record promotion representative (whether for a small independent label, or a major record label) my job was to promote our roster of bands.  This includes getting airplay on radio stations in my territory, making sure stations know when the band will be playing a concert in town and any other general marketing that will support the goals of the band and the label.  Whatever the case, I always focused on finding ways to get the decision-makers at the radio station to come to my shows so that they could see how "incredibly great and awesome my band is and why you should be playing it on your radio station."

The lead single for Naked was a track called "Mann's Chinese."  It had just poked its head into the Top 10 at Rock Radio and the band was going to be touring small clubs in support of their self-titled release and to keep momentum going for the second single, "The Road Home."  Naked was comprised of four guys - Jonathan, Jeremy, Damon and Petur.  The guys were good to work with, and outside of sometimes wanting to buy equipment and spend money they didn't really have yet, they were hard working and willing to do whatever was needed to become a hit band. 

Playing to small crowds must be a rite of passage for almost every band when they start out.  Maybe they start as a high school band, play locally on the college scene or maybe they even book a show opening for a few other bands.  Whatever the case - it has got to be a rush getting on stage - no matter how big the audience.  This is that start to an undeniably exciting career where you get to take your (potentially small but dedicated) fan base along for a ride.  Naked had been out on the road for only a short time and with no other exposure but the first single, "Mann's Chinese," crowds were small but enthusiastic.  Before heading to Detroit for a Thursday show, the band had a show in Grand Rapids at the Intersection.  WGRD was playing the new single and there was a buzz surrounding the show…and the attendance showed it.  Naked brought in a few hundred kids on a Wednesday night and the band sold about $1000 in merch.  Not a bad way to head to Detroit.

WRIF was (and still is) the monster rock station in Detroit.  They didn't play the first single and "The Road Home" was a bit too poppy for them.  WRIF leans more to the classic rock sound as well as music with a bit more of an edge (Halestorm, Foo Fighters, Magadeath, etc.).  Naked was rock - but with pop undertones.  I tried to get the Music Director to come out to the show, but I just didn't know him well enough yet and the band just didn't quite fit their sound.  But I was told "We are promoting the show down at the Shelter and we will have our station vehicle down there, the red light going on top and we will be giving away some tickets.  We are talking about it on the air."  Keep in mind…band on the road, no website, no FaceBook, no Twitter.  Outside of radio mentions, an ad in the paper and maybe some flyers around town - there wasn't a lot of other promotional support.

The band was really excited for the show and Jeremy's aunt and uncle were coming out that night.  A good friend of mine, Alex Tear, was the Music Director at another station in Detroit and I asked him if he would head out with me to see the show.  There was a song on the album we hoped would go to Top 40 radio at some point and this could help lay ground work for future airplay in Detroit.  It was going to be an early show (9 p.m. start) so we decided to go grab a bite to eat and then head to the club.  What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was about to experience a show like no other I had ever seen.  Maybe a good way to clarify that statement would be to ask this question.  If a band plays a concert and no one is there to hear it - did they make any sound?

As we walked up to The Shelter, we noticed that there was no radio station vehicle out front, no red light on top - nothing.  Alex and I walked through the front door to….no one.  Well, not exactly no one.  Jeremy's aunt and uncle sat toward the back at a small table and there was a bartender and a waitress, but otherwise it was an empty floor and a half dozen empty tables decorated with little candles.  I wasn't sure how the band would handle it.

The band hit the stage right at 9 p.m. and ripped into a track called "Love Supreme" off their album.  Jonathan, who was the lead singer and played guitar, talked between songs, acknowledge (with some humor) the atmosphere, but he never played it off as anything but a regular show.  "Mann's Chinese" and "The Road Home" sounded great and Alex seemed to really enjoy the band…as well as the unique circumstances in which it was played.  I tried to sell it to him as his own personal showcase…but he wasn’t buying that.  Maybe Naked really did have what it takes.  I thought this was a big hurdle for them and it actually gave a good story to take to radio stations.  They treated an empty room as a dress rehearsal and put as much into it as any other show.  Rite of passage to play to an empty room?  Well they passed.

The rumors were heavy around Red Ant closing its doors and Nancy Levin, the head of the promotion department was also rumored to be leaving.   A week after that Detroit show she called and told me that she couldn't share any news with me specifically, but that I would be "OK."  Being that I currently owned two homes - in two states, that was a big relief.  Two weeks later I joined MCA Records under the direction of Jay Boberg, Abby Konowitch and the Sr. VP of Promotion, Nancy Levin.  I went from working on developing bands like Naked and Mexico 70 to a new band named Blink 182, promoting a future #1 hit called "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, a Sammy Hagar release and a major alternative rock band called Sublime. 

I saw Naked only one more time after that Detroit show.  They only recorded the one album and eventually broke up.  I was at Red Ant for 13 weeks before moving over to MCA records, but the things I learned in that short time I still carry with me…and I have Naked, in part, to thank for that.  Treat everything like a dress rehearsal, a little luck never hurt and no matter how good a band or their music may be - it is never a guarantee.  For every band I have promoted in my career that had a hit at radio - I could name five that just never made it through.  But I will save that for another day.  For now - just enjoy "The Road Home."