Richard Reines, co-owner of Drive-Thru, has posted a reply to Madison’s recent break up. He also responds to some of the things Madison said in his reply as well. Stephanie Reines also adds a little to the end.
Richard Responds
There are 2 sides to every story. Bands love to play the sympathy card and act like they are the victims in every situation. In Madison’s case, that is absolutely not true.
We were good friends with the band, and were anxious for them to write songs that made us confident enough to finally sign them, which we eventually did. The band then took almost 9 MONTHS to record demos for a new CD, not a “couple of months”as they claim. That’s fine, because we never rush bands to write quality songs. It’s just that the bands get impatient, anxious, and antsy that they aren’t touring, but it is them who take so long to write new songs.
After they sent us the demos, the next day they were on the phone asking if we heard them. I don’t know if they realize that we run a record label with other bands. It isn’t “Madison Records.” I told them they had to give us some time to listen because we had a lot of other music from our bands to listen to including Hellogoodbye mixes, Early November mixes, Hidden In Plain View demos, Dave Melillo demos, House Of Fools mixes, Self Against City demos, and more. All of which were given to us before the Madison demos, and most of which had to take priority because the bands were about to go in the studio, or were in the studio and needed comments ASAP. Not to mention we have to run everything else that happens at Drive-Thru and Rushmore, plus we were going through some major legal battles with our distributor (which Madison knew about), but they were just being completely selfish. If they were “friends,” cared about anything beside themselves, or were professionals, they would have understood. A majority of our other bands did.
That meant nothing to Brandon, who still called every couple of days, getting increasingly more annoyed that HIS music wasn’t listened to yet. 9 months to send demos, but us asking for a couple of weeks to listen was way too much. By the way, when I say “listen” I mean we spend time with the songs and listen multiple times, write up some notes, and make sure that we’re completely confident that the band is ready to go into the studio and make a record. I could stick the CD in while I answer email and half pay attention to it, but that’s now how we do it. When he said he was blown off in a rude and vulgar manner, I have no clue what he is talking about, unless it was his 5th call in 5 days when I keep giving the same answer and I might have said something out of annoyance, but I’m 100% positive it was nothing rude or vulgar. Brandon is a big boy, and a friend at the time, and could handle it. At least we (as owners) still take calls from our bands, unlike some other labels our size.
LESS than 2 weeks after we get the demos and this process has been explained extensively and thoroughly, I get a couple of “urgent” calls from Brandon while I was in Chicago with Hellogoodbye. Brandon asked if I listened yet, and I told him I was on the road and I will when I get back. He said “well we need to go in the studio in 2 weeks and if we don’t go in we are going to break up.” I said that was the stupidest thing I ever heard. He went on to tell me that the band’s parents are pressuring them to get jobs or go back to school and if they can’t be in the studio in 2 weeks then they are done. I said never in our history have we ever succumbed to pressure from a band’s parents to get a band into the studio to record a CD. Plus they were all over 18. (Flash back: members of the band dropped out of school VERY prematurely. Some dropped out over a year before we signed the band. I told them at the time that they should wait to drop out until they NEED to. Advice for other bands: if you drop out too early to dedicate time to your band, and then things aren’t happening as quickly as you expected, you WILL get pressure from your parents to go back to school! Drop out when you need to, not just because you want to. This was part of the reason the band shot themselves in the foot.).
We send bands in the studio when we think their songs are ready and the producer is right, etc not based on parents putting pressure on you. The songs on the demos may have been right, but I needed to spend time with the music and I was getting home in a couple of days.
Brandon responded with “well you know we love you guys but then we need to get off of the label so we can release the cd.” This was a shock to me. I asked what the hell he was talking about. He said that he had discussed it with their lawyer and that’s what they want to do since we aren’t ready to send them in the studio in 2 weeks. I said, that if that’s how they felt then OK. Talk to our lawyer.
Our lawyer has a LOT of work she does for us. As a matter of fact we have 2 lawyers because there is so much work. When a band wants to leave our label because they can’ wait a week for an answer, they are NOT our priority. Our lawyer decided, and I agree, that there are much more important things to do first including dealing with our distributor nightmare and the future of our label.
MADISON: “We originally started this band, because music was something that we all felt passionate about. We loved to do anything it took to spread our music to anyone that was willing to listen to it. Day after day, week after week, getting this band to be a productive entity became a chore, and the one thing that we all collectively loved, became something we despised. Every thing that we felt passionate about was practically stripped from us. After all was said and done, continuing this band was didn’t seem possible and it was a terribly hard decision but we felt it was best to just give it up”
What a crock of shit. Anyone who is passionate about something they do would NOT give up and break up their band over something as minute as this. I don’t remember the Format crying when a major label dropped them. They didn’t break up. They made their own CD (amazing CD at that) and continued on. Anyone who breaks up is NOT passionate at all.
MADISON: “The Suicide Files song, Things Fall Apart describes the feeling that all of us are going through better than anything else we can say, The only thing worse / Than losing the one thing that you love / Is having the one thing that you love / Turned into everything that you fucking hate.”
Yeah I hear you. I loved that band, but they turned into a jealous, bitter, impatient band who listened to the one kid in their band who they all talked the most shit about, and let him run their band into the ground. Brandon 100% brought this upon himself and his whole band. Dennis writes the songs, yet he let Brandon talk all the shit. He and Richie both still talk to us.
MADISON: “The one last thing we wish for as a band, is for us to serve as an example for the future. Be careful what contracts you sign, because as promising as it might seem, it could eventually mean the end of something that you love.”
My advice for bands: If your band writes great songs this won’t be an issue.
Drive-Thru Records has been through so much shit over the last 10 years, we could have given up many, many times like Madison, but we actually are passionate and keep going on. Which brings me to some of the douche bags that post on AbsolutePunk.net and have NO clue what they are talking about. I don’t understand why there is so much hatred for every single thing we do. We try and do good things for bands, other labels, and the community in general, yet people would love to see us fail. I don’t get it.
First of all, why do people believe some 16 year old kid has any insight into what is really going on at any record label? Come on! I read some of these posts and just crack up how clueless they are. As far as the bands who got signed to DTR/Rushmore a while ago and still have yet to put out a CD, there is a reason for it. We can’t write songs for them, and we have standards before we let bands record their CDs. We don’t want to release CDs with 2 good songs and bunch of filler. If it takes a year for a band to write that great CD, then it takes a year. Trust me, I wish it was faster. If the band loves what they are coming up with, and we don’t agree, then we may have to part ways. We can hire producers that re-write songs or cowrite songs for bands like a lot of bands have been doing lately, but we don’t. I still believe a REAL band can write their own amazing songs. If they can’t, then they are puppet heads.
No bands are “ignored” on the label. The bands that have nothing out yet aren’t being “pushed” because they have nothing out.
That’s not rocket science. The other bands all have our attention, but we can’t constantly spend money. The bands need to tour and build up their fanbase. Buying 100 commercials on Fuse won’t sell more CDs. We have tried it. If a band plays and only 30 kids show up, you should tell your friends how great the band is and get them to listen to the music, and then they tell their friends, etc and then the next time 60 kids show up. Then 120, etc. That’s how bands build. I have seen New Found Glory, Blink182, Jimmy Eat World, Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, etc. all play to 10 kids many times in many cities. That’s how REAL bands do it. They aren’t instantly on the radio or MTV or major labels (or major labels pretending to be on indie labels). They actually tour and tour and tour and if they are great the audience keeps growing. If it doesn’t they write more songs and hopefully those songs catch on. That’s reality. All of those bands I mentioned worked their asses off and it paid off. I saw it happen, and they all deserve it. I think that is a common misconception amongst kids. They think that these bands happen overnight, which is definitely not the case. It takes years of hard work for most bands, and it builds character and teaches the band what is like to pay dues.
Houston Calls are writing their 2nd full length and are going to shoot a video for “Bob and Bonnie” soon, and Self Against City just finished their CD, which comes out Jan 9 to answer those posts.
House Of Fools EP comes out in October, followed by their full length, which is already recorded, early 06. They are one of the best live bands around so make sure to see them.
There are many labels who ignore their bands, and we definitely aren’t one of them. But with that being said, every band wants more attention and thinks they deserve more than they get. Not just in the music industry, it applies to every day life and jobs. How many times have you thought that you deserve more money for your job? There are many varying degrees of jealousy and self-importance, but everyone has it. It’s just human nature.
That was all written by Richard, and I completely agree, but here’s what I (Stefanie) have to say:
I can say that I’m 99% positive I have more experience and knowledge in this industry than everyone who is actually bored enough to read this. When you have run a label for 10+ years, dealt with over 30 bands with 4+ members and managers and lawyers with varying degrees of egos to match, and have TRULY learned how to sacrifice in order to do what you love day in and day out, then feel free to comment on my life. Until then, mind your own fucking business. Buy the new Bob Dylan album “Modern Times.”
Thanks!