"I wish I knew what you were looking for" what a powerful line. When Steve Kilbey first sang it, I knew something was drawing me into this song. I was never a big fan of The Church and as the years passed I never heard that song much.
In 2011 I was researching bands who were building large social media followings and who also possessed the fundamentals any band needs to create and maintain a career. Great vocalist, great sound, awesome live, entertaining and professional. I came across Sugarwall and their cover of "Under The Milky Way", I was floored, it was if that song had found me again. I looked into this rock band and found they are all the things I was looking for. I cut a deal to represent them right away.
Too many bands today don't have all of the pieces in place to build a lasting career, major labels seem to sign bands that are wet behind the ears, I know they think they can mold them but more often than not they realize that they don't really want this life, like many young adults they are trying to find themselves. To use a baseball analogy, the music industry should look at acts and ask "If we had a farm system would they be in triple A or ready for the big leagues, what would their stats be?"
A singer I greatly admire for his voice and songwriting is Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots, his band before they were signed at Atlantic were turned down by virtually every label, noone wanted anything to do with them. Like most of the great lasting bands, they never gave up and just continued to build their fan base and get better at their craft. Scott signed Greg Wayne, Sugarwall's singer to his label and Greg became the singer of something to burn who had minor success. Scott could hear a great singer with the potential to grow and become even more. Prior to signing with Scott, Greg was in a band with Mitch Mills, Sugarwall's guitarist and songwriter. Mitch comes from a music family from North Carolina and boy can he play. So when Greg found out his members of something to burn were not willing to really give it a shot and go out and tour, Greg called Mitch to bring their relationship full circle.
It is no wonder so many major labels are sniffing around this band, talk about radio rock songs and an album with songs that could become valuable catalog songs for the future. Drifting has rock radio hit written all over it, I would stake my career on that. Live they entertain can play their asses off and the girls are front and center. So stay tuned for an upcoming announcement of who they end up signing to, and be sure this will be the start of a great working relationship with whoever gets them.
