Indie Rocket Takes Off: Monolyth Green-lights Little Red's "sound'

LOS ANGELES-Just two years ago, Little Red Rocket's trajectory toward college radio success seemed dangerously sidetracked. After releasing its debut album, "Who Did You Pay," on Tim/Kerr Records, the group was signed to Geffen Records in 1998. But before Little Red Rocket had even set foot into the studio, the band was dropped during the Universal/PolyGram merger.
Now, the Athens, Ga.-based band is poised to get back on track, with the combination of catchy pop, jazzy trumpets and piano, and lush vocals on its sophomore effort, "It's In The Sound," released April 11 on Boston-based Monolyth Records.
"[With this album] what we want to do is make people happy, give people hope, and let people know that they're not alone with the emotions they may be going through," says guitarist/vocalist Orenda Fink. "We touch on love, despair, and hope, and we take our approach to recording song by song, with whatever translates the song musically."
This honesty has touched a chord among college radio listeners. "We're really supportive of local bands, and Little Red Rocket will do really well on our station," says Sara Hays, music director of Athens-based University of Georgia station WUOG. Hays notes that although "Athens is a very boy-dominated music town, it's awesome that there's a local band that is mostly girls. [The band] does well among all types; it appeals to a general crowd."
The album has also received positive feedback from commercial radio outlets, says Monolyth Records president Jeff Marshall, adding, "Most of them are pointing to the track "California.' But we've never manufactured a single. We're focusing on the long term in promoting the album and the group."
To promote the album, Little Red Rocket will embark on small regional tours in areas where it has been receiving airplay, including Austin, Texas; Athens; and Boston. Marshall is coordinating a regional advertising campaign by providing posters to local stores and pitching stories to area media before the band's arrival.
Additional marketing targets are online radio stations, message boards, and chat rooms. The band's CD release party performance at Athens' 40 Watt Club is available for viewing via digitalclubnetwork.com. A Boston release party slated for Saturday (15) will be shown on the Internet via the label's Web site (monolyth.com) and the band's site (littleredrocket.com).
"I hope that the support for this album speaks to bands that were affected by the merger," Fink says. "It was disappointing to be dropped by Geffen. But at the same time, we had this album we wanted to record. We had complete control over the album and no one to answer to. When we got dropped, we just went with what felt great to us musically."
Fellow bandmate Maria Taylor, Fink says, first knew that music might be their calling. The two guitarist/vocalists met in Birmingham, Ala., where they attended the same fine arts high school. "Maria saw me practicing the guitar in the hall and asked me to start a band with her," Fink recalls. "When we started playing music together, we both decided immediately that that was what we wanted to do."
After first experimenting as an acoustic duo, Fink and Taylor next brought in a rhythm section, and Little Red Rocket was born. After releasing its first album and weathering the Geffen storm, the pair moved to Athens, hoping for a change. There, the duo met bass player Jackie Ferguson and drummer Scott Sozebie, who became permanent members of the band.
When the quartet's first effort together, "It's In The Sound," was presented to Boston-based Monolyth Records by the band's management, Hugo and Carol Burnham of Huge & Jolly Management, the independent label jumped on the project.
Marshall says, "The songwriting on this album is excellent, and there's a really rockin' rhythm section. It reminded me of a lot of good things about the music industry."
The retail market has also reacted positively. Don Van Cleave, owner of the Magic Platter store in Birmingham and president of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, says, "The record will probably do pretty good in our area. We ordered a ton of them and will promote them heavily in the store."