When I first found and read this, quite honestly my jaw dropped. Five of them were in a group before SNC signed with Atlantic Records??? What?! I had a bunch of questions, but my biggest few were 1. What happened to the group? 2. What happened to the CD? Was it ever released? And 3. Randy! He was going to be the tour manager instead of a bass?! Really? Why???
In this other interview, Jerome talks about how unfortunately the events of 9/11 caused a lot of shifting at RCA (and other labels) and they were released from their contract. Obviously there were a lot of tragic things that were going on at the time, but still, I can imagine that losing a shot at a dream must have been difficult. And then looking to the future and knowing that Michael Itkoff, Steve and Dan walked away from a second shot at that dream with SNC... wow. They all know what their priorities are, and I truly have nothing but the utmost respect for all of them. And of course we know that this has a happy ending for the other three guys, and three more guys as well!
Later I found out that the CD was not released by RCA, or even in the originally intended a cappella format. I highly recommend taking the time to listen to Michael Itkoff's second SNC FanChat episode to find out what did happen to the songs, though! Fascinating stuff! :o)
I still have no idea about the Randy question, but I will say this: After reading through so many articles for this site and knowing the Atlantic signing story, it strikes me that Randy always seems to be exactly where he's needed. That is certainly an admirable quality.
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By Lisa Chapman
Indiana Daily Student
April 30, 2001
Now the five original members of Straight No Chaser live in Atlanta where they are working on their first CD with RCA Records. The band's name is TEN to FIVE, which it got from Straight No Chaser, because they were originally a group of 10 and five of them are still together.
