\[Ron Alexenburg] was the president of Sony Records, the president of Infantry records, he was the president of CBS records, he consulted for Time Warner Corporation, which is, you know, the biggest communication company in the world. He consulted for Rupert Murdoch, and you know all about who he is. He signed Michael Jackson to his solo career, he signed Janet Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Kansas, Chicago and Meatloaf. He has 158 gold and platinum records. And he wants to work with Kingfinger.""
This is the situation Alex Fieras, Kingfinger's lead singer, said he is facing. He has just been told that he will be huge.
It seems strange that your name can be appended to some big-and-famous contract. I think a Muppet movie might have ended that way. It seems strange for me to be able to type that if you miss them at Qdoba tonight, the next time you'll have the chance to see Kingfinger will be in huge block letters on the back of a high schooler's notebook.
Kingfinger is going to be huge. And there is nothing I can do about it.
Not that I'd want to. Kingfinger's music is consistently on the creative side of commercial-sounding rock. Incorporating swamp-sounding murk or elements of jazz and funk throughout the album, with a little maturity as a band, Kingfinger could truly be something special.
All that's left now is the move to the big time, to the city of angels, to the city that swallows a thousand bands a year.
Ron Alexenburg's name is the first step to a major label contract, to a national tour and to national radio play. And Alexenburg's people like what they hear.
""We went out to LA and met with a man named Joel Newman,"" Fieras said. ""He runs Alexenburg's office out in LA. He sat in our convertible Mustang rental car. We had to go house-hunting, in the parking lot of Jerry's Deli after lunch, listening to a demo version of the album. This guy was bobbing his head, tapping his foot. I could see by the look in his eye he was loving the groove. He said 'The one thing that you guys need to do-you've got to not change a thing. Don't come out here and try to sound like everyone else. Whatever you do in Wisconsin is right.'""
""I had a job,"" Fieras said. ""I used to be the general manager, and I quit. I had a really good job and just threw it away. It wasn't a high-profile career, but I had a good job ... No guarantees this guy's done all the stuff in the business, he's gotten all the success but there is no guarantee. It is all on us, and how well we perform.""
Kingfinger is entering LA to become famous. Kingfinger is entering limbo.
staticoracle@hotmail.com.
