Insider Column 16

An insider's look at Townsend...
Chapter Sixteen


August 31, 2001



Okay, where should I start? How about if I just start off by sharing a few random thoughts?

On the way back from Sacramento yesterday morning, Todd offered to take me shopping, using my money, to buy me new clothes. I’m not kidding; Todd told me that he would show me what clothes to buy that would make me look like a cool old guy.

Wednesday night after the concert Townsend and entourage went to TGIF’s in Sacramento for a late night snack. Nick was playing with a lighter and tried to set a glass of water on fire. At least that is what it looked like to me. Todd had chicken fingers and ice cream. He eats like a child. Dom had what Nick had. They always do that. Matt didn't sing during dinner. Even though everyone was extremely tired, all present had a good time.

Townsend’s new vocal coach, a wonderful guy named Matt, was part of the road team. Matt is incredible. He started working with the guys after their Santa Cruz performance. Wait until you hear what the guys will be able to do with their upcoming songs. They will stink! Wait! Did I say that right? Todd told me that "stink" is good.

We were also extremely fortunate to have Townsend’s new dance instructor at the performance. In the last two weeks, Paula has taken the guys dancing skills to a new level. I’m amazed. Not to mention relieved. Don’t tell Todd that I said this, but his dancing skills a few weeks ago left considerable room for improvement. Now they’re beginning to stink. It will be great when they stink to high heaven. I assume that means that they will be awesome.

I cannot believe how lucky we are. When Paula and Matt agreed to work with the guys I was overwhelmed. I could hardly believe it. Julie, Townsend’s real manager – she’s just kind enough to let me keep the title – never ceases to amaze me. She seems to knows so many of the top folks in the music entertainment industry. Not only does she know them, she can get them to work with us.

Have you noticed how Townsend’s performance calendar has started filling out lately? Soon we will be posting a lot more scheduled performances in our events section of the website. Julie is generating all kinds of performance opportunities for Townsend. I might have to attempt to slow her down. At this rate the guys will never find the time to finish their new songs. Maybe I’ll just limit their sleep time.

I want to personally thank the Townsend Dream Team for being so helpful after Townsend’s performance Wednesday night. You guys are crystal fine. I just made that up, it sounds better than, you stink!

I can’t decide if I should go into detail about the adversity that the guys had to deal with during their performance in Sacramento. I can’t ever recall being so proud of the guys as I was Wednesday evening during their performance. My pride is not based on what would normally be thought of as a superior performance. The truth is it was hard to tell how well they performed. The State Fair’s multimillion-dollar sound system was a disaster. Townsend was scheduled to perform at 8:00 pm. They started at 8:35. The sound equipment that was provided by the State Fair folks did not work!! The headset microphones were all set to the wrong frequencies. It took more than 30 minutes to set the right frequencies. Believing that everything was okay, the guys started their first song. Well, things were not right. They were all wrong. None of the mikes worked. The guys performed their first song without the benefit of functioning mikes. For those of you who are not convinced that the guys are singing totally live when they perform should have no doubt now. They did not lose their cool. They finished their first song and did not become flustered even though they knew that their mikes were dead most of the time. At that point I was telling the production manager that I was going to call off the rest of the performance unless the State Fair immediately solved the problem. Fortunately, Julie was backstage and was able to convince one of the sound engineers to allow Townsend to use five of the mikes that were set aside for Dream’s performance.

Nick and Todd did a great job of entertaining the audience while the mikes were being exchanged. Not one of the guys lost his composure. Ryan kept smiling his killer smile. Matt and Dom managed to look busy and charismatic. I can’t tell you how proud I was of the guys. They were so professional. Julie, Matt (the vocal coach) and the guys kept their cool while I was going through an internal debate on whether or not I should call the rest of the show off. About the time I was ready to pull the plug the guys had five functioning mikes. They started their second song using the handheld mikes. Not a problem. The second song was a ballad.

I was relieved until I realized that the guys’ third song was re-choreographed and would be extremely difficult to do with handheld mikes. Especially, seeing that they hadn’t practiced it while holding mikes. It was going to be most difficult for the twins because the dance routine called for them to dive to the floor and using both arms push themselves back up to a standing position. While I was worrying about how they were going to do it while holding a mike in one hand, they did it. One arm pushup to a standing position! Not bad.

After the show, one of the fans came up to me and asked me how I was able to stay so calm. She knows that I’m Townsend’s manager and she couldn’t believe that I wasn’t freaking out. I told her that while I may have appeared to be calm on the outside I was all but calm on the inside. My mind was working a mile a minute in an attempt to consider all of the various options. A leader has to maintain composure no matter how difficult a situation becomes, because the "troops" will react to the behavior projected by their leader. The last thing that I wanted to happen was for the guys to react to my anxiety! Sometimes it works the other way around. The guys remained so composed it helped me to retain my composure!

After the show I decided to seek out the production crew manager to confront her with my concerns about what appeared to be the lack of professionalism show by the production crew. Fortunately, I didn’t find her immediately. The reason I didn’t find her immediately was because I was stopped several times by fans telling me that they couldn’t believe that the guys did so well in spite of all the problems. I was hearing comments like, "the guys were so cool", and "wow I couldn’t believe how professional the guys were". I even heard comments like, it was good that Townsend was there to work out the bugs in the sound system for Dream. I am positive that Dream would have been fine no matter what Townsend went through. Still, it’s nice to think that the Townsend fans believed that Dream benefited by having Townsend open for them.

Speaking of fans, I guesstimated that there was about 3,000 folks in the audience. Taking nothing away from Dream, I wouldn’t be surprised if Townsend drew a 1,000 of them. The guys signed autographs after Dreams performance for about an hour. It is unfortunate that we had to cut the line short because we ran out of time.

Above I said that it was good that I didn’t find the production crew manager after Townsend’s performance. The reason I stopped looking was because a representative from one of the local radio stations stopped me to tell me how amazed she was that Townsend did so well with such a difficult situation. She asked me how long the guys had been together. I told her that all five of them have been together for less than six months. She looked at me in disbelief. She remarked about how professional they were and that she didn’t believe that there were many boy bands that could have pulled it off. Based on her comments and the comments of the fans, I didn’t feel that anything could be gained by complaining to the production crew manager. Occasionally, adversity can be turned into an opportunity. It became obvious to me that Townsend had an opportunity presented to it and the guys took advantage of it. Failure of the sound equipment didn’t become a Townsend failure.

The Townsend Team was outrageous (as in exceeding the bounds of what is reasonable or expected).

I did speak to the General Manager of the State Fair before the evening was over. It’s best that I do not share with you the comments that went on between us. I don't want anyone to think that the State Fair folks that worked with us were not top notch. Some of them were clearly exceptional. They performed over and above.

Okay, it’s time for the fifth and final interview. For those of you who have been reading the Insider’s Column from the beginning know that Dom was the only one left. So, unless Townsend picks up a new member, my interview days are over.

T Rex: Dom, let’s start off with a tough one. Wednesday evening at the California State Fair concert Townsend opened for Dream. The technical problems with the sound system caused a 30-minute + delay. In spite of that, the five of you retained your composure and went on to complete your performance. What were you and the other four guys doing backstage during the delay and what was going on in your head after the first song when your mikes were being changed?

Dom: The delay before the show had a slightly different effect on each one of us, it was good for some and bad for others. Based on brief conversations with the others, I would have to say all of us, with the exception of Nick were frustrated. We were all so worked up and ready to blow the roof off the place. Nick said he was glad cause he hadn't quite settled in and the delay gave him more time to calm his nerves. We were all frustrated for a few reasons. First, right after we got dressed for the show, Holly from Dream was sweet enough to invite us to kick it with them before we went on. Most people do not know that we do extensive warming up, both vocally and dance before our shows. So we needed to do that to make sure we were prepared. Our support team did a great job of getting us ready, and we thank the heavens for them. So knowing that you can imagine that we were a little disappointed that we didn't get the opportunity to kick it with Dream. But most of all, we were ready to go, and the delay took a little wind out of our sails. We just stayed focused, and tried to keep warm. We told some jokes to keep ourselves relaxed, and I even talk to the juggler guy that got canceled because of all the delays. During Understand This (the first song), I really didn't know how bad it was until later. It was hard to hear what was working and what wasn't. I just heard an occasional smack and pop. I knew that it wasn't good, but other than that I wasn't sure what was going wrong. During the break between song #1 and #2, when we were changing out the mikes, I knew then that something was really wrong. Wow. Most everything after the first song gets a little hazy in my mind. It was especially difficult for Rye, Matt and me because most of the time we didn't even have a mike that worked to be able to interact with the crowd. While the technical difficulties were being sorted out, I can count 4 mikes that I attempted to use and only the last one that was handed to me worked. Todd and Nick did a great job entertaining. Most people do not know that Nick is an excellent card magician, and in retrospect I think we could have thrown Nick up there with a deck of cards and things would have gone great. There were moments during that time that I had no idea what to do, but we pulled it together, and we came out on top in the end.

T Rex: Dom, Townsend is getting closer to achieving its goals. Was the path that the five of you took to get where you are at this point in your career the path that you envisioned a year ago? If not, what is the major difference?

Dom: Well, the path that we are on now isn't the one we expected to be on in the beginning. When we started off we were all uninformed about how things worked in the record industry. We thought that we would cut a few songs, shop them to a big time manager, and he/she would sweep us up, pay for everything and we would be stars. That is the way that you hear things happening and we thought we would be the same. We were not and we are glad.

We weren't thrown together by a big management company or record label that did everything and paid for everything. We were friends who wanted to start a group, so we did. We had to make our own decisions, and pay for things on our own. That’s not to say that we didn’t get support from our families. We couldn’t have done it without them.

Rock groups like ours get criticized for being puppets, and made up by some millionaire, and everything is handed to them. Not to discredit those groups, they bust their butts just as much as we do. We learned as we went and we are better off for it.

Our current relationship with Spunout Records is perfect for us. While it’s not technically a partnership, it has many of the same benefits.

T Rex: Townsend has had to deal with its share of trials and tribulations during this past year. What was the greatest obstacle that Townsend had to deal with this past year?

Dom: The loss of Chris. Again, because of my lack of understanding the industry I was under the false impression that we were done. We already had two songs recorded with Chris, and we were running out of money. At that point we were trying to do it all, or most of it, on our own. We didn't know if we had the support from our families to endure that. I was quickly reassured that losing, and replacing a member of the group wasn't that big of a deal. Okay, but we all thought that we were very fortunate to be working with Chris. We all liked him very much, and wanted him to stay just because of our relationship with him. I wasn't sure if we would be able to replace him. I can't tell you how blessed we were to meet Matt. Chris arranged that, and Matt has been a priceless addition. His energy, and talent is amazing. Thanks Matt and good luck Chris.


T Rex: What do you believe will be the obstacles that Townsend will have to deal with over the next six months?

Dom: I would like to say none but I know that isn't going to happen. It will probably be something that I wouldn't expect. But, since I can't comment on something like that I will stick to something I can talk about. I think the tour. Being out on the road for long times, and performing night after night. We are very spoiled. We get to perform in front of the best fans, people who know us. We are going to be performing in front of people who don't know us. That will be an adjustment we will need to deal with. I look forward to it

T Rex: Frequently I get email from fans that want to make a career in the music entertainment business. Inevitably they ask me two questions. The obvious question is what should an aspiring young singer do to prepare his/herself for a career in music entertainment? The other frequently asked question is what did Townsend do to get to where it is today? Other than talent, dedication and perseverance, what would you say are the top contributing factors that would help others achieve success?

Dom: A few things. One knowing who you are and what you want. You can get confused in the industry, and you need to stay true to yourself. Make sure you know what you want but do not compromise who you are. Be a good person. People are always willing to help good people. Be genuine. Don’t forget that and don’t forget or take for granted the people that truly helped you.

We made a lot of contacts because people were willing to help us. More importantly, you need a support system. You cannot imagine the number of hours that people spend each day in support of Townsend. They do it because they want to help us achieve our goals.

Your family and/or friends need to be behind you. Use your resources, all our friends know someone who knows someone that might be willing to help. You need the support from you loved ones, and from the people you meet along the way, and then, if you make it far enough, you will need the support of the fans. Once you have fans it will make it so much easier. When you feel like you are lost or in a rut, the fans can really help to put things in perspective.


T Rex: If it weren't for Townsend, what would you be doing now?

Dom: I would be working at Hillsborough fire dept. I want to help people and make a difference in peoples lives. I have the opportunity with this group to touch a lot of people, help them and be a role model. The fire department offers that on a smaller scale. I love it.


T Rex: What is Townsend's greatest strength? Where does Townsend need to focus its energies? That's just a nice way of asking what are their weaknesses.

Dom: Our strength is our support structure. We have a lot of great people who are helping us. It makes us tighter as a group, and allows us to spend more time doing the things that we need to do. We need to "focus our energies on," as you so delicately put it. We want to focus our energies on being better performers. Because we have so much support on the business side now we can concentrate on the creative side.


T Rex: Townsend didn't have the opportunity to contribute as much to writing the lyrics of Townsend's first two songs (Understand This? and Just Say Goodbye) as you did the third song (This Night's for You). Based on your perspective, what are the major differences between the first two songs and the third?

Dom: While we did not have a huge hand in writing Just Say Good-bye, we did have a part in its developmental process, and we knew what we wanted it to be about. We loved the sound. We have always said we do not just want to write love songs but songs that make people think or have a deep message. Just say good-bye has that. That is a characteristic we hope to bring out. The third song is different because it takes a bigger step in the direction we want to take our music. While our sound is not fully developed, Tonight Is For You touches on it. Some of the more subtle things in the song will be brought out in songs to come. It is more hip-hop influenced.


T Rex: You’re considered the most outspoken member of the group. Is there anything you want to say about that?

Dom: Well, if I am considered the most outspoken member that is not self elected. Matt says I have the gift of gab, but sometimes the guys think it is a curse more than a gift, especially when we need to be somewhere in a hurry. I do like to talk, but hey someone has to be listening.

There is something you didn't ask that I was thinking the other day. If things were to end tomorrow what would I have gained form this or how would I feel. I feel extremely lucky to have had this opportunity. It has been a wonderful learning experience in life’s lessons, about myself and about other people. I want to talk about the last thing I mentioned. The response that we have gotten from fans and friends is a heartwarming feeling, one that is overwhelming. It has reconfirmed my faith in the goodness of humanity. There are wonderful people out there and I am lucky to have met some. On an even closer note, I need to talk about the guys. With the exception of Nick, who really is half of me, I’ve known the others a relatively short time. In the past year I have had the privilege of getting to know some great guys. I have willingly accepted them into my heart and my life. I am proud to call them members, but most of all friends. If things were to end tomorrow, I could walk away and say that I have four new brothers, and a twin who I am now even closer to. Love you guys

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Well, that’s all for now. Joy will be back next week with her All Access Column.

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