Group Claims Poor Promotion, Management Silencing ‘Voices’

When local rock band The Voices signed a big-money recording contract with MCA Records in May of 1988, drummer Randy Willert was convinced his band was on the road to success.

But today, after MCA held up the release of the Voices’ debut album by a year--and then failed to properly promote it, Willert charges--he’s not nearly as optimistic.

“We’re really not comfortable with their commitment to the group,” Willert said. “I don’t want to throw stones at MCA, but it appears they lost interest not long after they signed us.

“As a result, it doesn’t look as if they’re going to make any kind of return on their investment.”

The Voices were formed in 1987 by Willert and three fellow La Jolla High School alumni: singer Peter Kenvin, guitarist Tommy Andrews and bassist Todd Hoffman.

They promptly began showcasing in Los Angeles nightclubs like the Whiskey and the Roxy, eventually attracting the attention of veteran manager Andy Slater, whose clients include Don Henley, Warren Zevon and the Beastie Boys.

Slater signed them on the spot and spent several weeks searching for a record deal. After a ferocious bidding war, he settled on MCA, which at the time was headed by his old pal, Irving Azoff.

The Voices’ deal with MCA was reportedly the largest contract ever for a previously unsigned band, with a cash advance of $750,000 and a seven-album guarantee.

The group, with new member David Inglish on keyboards, began work on their debut album in June of 1988, just three weeks after the signing. The LP was completed in September and scheduled for November release.

In the meantime, however, a major personnel change at MCA resulted in the release date being pushed back indefinitely.

“All of a sudden, all the people who had been working with our band were gone,” Willert said. “So we had to prove ourselves all over again to a different group of people.”

Eventually, The Voices did prove themselves again through a couple of performers for the label’s new executives, but things just weren’t the same, Willert said.

“These new people were interested in signing new bands, not in working with bands the people they replaced had signed,” he said. “So we’re no longer a priority.

“Our album’s release date kept getting bumped back--from January to March, then from March to May, then from May to June, and so on. And in the meantime, MCA released albums by a bunch of new bands, like Bang Tango, that hadn’t even been signed when our LP was originally scheduled to come out.”

When The Voices’ eponymous debut finally did get released in August, Willert said, there was a decided lack of promotional support on the part of MCA execs.

Review copies weren’t shipped out until a month later and there was only a slight effort to get radio airplay.

“They even told us they weren’t sure how to market us because we’re not heavy metal and we’re not pop; we’re somewhere in between,” Willert said. “But so are a lot of other bands you hear on the radio.”

And, in the meantime, a proposed tour with the Cult was scrapped, and the initial promise of tour-support money was withdrawn, Willert said.

“We figured that, because they had given us so much money up front and made such a big deal about how they had won the bidding war for The Voices, they’d be forced to promote us,” Willert said. “But obviously, we were wrong.

“So now, the only thing we can do is continue to make good music and just wait and see what happens next.”

An MCA spokesperson who asked to remain anonymous dismisses Willert’s charges that the label has adopted a laissez faire attitude toward The Voices.

“This is an artist development project for this company, and we’re in it for the long run,” she said. “We made an expensive video that did not receive the reaction we had hoped for, but this is something that often happens with first tracks from debut albums.

“So we’re going to try again with the next track. In the meantime, if these guys have a problem with us, let them call their manager.”