Taking the World On

Meese signed on for more than one album and plans to begin recording in January or February. That debut will likely feature several songs from past releases, as well as some of the newer material, songs such as "The Start of It" and "Taking the World On." Before any of that happens, though, the band must nail down a producer. While nothing has been solidified, Meese says some names are floating around, among them Fray producer Aaron Johnson, who looks to be the frontrunner at this point. Nailing him down could be tricky, though. Right now, Johnson is gearing up to start work on How to Save a Life's followup.

My distrust of the old guard notwithstanding, I'm still stoked for Meese, a good group made up of really good dudes. And if Atlantic manages to keep a team together to support them, the label could just have a Fray-like blockbuster on its hands. Meese is clearly capable of writing the same type of catchy, accessible pop songs that earned its comrades multi-platinum status.

Regardless of how it ends up, Meese's frontman is just relieved that the deal is done so that he can get back to business. "It honestly feels really good," he concludes. "I've been telling myself not to get excited. I assumed this pessimistic role to protect my feelings. But honestly, this is what we were aiming for the past three years. So to finally have it done, especially after five months of negotiations, it feels really good. And we're still on cloud nine."

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Upbeats and beatdowns: Meese isn't the only Denver act turning heads these days. Fresh off a string of dates in New York for CMJ, Born in the Flood has been picked up by Madison House and joined with the Agency Group, which also books Drop Dead, Gorgeous and Fear Before the March of Flames, in addition to Nickelback, 3 Doors Down and the White Stripes. Also in Gotham for CMJ was Flobots (uh, number 24 on that magazine's hip-hop chart, if you need 'em). The band, profiled here two months ago, has generated a massive buzz thanks to its recent sellout at the Gothic for the release of the killer Fight With Tools. And a bunch of major-label suits are apparently working themselves into a lather in hopes of signing 3Oh!3, which reportedly just finished a fresh batch of demos: Nathaniel Motte and Sean Foreman must really have this shit on lock. Finally, Savage Henry just announced plans to record its next disc with Ross Hogarth, an engineer/producer known for his work on Slow Down, Keb' Mo's Grammy-winning disc, and with Gov't Mule and Ziggy Marley.