chapter 20
The Cody Blue Experience returned to Gainesville to record their first album. Eric forced them to practice tirelessly to tighten their sound, only having them play gigs in the surrounding area so they could focus on the songs they wanted on the album.
“On the road, you have the crowd and bar acoustics. The studio’s not so forgiving. Plus they charge me by the hour so we don’t have time to rework anything. You have to devote yourselves to sounding nothing short of perfect.”
It was a lot of work practicing day in, day out. The boys were tired. When Eric heard them a few months later, he finally was happy.
“Now you sound polished. Now we can go make an album.”
The studio was no reprieve. The band was on a tight budget. Every hour in the studio was money spent, so Eric pushed them to finish the CD as quickly as possible. He wanted it done in four days. That meant more endless nights and lots of coffee.
Since losing Laura, Cody threw himself even more into the band, writing new songs inspired by his own mistake and heartbreak.
The band was earning some money, not a lot, but enough for Cody to send some to his mother, after he covered his expenses, so she could have some extra cash. She was grateful. It helped ease her burden of disappointment over his decision to leave school. It also helped to allay his guilt.
Cody hadn’t seen his mom in months. Even though they were close in proximity, he never really had the time or the desire. His time out of Pinetree, free from the curse of his father, made Cody realize that the abuse he suffered as a child was partly his mother’s fault. He couldn’t reconcile in his mind why she put up with his dad’s abuse. Why she let his dad beat him up so violently. He always thought of her as the victim, but she could have left. She could have packed them up and slipped out into the night. He had no such choice.
No, Cody had no desire to go back to the small town that held such big pain.
The recording process, while grueling, was very rewarding. The band heard the playback tape and couldn’t believe how good they sounded. The next step was a photo shoot for the album cover. They carefully dressed in their “we-don’t-really-care-how-we-look” way and posed with vacant expressions on their faces. Apparently, musicians weren’t supposed to show emotion. The proofs came back two days later.
Alex, Harper, Bobby and Cody looked like rock stars.
Eric approached them with the pictures for the cover. They picked a black and white shot of the band in an alleyway. They all looked off in the distance. Cody was in the middle of the group, the center focus of the picture. His rugged good looks shone through.
“It’ll help sell albums,” Eric said.
Alex gritted his teeth.
Eric continued, explaining the layout of the cover. Beneath the band it would say The Cody Blue Experience, but they’d also start calling themselves CBE in press releases. It was catchy, Eric told them. He’d done right by them so far, so they trusted him.
Two weeks later the CDs were done and ready to go out. Eric did a mass mailing to radio stations in Florida. He felt the fact that they were a local band would help get them on the air faster. Once they had some big stations playing the song, Eric could easily shop it around elsewhere.
The CD release would be accompanied by a statewide tour.
Eric assured them they were now ready to hit Miami and hit it big.