Endeavour Records
The Quick Version:
A slice of life tale of of famous and not so famous musicians who try to start their own record label together. Let fun and drama ensue!
What is Endeavour Records?
Endeavour Records is a brand new music label operating out of the basement of an old club in Philadelphia called the Boneyard. Endeavour is counter culture, low budget and personal. The idea behind the label is to bring the freedom and the magic back to fold, to make music the way it used to be made; with love and ambition.
Endeavour: An Autobiography
Music is the centre of the world. It is the one thing through all cultures that binds every living being together. Yes, musical tastes are different but the emotion, the way the songs make you feel, that is shared, that is forever and that is the web that connects the human race.
In the annals of history, many musicians have changed the world; Johnson, Elvish, Cash, Bowie, The Stones, Nirvana it is a list that writes itself and it is a list that could last forever.
In 2004, Mitchell, Tom, James and Andy were four boys who had very little in common other than the school they all attended and a passion for music. Through happenstance and fate, the boys decided to form a band and called themselves Bernard Zephyr (they didn’t know what it meant either) and very swiftly, the group was snapped up by famous producer/manager Nigel Conti. Nigel saw an easy way to make money by selling the pretty young faces of the Bz’s and modifying their very basic musical talent with auto-tune. Within a year, the Bz’s had released their first album “Young Sleep” and were soon on the fast track to superstardom thanks to Nigel, and his marketing genius.
The band help popularize the pop/punk sound that came to be the signature style of the noughties but life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the lads. Tom often considered himself smarter than his compatriots and tried his hands at many failed business ventures. One such venture ended up being his downfall and he was arrested for money laundering and sentenced to time in prison. By the time the boys released their second album “Waking Wonders” he was kicked out of the band and replaced.
James had been the frontman of the group from day one. Cocksure, full of swagger and the main selling point to the audience, James was the quintessential teen idol. Unfortunately, James was too easily seduced by the allure of celebrity and while promoting their third album “The Girl I Named a Storm After”, he overdosed. James survived and went to rehab but because of a newborn fear of falling back into old habits, he left the band and now is the host of his own talk show.
“The Girl I Named a Storm After” marked a tonal shift in the band as Mitchell and Andy became songwriting partners. The music the band began to make moved away from the more brand that had made them famous and gradually moved to a darker more somber tone of rockier stuff. Unfortunately, this shift was not that well received as although the album was probably their best, fans wanted the group to stay as they were. They didn’t want their chart topping fresh faced hunks to become bearded, flannel wearing rockers. This response from those that were supposed to care for him pushed the already sensitive Andy off the edge and a month after the album's release, he was dead by his own hand and Bz’s ended with his life.
Bernard Zephyr was only around for five years but the band became a horror story of the industry. A warning to any new acts breaking into the business about just how dangerous the music can be. They changed the world but it cost them everything.
What of Mitchell? Mitch had always been the quiet man of the band, the genius revered throughout the industry as a “mad scientist” who created their most memorable pieces. The only one who continuously strove to improve his musical ability He had all but given up on music after the loss of his bandmates, until he was struck by a bolt of inspiration; create his own label, sign talented people and protect them from the business so that they can make music magic once again.
Setting up shop in South Philly in the basement of a bar called the Boneyard, Mitchell began the long and arduous process of finding acts to sign. He also purchased the block of apartments next door so that those who come to record with him and be nearby in case they need any last minute access to the studio.
Who Will You Play?
The idea behind this is for you to play someone who is or wants to be associated with the new record label. Are you a multi million dollar worth pop star looking to shed her glitzy image and start singing acoustic tracks? Maybe you're a down on your luck rock’n’roller looking to sing soprano, perhaps you're an elder statesmen looking for somewhere quiet to lay down your last ever album or maybe you’re just a humble fan looking to find their way into the music business. Any which way you are, there’s a place for everyone at Endeavour Records.
