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Click on the "One Night Stand," the first video from Rhino Bucket's Reprise debut. See if you can find me, and their Manager at the time, Tom Mohler. Hint: I'm not the one with the cigar, and he's not the one in a formal black velvet dress. What a hoot!
DEB ROSNER ROCKS: A TRIBUTE TO THE ROCK BANDS I WORKED WITH AND LOVED
This is the story of my journey in the music biz, a tribute to the bands I worked with in the 80s & 90s; bands I used to go see live; local businesses from the scene that are long gone. Some "made it big," others did not. Yet all of them deserve to be remembered. I wrote the following from my personal experience as a music lover, Publicist, and Manager/Management Consultant. You'll either be totally fascinated or bored to tears so I won't be offended if you leave! Here we go ...
Following are the bands I spent the most time on. Bands I had shorter stints with are listed later.
BRITNY FOX (Columbia Records)
BRUNETTE (Unsigned)
KIX (Atlantic Records)
LION (Epic)
POISON (Capitol/Enigma)
RHINO BUCKET (Reprise)
SLAUGHTER (Chrysalis)
TRIANGLE (Red Handed Records)
TRAGIC ROMANCE (Century Media)
VINNIE VINCENT INVASION (Chrysalis)
MY PRE MUSIC BIZ YEARS--METALHEAD It's 1979. I'm in my freshman year at UCSB. I'm a metal head through and through. AC/DC, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Zeppelin, Judas Priest and Ozzy are my bands of choice. I get back to L.A. in 1981 and start checking out bands in the local clubs. I'm hanging at The Starwood and The Troubadour, seeing bands like
Black N Blue, Keel, Leatherwolf, London, Motley Crue, Odin, Rough Cutt, Shark Island, Sin, Smile, Snow and Steeler.
I'm a KMET fanatic and attend two of KMET's "Finally A Friday" broadcasts at Wolf and Rissmiller's Country Club.
PRE MUSIC BIZ YEARS: NEW ROMANTIC & GOTH CHICK In 1981, I enroll at Cal State Univ Northridge in the Radio-TV-Film Department and spend 2 years. While there, I become attracted to several different music scenes progressively:
1) ROCKABILLY, PSYCHOBILLY, COWPUNK: The Blasters, Tex & The Horseheads, The Gun Club, The Cramps, Screaming Sirens, Robert Gordon, Stray Cats, The Polecats, etc.
2) NEW ROMANTIC: I hung out at Joseph Brooks & Henry Peck's dance club "The Veil." Bands: Visage, Adam & The Ants, Bow Wow Wow, Kraftwerk, Roxy Music, Spandau Ballet, etc
3) GOTH ROCK, DEATH ROCK: Joseph & Henry's "Veil" morphs into "Fetish" (US version of London's Batcave) and the music becomes heavier. Bands: Alien Sex Fiend, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Section 25, Specimen, Siouxsie & The Banshees, etc.
4) LOCAL POST PUNK SCENE: Live shows I'm checking out: Engines of Aggression, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Redd Kross, Wall of Voodoo, X.
5)FROM 1981-1984: I'm reading Reuben Blue's Rock City News, the bible of the L.A. club scene. I'm working at Grau Designs (a really cool clothing store owned by Claudia Grau), on Melrose.
GETTING MY START AT ENIGMA It's Autumn 1983, and I decide to get an internship through CSUN. Music crazy, I called some indie record labels and landed at Enigma Records. I worked in Publicity and Artist Development and also worked closely with the wonderful folks at Enigma's distributor, Greenworld. Enigma was one hot little label, owned by Bill & Wes Hein.
Agent Orange, 45 Grave, Ratt, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stryper, Slayer, TSOL, etc!
Although I was into "alternative music," I kept seeing fliers and ads for some glam band. I wasn't into glam/hard rock at the time, but the band was SO in my face that I had to check them out.
MY FATEFUL NIGHT OF POISON One hot Spring night in 1984, I went to the Troubadour and checked them out. They blew my socks off! They were more ENTERTAINING than Van Halen, AC/DC, Motley Crue and Def Leppard put together. I KNEW THIS BAND WAS GOING TO BE HUGE. They were POISON. I told several people at Engima about them the next few days. Within a few weeks, I put their demo on the desk of every Exec at Enigma ... but they just weren't interested. Around this time, Vicky Hamilton was managing the band and shopping them to all the record labels. As I continued my internship, I also began to publicize the band here and there. These guys promoted themselves nearly 24/7 and were beginning to create a real buzz in L.A.
FOREBEARS & HOOK-UPS A sidenote: POISON often played records by bands like KIX, HANOI ROCKS and STARZ before their shows to get the crowd going and turned alot of folks on to their forebears. Pretty cool if you ask me. In addition, I hooked up with JETBOY from San Francisco, introduced them to POISON, and soon after they were playing shows together both in L.A. and S.F.)
POISON STEALS ME AWAY In July 1984, POISON stole me away from Enigma. They said, "Why work for free? Come work for us and we'll pay you!" Needless to say, I took them up on their offer. I quit college and worked exclusively for POISON, going under the moniker of "POISON ENTERTAINMENT" and handling their Publicity (ie: getting the band in magazines, newspapers, weeklies, etc.) POISON continued to sell out all the local clubs and were breaking all attendance records. I mean, a Fri/Sat night sold out at the 1200 seater Chuck Landis Country Club? By an unsigned band? Unheard of! Meanwhile, Manager Vicky Hamilton continued shopping them to the labels...still, nobody would sign them. In August 1985, Howie Hubberman took over management and finally, the band was signed to Enigma Records in early 1986! Around the same time, Enigma entered a distribution deal with Capitol Records. POISON'S "LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN" was to be the first release on the joint-venture. Finally, POISON would be heard by the masses, right?
DISTRIBUTION WOES Wrong! The Enigma/Capitol venture was really exciting but all the ducks were not yet in a row. POISON's debut was officially released in August 1986, but we were getting tons of fan mail that their fans couldn't find the record anywhere. POISON decided it was time to hook up with a heavy-hitting management firm, and they signed with Sanctuary (Smallwood-Taylor). POISON'S "Pointman" there was Tom Mohler, who I soon met and really liked. This man had his shit together! It was at that time that I "fell" into product management. Joining the cause to try and figure out why POISON's records weren't getting out there, I began calling record stores. I solicited orders, sent p.o.p., set up in-store appearances, and even got the record played on some college and indie radio stations while continuing to plaster POISON in every publication imaginable. But I needed help.
THE FIRST STREET TEAM IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY So I put my thinking cap on: why not utilize the fans who couldn't find the record? And so, "THE POISON CORRESPONDENT" (PC) program was born. I hired POISON fans in every major market to help promote the band. They called record stores, radio stations and local magazines. As far as I know, I was the first exec in the music industry to create the concept of and utilize "street teams." (FYI: If you're reading this and YOU were a PC from back then, drop me note and say hello!) Within a few months, this was all sorted out and the folks at CEMA (Capitol's distributor) were totally on board.
POISON IS EVERYWHERE: ARE YOU SICK YET? I believe it was Tom Mohler who pushed for "Talk Dirty To Me" to be the second single, then "I Won’t Forget You" and those were the moves that broke POISON wide open. They were touring nationally, all over radio, all over MTV, and I was plastering them magazines all over the place. No matter where you looked, POISON was there! By April 1987, several record labels were calling me, wanting me to handle Publicity for their hard rock bands. It was time for me to move forward in my career, and I felt blessed for all the new opportunities coming my way.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS But POISON forced me to make a choice: work for them exclusively, or take on other bands without them. I also had a third option. I had caught the eye of Geffen Record's VP of Publicity at the time (prior to this she was Vp of Publicity at Capitol Records). She called me up, invited me to lunch, and offered me a Publicity gig at Geffen on the spot. It was a very tough decision, but I decided to remain independent. In hindsight, part of me wishes I'd taken that Geffen job but then I'd have never worked with all these great bands !!
SEVERING TIES WITH POISON & A NEW CHAPTER OF ROCK I had worked exclusively with POISON for three years and severing ties with them was heartbreaking, but it was time to move on. I called back several record companies and landed three bands as clients that week. I opened up "THE ROSNER MEDIA GROUP" in June 1987, got an office in Studio City, sharing space with RIKI RACHTMAN, who was in his heydey of promoting THE CATHOUSE club.
FOLLOWING ARE MY CLIENTS FROM 1987-1989:
PUBLICITY CLIENTS (SIGNED): Armored Saint, Britny Fox, Firehouse, Kix, Lion, Quiet Riot, Royal Court of China, Slaughter, Triangle, The Vinnie Vincent Invasion, White Lion.
PUBLICITY CLIENTS WHO LATER BECAME SIGNED: Electric Angels, Warrant, White Heat (who became Firehouse)
PUBLICITY CLIENTS (UNSIGNED): Ambush, Bonfire, Cacophony, Driver, Haven, Mistreated, Silent Rage.
MANAGEMENT CONSULTING/UNSIGNED: Belgium, City of Faith, Doctor Please!, Joey Fulco, Jungle Alley, Murder Bay, Pigmy Love Circus, Puppets of Mankind, Shock and Tuff.
FINDING A ROCKIN' BRUNETTE Through the 80s, I'd seen TONS of local bands and many courted me to manage them. I became a consultant to some (see above) but didn't become their full-time Manager. In Fall 1987, all that changed when POISON’s Bret Michaels introduced me to KILLERHIT, a band from his home state of PA. He asked if I would meet with them, give them the lowdown about L.A. and point them in the right direction. I had no expectations. I met them, heard their demo, saw them play and I was hooked. Amazing vocals and harmonies. Killer songs. A great look. And stage presence! I became their Manager instantly and began with Artist Development: I had lead singer/drummer Johnny come out from behind the drum set and take his place center stage. They hired a new drummer; changed their name to BRUNETTE (due to all their luscious long brown hair) and began to write new songs.
A TRAGIC ROMANCE & MURDER IN THE BAY In 1988 I was handling publicity for several bands, including local bands TRAGIC ROMANCE and MURDER BAY. At some point, they asked me to manage them, to try to get them record deals. I was very struck by both bands' music, So I took them both on, shopped them around, and was getting A&R folks to come see their shows. Both bands were drawing bigger crowds, and a buzz began.
NO HAIRCUTS HERE In the meantime, BRUNETTE were playing at all the local major clubs and in no time, they became the biggest draw in Hollywood, breaking all previous attendance records. I soon had all the major labels coming to their live shows and private showcases. But I couldn’t get them signed. The labels just didn’t see or hear their huge potential. It was just like POISON all over again. We fought the good fight. I plastered them in all the national rock mags and then the band began to tour all over the Southwest, even without a record deal. They drew great numbers. They continued writing songs.
AIRPLANES AND MONSTERS OF ROCK In 1988, We needed something BIG to take BRUNETTE's buzz to the next level. I ended up with an outrageous promotion idea.Quoting Tom DeSavia in Cashbox Magazine, "The promotion idea of the week goes to local L.A. metalites Brunette, who recently staged one of the most outlandish (and clever) promotions from a local band that we've ever heard. You see, during the fireworks extravaganza which took place during Van Halen's set at the recent "Monsters of Rock" show at L.A.'s Coliseum, the band hired a plane which displayed such messages as 'Brunette Rocks' and 'Brunette attacks in August' in bright lights for 90,000 fans to see. The advertising display lasted a full half-hour - making it impossible for anyone to miss. Take a bow, boys." I took a curtsy too! The next weekend, Brunette packed two nights at Gazarri's and they even had to turn folks away at the door!
LOTS OF KAOS GOING ON By late 1989, things were slowing down on the Publicity end. My contracts with most of the bands I had were over or nearly so, and I wasn't keeping up with going after new clients. I'd become more involved with and excited about Management/Artist Development. I'd been shopping BRUNETTE, MURDER BAY and TRAGIC ROMANCE to record companies with much interest -- but no record deals. It was time to up the ante. I began searching for new career opportunities and while investigating, I rang up Tom Mohler. I really liked and trusted him. Turns out POISON had left Sanctuary and was now with HK Management. Tom had also left Sanctuary and branched out on his own, forming Kaos, Inc. Artist Management. And I called at just the right time! He was looking for someone to head up Marketing and Product Management for DIRTY WHITE BOY (PolyGram) and a band just signed to Reprise called RHINO BUCKET (be still my heart!) Tom was also managing BILLY SQUIER and THE DAN REED NETWORK.
MANAGING I joined Kaos in 1990, and brought BRUNETTE and TRAGIC ROMANCE with me. Tom decided to co-manage BRUNETTE with me, but held off on MURDER BAY and TRAGIC ROMANCE. I was also handling Product Management for RHINO BUCKET and that was sheer pleasure -- these guys ROCK! The music! The sense of humour! The double-entendre! The Georg antics! The music! (You gotta check them out). I was trying my best, but by 1991, neither BRUNETTE, MURDER BAY or TRAGIC ROMANCE were signed. The recent debut by GUNS N' ROSES was changing the face of “metal†(with NIRVANA was soon to follow) and my bands didn’t have the “edge†the record companies were looking for. The guys in BRUNETTE had been together for 12 years and had gone as far as they could with no record deal. They decided to move on. It was sad to see them go, but in no time, lead singer and guitarist brothers Johnny and Joe Gioeli hooked up with Neal Schon and went on to form HARDLINE. I needed to spend more time on the signed artists at the Kaos, so I sadly had to let go of MURDER BAY and TRAGIC ROMANCE as well.
LOVIN' THE PRODUCT! I continued to handle Marketing & Product Management for RHINO BUCKET and DIRTY WHITE BOY at Kaos -- communicating with record companies, distribution staffs, radio promoters, publicists, retail marketing firms and talent agencies; getting and tracking radio play on college and indie stations; soliciting orders from indie record stores; getting publicity, negotiating media buys for print and radio, etc!! I was loving my job and loving life!
BACK TO SCHOOL In 1994, Tom was moving in another career direction and there was not as much for me to do at Kaos anymore. That's when I left to move on to other ventures. I decided to go back to college to finish that B.A. Degree I'd left behind in 1984. The classes I needed were mostly in the mornings, so I went into Retail Management for a few years, worked the night shifts, and graduated from CSUN in 1999 (on the Dean's list!) with a B.A. in Electronic Media Management. Where there's a will, there's a way! HOOAH! FYI, the photo you see of me top left was taken during the taping of VH1's "Poison: Behind The Music" that aired in July 1999. What a graduation present! Of course, POISON did go on to sell millions of records, just as I knew they would. Kudos guys!
A NEW DIRECTION IN THE MUSIC BIZ My career in the music industry has continued, as I moved onto six years of Music Licensing, Business Development and Online Marketing. I'm now totally into the "NEW DIGITAL MUSIC INDUSTRY," interested in e-commerce Merchandising and New Media-Mobile-Internet Marketing. My career has been a whirlwind and I've loved every minute of it! Sending out a huge "HEY GUYS!" to all the bands I've worked with over the years, many of whom are still rocking today.
MY LATEST PREDICTION: CHELSEA KORKA You'll remember Chelsea Korka as the second runner up on "Pussycat Dolls: The Search for the Next Doll." I was impressed by her from day one. She had the best voice and more style and class than any other contender on the show. I wish her all the best and hope a record label snatches her up VERY soon. The girl is DESTINED to be a star.
WHAT AM I LISTENING TO TODAY?
INDUSTRIAL/ELECTRONICA: Birthday Massacre, Crystal Method, Engines of Aggression, Frontline Assembly, Funker Vogt, Leaether Strip, Motorcycle, The Spill Canvas, VNV Nation
METAL: AC/DC, Aerosmith, Disturbed, Godsmack, Metallica, Rammstein, Rob Zombie
BURLESQUE: Pussycat Dolls
THE SOFTER SIDE: Michael Buble, Gipsy Kings, Hamza El Din, KD Lang, Phil Thornton
CLOSING NOTES: Please check out the TOUR links in my blog, for upcoming tour-dates by several of the bands I've worked with. There's also some cool pictures of me and my bands in the Pics section with more to follow soon. Finally, I'd like to give a special THANK YOU to Enigma Records and the Hein Brothers for giving me my start in the music industry.
DID WE WORK TOGETHER? If we worked together in the 80s or 90s and you don't see your band's name listed here, mea culpa, apologies and my bad!!! PLEASE send me an e-mail through myspace and I'll add you straight away!