RECORD LABEL, MILWAUKEE BAND MAKE DEAL Warner signs Citizen King

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Aug 26, 1997

After watching one major-label deal go sour, the members of the local band Citizen King have landed on their feet and at the top of the heap.

The quintet, which plays an excitable hybrid of rock, funk, jazz and hip-hop, has signed a recording contract with mighty Warner Bros., whose parent company, Time Warner, is the country's largest media conglomerate. The signing concludes a seven-week bidding war for the band that was chronicled in Hits magazine, an industry trade publication.

"The whole band is really excited to be on Warner Bros. because we were able to write the deal we wanted," said keyboardist Dave Cooley.

Full Text: Copyright Journal/Sentinel, Inc. Aug 26, 1997

After watching one major-label deal go sour, the members of the local band Citizen King have landed on their feet and at the top of the heap.

The quintet, which plays an excitable hybrid of rock, funk, jazz and hip-hop, has signed a recording contract with mighty Warner Bros., whose parent company, Time Warner, is the country's largest media conglomerate. The signing concludes a seven-week bidding war for the band that was chronicled in Hits magazine, an industry trade publication.

"The whole band is really excited to be on Warner Bros. because we were able to write the deal we wanted," said keyboardist Dave Cooley.

"We have complete artistic and creative freedom over everything from the (album) artwork to when we turn a record in and whether it will be on vinyl."

Part of the group's deal includes money to build its own studio in downtown Milwaukee, according to band manager Jeff Castelaz.

The band has tentative plans to release an EP this fall, he said, with a full-length album to follow in mid-1998.

Last summer, Citizen King signed with the 510 label, a subsidiary of MCA Records.

Shortly afterward, the 510 label folded, and Citizen King's newly recorded album was never released.

Though painful, the MCA experience actually worked in the Citizens' favor, Cooley said.

They retained ownership of the record and used it to promote themselves to other labels.

"It was kind of like a real expensive demo (tape) we didn't have to pay for," he said.

The Citizen King signing, though unrelated, is the latest in a long line of Milwaukee bands with ties to Warner label, going back to such artists as Semi-Twang, Loey Nelson and the Violent Femmes.

The Gufs, also co-managed by Castelaz, are signed to Atlantic Records, a division of Warner Bros. Local R&B singer Eric Benet is part of Warner's black music division, and the BoDeans record for Warner's Slash/Reprise imprint.

The coming week will be a busy one for the Citizens, who open for the Wallflowers Sept. 2 at the Dane County Coliseum in Madison.

The next day, Sept. 3, they fly to New York City to perform a showcase concert at the CMJ Music Marathon, an annual music convention that attracts hundreds of musicians and industry executives.

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson and techno artist Moby are this year's keynote speakers.

Tina Maples