Ashley Simpson Audition
In 2005 I was signed to a record label called Sedona Records. As the name indicates, this label was based in the beautiful and mystical red rock town of Sedona, AZ. I will tell more about that experience in a later blog, but for our purposes here we are going to focus on an audition I got through the owners of the record label. An audition to be Ashley Simpson’s keyboard player and back-up vocalist.
The owner of the label, who we’ll call Martin for now, had been based in Los Angeles for many years. His claim to fame was playing trumpet on the original cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar and being the first person to record the Red Hot Chili Peppers. However, neither of those can be proven. I met him in Sedona through my dad’s girlfriend at the time. They had been friends in LA ages ago.
I was actually planning my exit from the label when they offered up this last ditch effort to give me something of value. An audition. They had received word that Ashley Simpson was looking for a new keyboardist. I believe the former keyboardist was her good friend, who had left the band to pursue her own solo career. I was not a fan of Ashley Simpson, but I was familiar with a few of her songs, mostly through the music videos. Back then MTV still played videos and had not fully succumbed to the lure of reality television shows.
I said yes to the audition, which was to be held in Los Angeles. I was asked to learn the song “Shadow” and play and sing it for her and her band as if I was the main character. I remember driving to Cottonwood to buy the CD so I could learn the song. The sunset on my drive back to Sedona will forever live in my head. Was this it? Was I about to get a chance to be a part of a band that could potentially connect me to big wigs in the music industry so I could pursue my solo career?! My mind went wild with imagination of what the possibilities were. It didn’t take me long to learn the piano part, and the vocal was simply a matter of memorization. I played and sang it over and over again for a few days until I felt confident in my ability to perform it like a rockstar.
I remember going to my girlfriend's house and looking through her wardrobe for something cool to wear. After many different stylings my friends and I agreed upon a strapless, tight, gray striped top with a pair of Amercrombie jeans. I was so lean at the time I could slink into anything, and I felt like hot shit in the outfit. I had booked a flight to Los Angeles where my mother picked me up. Thanks mom. I stayed with her in Long Beach and she drove me to the warehouse where the audition would be held.
I walked in and was struck with how cool the space was. There was a stage with full lighting and tech for performers to rehearse. “Is that where I’m auditioning?”, I asked the handler. “No, you’re gonna be back here” they said. They took me to a small, all white room with one lonely, cheap, keyboard setup. No microphone for vocals. There were two dudes in there waiting for me. Members of Ashley’s band. The first thing they said to me after introductions was that Ashley would not be there. Bummer. I was told she would be there so that was disappointing. We had about 90 seconds of chit chat before they were like, “OK, show us what you’ve got!”.
I went over to the keyboard and played and sang “Shadow”. The only note they gave me before I performed was to play it as if I was on stage. They wanted to see exactly how I’d come across in a real performance. So I belted out the song and nailed the keyboard part. I didn’t make any mistakes. I thought I did great, despite a tiny bit of shaking from nerves. They guys shook my hand and said, “That was awesome, great job!”. And I left.
We never heard back from Ashley’s people. I remember looking out for her and her band to see who they ended up hiring, and you know what? Ashley didn’t perform again with a band. At least not within those next few years. (I stopped following). It wasn’t that I wasn't hired, it was that nobody was hired. And that’s the way it goes in this industry. I paid for my flight, took time off work, made all the effort, and nobody even had 30 seconds to call and say they were, “Going in a different direction.” Oh well.
Anyhoo…