Flicker Records
2007
Until June
About This Album
As part of the unique music marketing aesthetic in the mid-2000s, music fans could literally walk into Starbucks and buy CDs from their favorite hip adult-oriented artists. This melodic, energetic, and crisply produced debut by the powerful harmonic rock trio Until June -- consisting of Phoenix-bred brothers Josh Ballard (piano and vocals) and Dan Ballard (guitar) and drummer Daniel Dempsey -- wasn't available there, but the coffee giant played a big part in their discovery. L.A. was still the place where rock dreams came true for starving musicians, and Josh was serving coffee at a local Starbucks when famed engineer and producer Brian Garcia (Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, Our Lady Peace) told him he "looked like a musician." Garcia loved Until June's demo tape, ultimately produced their debut, and the rest fits into the decade's mainstream rock story that launched other great bands like Keane, Coldplay, the Fray, etc. As a side note, Until June may also be the only band in history named after its collective "make it or break it" deadline -- had they not been signed in June 2006, they might have packed it in. The powerful "oo-ah-hoo-hoo" wordless vocal hook that swirls around Josh Ballard's passionate, Kevin Cronin-like vocals on the impossibly hooky opener, "Sleepless," made pop fans glad that this didn't happen.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7)

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