Song:The Best Of Me
Album:Drive-Thru Records Greatest Hits
The Starting Line had success with the 2002 single The Best Of Me on Drive-Thru Records. Things didn't go so well when they moved to a larger label. The band is still around but they should have been much bigger. The Starting Line is from Philadelphia. Guitarist Matthew K. Watts posted a "singer wanted" flyer in a local record store. 14 year old Kenny Vasoli responded. After checking out Vasoli's AOL profile, Watts asked if he wanted to jam. They rehearsed with guitarist Mike Golla and drummer Tom Gryskewicz and started playing local clubs as Sunday Drive. After releasing some songs online and on an EP, Sunday Drive signed with Drive-Thru in 2001, a label that specialized in Sunday Drive's brand of emo pop. They had a distribution deal with MCA. After an EP was released, it was found that the name Sunday Drive was already in use. So the band name was changed to The Starting Line. The 2002 album Say It Like You Mean It was produced with recording engineer Mark Trombino who had worked with Jimmy Eat World among others. The videos for The Best Of Me and Leaving went into rotation at MTV. And they toured. When Drive-Thru ended their distribution deal with MCA, MCA had the option of picking up any of Drive-Thru's bands. So for the 2005 album Based on a True Story, The Starting Line were on Geffen Records. It didn't go well. Geffen wanted The Starting Line to sound slicker and Neal Avron was assigned to produce. Geffen wanted The Starting Line to sound like other successful bands. But the band was determined to do their own thing. The album was mostly produced by recording engineer Tim O'Heir. Geffen didn't like the album and wanted the band to re-record it. They refused and Geffen buried the album. By the end of 2005, The Starting Line got out of their Geffen contract. They signed with Virgin Records for the 2007 album Direction. The album did OK but they went on hiatus after touring. The Best Of Me is available on this Drive-Thru comp. They returned in 2015 and released an EP. They will tour in the fall. Here's the video for The Best Of Me by The Starting Line.
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