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What do you do when you hit the rock 'n' roll jackpot, only to have it all slip through your fingers?
You start all over again, of course.
That's the tack local rockers Jet Set Satellite are taking, after their slow but steady ascent up the Can-Rock ladder stalled five years ago, amid the usual music-business beefs with management and their record label.
"People think I'm bitter about it, but I'm not," says frontman Trevor Tuminski of the band's apparent fall from grace. "I treat it more as a cautionary tale to younger musicians, so they know what to expect. A lot of people think if they do win the attention of a record label, they just sign on the dotted line and everything's taken care of. For us, that's where all our troubles began."
Originally a collaboration between Tuminski and pal Dave Swiecicki, Jet Set Satellite first hit the big time in 2000, thanks in part to a well-placed phone call to Nettwerk Records producer Pierre Marchand.
Their debut album Blueprint spawned four radio-friendly hits and a few flashy videos, and saw the band playing to stadium-sized crowds who devoured their brand of brooding alt-rock.
But things started to sour a few years later, once Jet Set returned to the studio to record a second album. Network seemed dead-set on pairing the band with professional songwriters, hoping for a crossover pop hit in the vein of Creed or Linkin Park.
"But we wouldn't have been able to look ourselves in the mirror," Tuminski explains, noting Nettwerk was never happy with what he calls "the best material we'd written."
Instead, the project was shelved, a contractual escape clause was exercised, and Tuminski and his crew were left to start drawing on all the resources they could in hopes of recording and releasing the album themselves.
"We didn't want it to be just another indie album," he explains. "We wanted it to be something on par with Blueprint."
The finished product -- last fall's Vegas -- took three months to record, and was polished via e-mail with an assist from veteran producer Duane Baron (Ozzy Osborne, Alice Cooper), a former Winnipegger.
Tuminski is happy with the result -- describing the album as "darker, heavier, and a bit more focused" -- but he's understandably frustrated by the industry machinations that forced him to take the reins himself.
"The music industry is a different place now from when we started, and I don't know if that (industry) even exists anymore," he says. "Now the industry isn't very concerned with developing bands. The bands that get signed have to have a built-in fan base already."
Thankfully, Tuminski's own fan base doesn't seem to have forgotten about him, thanks largely to Jet Set Satellite's continued airplay on local rock radio stations, but also to the band's perseverance.
"I think most people seem to respect the fact that we're still together ... and have taken over all aspects (of our career)," he says.
For the band -- which also includes Mike Keller on guitar and Rich Reid on drums -- that means not only overseeing the recording process, but also radio and tour bookings and publicity.
So far, things are working out -- the band plans to tour extensively over the summer, and Tuminski still has his eye on a stripped down, balls-to-the-wall rock album a la AC/DC's Back in Black.
And if it all goes south again? He's got no regrets.
"It's sort of disenchanting, but at the same time, I know 90% of people out there will never get to do what I did," he smiles.
Jet Set Satellite play tomorrow night in Winnipeg at Silverado's. Tickets are $9.97 at Canad Inns Garden City.