Vancouver rock band Stabilo (formerly Stabilo Boss), which signed with EMI Music Canada in mid-September, will the song that landed all the industry attention in the first place, A new version of "Everybody," co-produced with Marcy Playground's John Wozniak, will be serviced to radio in March.

Stabilo just left on a national tour with Toronto's Pilate and will shoot a video for the song with director Matthew Eastman when it gets to Toronto later this month. An EP will come out at the beginning of April, comprised of remixed tracks, produced by Wozniak and Jon Anderson, at Vancouver's Mushroom Studios.

As for the full album, EMI Music Canada's VP of A&R Tim Trombley says that the label has solicited top-name producers for the project and is just waiting for all the feedback and responses. "When the band is here (Toronto, January 25/26), we'll end up having a meeting and getting more specific about who we'll fly up to Vancouver to meet with the band."

Stabilo Boss (it shorted the name just before signing its record deal) formed in 1999, comprised of vocalist-guitarists Jesse Dryfout and Chris Moerman, bassist Karl Williaume on drummer Nathan Wylie. The band released its first EP, "The Kitchen Sessions" in May of 1999, followed by a self-titled, self-produced album in January of 2001, (which contained "Everybody") and an acoustic EP, "A Beautiful Madness," two months later.

In 2002, "Everybody" became the most-requested song for nearly a month at Vancouver's now defunct 104.9 XFM, then at several other stations across Canada, including Ottawa's 101.1 Xfm, Victoria, BC's 91.3 The Zone, and Barrie, Ont.'s Rock 95, and later earned Stabilo Boss a nomination for a 2003 Canadian Radio Music Award, against all signed acts.

Meanwhile, the band had started working with Wozniak and Anderson for its next album, but nothing was ever released commercially because record labels came calling, including Sony Music Canada, Universal Music Canada and EMI Music Canada. In August of 2002, the band made what (until this tour with Pilate) was its only trek east, to showcase for labels at the Horseshoe Tavern.

After flying to Toronto to meet with Sony in February of 2003, Stabilo's manager, Crucial Artists' Brian Crowe, a former booking agent who started working with the band three years ago after reading on its web site that it needed management, officially teamed with Jarrod Levitan of S.L. Feldman & Associates' and Macklam Feldman Management's artist development division, Watchdog, in March, 2002, to help take Stabilo to the next level.

"The reputation that they have and the contacts that they've made, and me just being independent, it's a lot nicer to have someone who has the clout," says Crowe. "It's only a benefit for me and for the band to work with them."

With Vancouver lawyer Patrick Aldous of Atkin's & Company shopping the band all through Canada, and Crowe and Levitan handling most of the U.S. on their own, management soon found the most attractive deal with EMI Music Canada.

"They weren't interested in changing the band and were interested in the sound of the music," says Crowe. "A lot of people are just looking for the same-old, same-old sound, and what's been hitting the radio, and we just liked their vision for the band."

Trombley says that while they feel "Everybody" is a radio hit, the label wanted to make sure the band gets on the road, hence the pre-release tour with Pilate.