Festivals & Fame

Apartment 26 reveal how they used Ozzfest as a springboard to success

by David Farinella
August 2, 2000

It's the phone call every young band dreams of receiving: "Pack your gear! You've just been added to Ozzfest!" But when the phone rang at Apartment 26 headquarters, the lads were … dubious. What? Not out-of-their-heads excited? Not running around throwing their hands in the air like they just don't care?

Nope. See, a couple of problems had to be worked out -- like, they didn't have an album or a record label deal. And they just barely had enough songs to play a full set.

In fact, as lead singer Biff explains it, they weren't even thinking in professional terms at the time. "We all had different places to go after high school -- different universities and colleges. But we decided to defer that for one year to see how it would go within that year. We knew that it usually takes a band an average of eight years to succeed, but we told our parents, 'Oh, just one year and then we'll go to college.' We hoped to prolong that every year."

To earn their college deferment, Biff, guitarist Jon Greasley, bassist Louis Cruden, keyboardist A. C. Huckvale, and drummer/programmer Kevin Temple started writing songs and recording a demo. The sessions, which were produced by Doug Firley from Gravity Kills, were intended for their ears only. But tapes leaked to the Ozzfest offices and later that year came the fateful phone call. Biff recalls, "They said, 'We've been hearing the stuff, quite like it. What are you doing this summer?' So it was as much a surprise to us as anybody else."

That demo tape, now known as the five-song Within EP, was polished a bit and peddled on the road. The fact that it sold well surprised Biff. "Obviously at the Ozzfest kids only come there with 'x' amount of dollars, and there's t-shirts and stuff to buy. So buying a tape from a band that you've never heard of is obviously not your first priority. But the tapes sold pretty good. It was weird to see people actually receiving us well."

Even weirder, according to Biff and Apartment 26's booking agent, Ron Opaleski of the William Morris Agency, are the lessons learned in their Ozzfest experience about how to score major opportunities with minimal exposure -- and how to make the best use of whatever the results of those opportunities might be.

The Ozzfest Gig: Connections

How does an unsigned band get the opportunity to be considered for a festival tour like Ozzfest? Critics and skeptics point to the fact that Biff's father, Geezer Butler, was a member of Black Sabbath.

photo by: Aaron Lindgren/Jaymz

But Biff is quick to discount the idea that family ties had anything to do with it. "That's not at all how it happened," he says emphatically. "How people are reacting to the whole thing is ridiculous. The fact that the Osbournes are almost like family to me, that's how we got to the plate early on, but [Sharon, Ozzy's wife and Ozzfest booker] wouldn't put us on the tour just because of who my father is. She could have put her own son on the tour three years ago if that were true. She chose who she thought was good. They actually liked us, and every time they come through L.A. they check us out. She wouldn't have put us up there if we were going to embarrass her.

Having the Osbournes as fans is perhaps more important than having them as relatives, confirms Ron Opaleski. "There's no formula to getting on any tour," he says. "Ozzy's a big fan of the band. That was the number one component."

Earning a Main Stage Spot

Was Apartment 26 ready for a major tour such as Ozzfest? "To one point I think we were," Biff says, "because my whole life I've been around big tours. So none of it was daunting to me at all. But once it did roll up, looking back, I don't think we were ready. At the time, we definitely thought we were. The younger we are, the spongier we are. I think we did a good job at the time, but compared to how we are now I see us as two different bands. We weren't as ready as we are now."

After their side stage stint last year, Apartment 26 got the call to the main stage in 2000. According to Ron Opaleski, they had to go through the same routine as every other band to get that break. "We submitted through the formal channels. Of course, everyone works all angles. The record company makes the pitch about how valuable the band is, and obviously the key component is that Ozzy personally loves the band. So in this instance that was probably the key factor -- the fact that we have a new record out and the band's great. There's only a few slots for acts at our level, and we're fortunate and happy to be chosen."

Next Page: How to Handle Major Exposure...