Who Composed Georgetown Universitys Hit -em Again?

March 25, 2022 Post a Comment

Vertical Horizon was formed as a college band at Georgetown University back in 1991. Thirty years subsequently, the culling rockers join Train at Wolf Trap on Aug. xix at eight p.m.

Heed to our full conversation on my podcast "Beyond the Fame."

WTOP's Jason Fraley previews Vertical Horizon at Wolf Trap (Part one)

Vertical Horizon was formed every bit a college band at Georgetown University back in 1991.

Thirty years after, the culling rockers join Train at Wolf Trap on Aug. nineteen at 8 p.yard.

"It'll be nice to be back at the old stomping grounds," Frontman Matt Scannell told WTOP.

Born in 1970, Scannell grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts earlier enrolling at Georgetown.

"I was prepping for Plan B, to be honest with you, major in psychology and I had a minor in English language," Scannell said. "I studied some music history … Both Keith and I gave ourselves a year later on nosotros graduated to give the music thing a try and nosotros were frankly expecting it to fail miserably, then we would keep to Plan B, just that never happened, fortunately."

He still remembers the moment he met guitarist Keith Kane at a college political party.

"A circle of people gathered around who knew how to play guitar," Scannell said. "Keith played a song and I absolutely loved his voice and the spirit with which he played, so the guitar made its manner around the circle and I played … my version of [Michael Hedges'] version of 'All Along the Watchtower.' Information technology was fun. Right after that, Keith said, 'Hey, do you want to jam sometime?'"

Shortly, they began playing together at various bars and clubs around Georgetown.

"We played at The Bayou quite a bit," Scannell said. "We played at The Tombs with some regularity, there was a BBQ place called Heads and we would practise a weekly gig there. It was very kind of them. At that fourth dimension, we were making no coin any, so they would feed united states everything nosotros could eat and acquit habitation, so Heads basically fed u.s. throughout that time."

They began passing effectually tapes and students took them back to their schools.

"This was in a pre-internet time and tape trading was a thing," Scannell said. "There were and then many students who would be coming in for a summer internship and heading dorsum to college in the fall. We would play shows during the summer months, so people would hear us, make recordings of usa, then bring those tapes dorsum with them to college wherever, Seattle, St. Louis, etc."

Pretty soon, they started getting calls from fraternities and sororities across the state wanting to book them. They relocated to Boston to record their debut album, "There and Dorsum Again" (1992).

"Y'all hear us literally learning how to apply a recording studio," Scannell said. "A lot of the major labels were passing on united states and we wanted to get to the adjacent level. … We were frustrated that nosotros weren't getting just naturally welcomed into the fold of the major label system, so we made a live record down in Winston Salem, Northward Carolina at a identify called Ziggy's recorded over ii nights."

That live album, "Live Stages" (1997), turned heads when execs heard the crowd reaction.

"The 'Live Stages' record begins with voracious applause by the audience," Scannell said. "We sent information technology off to all of the A&R people who had passed on the states. Around the same time we crossed the seventy,000 units sales mark in SoundScan network, so those two things perked up people's ears, literally. I tin can imagine them listening to that tape saying, 'How are they doing this without us?'"

In 1998, Vertical Horizon finally signed with RCA Records for their major label debut album, "Everything You Want" (1999), which featured the No. i hitting of the same proper name.

"It's a vocal written out of sheer frustration," Scannell said. "I was in love with someone who merely idea I was a friend. It'due south a very classic story where I kept seeing her plow to people who were bad for her and treated her unkindly without much respect. She'd come back and cry on my shoulder. I just wanted her to be better and feel better and I felt like the homo who could exercise that for her."

The album also featured "You're a God," which reached No. 10 on the U.S. Pop chart.

"I had put someone in my life in a position of power; I had given them the power to make decisions for me or influence my ability to make decisions in a style that they didn't deserve," Scannell said. "I was really frustrated with myself for enabling this dynamic and I didn't know how to get out of it. There was a moment of clarity: if I gave them the power, I could just as easily take it away."

Information technology also featured the melancholic ballad "Best I Ever Had (Grey Heaven Morn)."

"That ane was tough," Scannell said. "Sometimes relationships can be these beautiful supernovas that flash into existence, then well-nigh but as quickly fade away. There are times when you're in one of those relationships where you lot almost know this is too expert to terminal. This is not going to exist something nosotros can hold onto for any reason. That'due south exactly what happened to me."

He even liked the state comprehend by Gary Allan, who used it to eulogize his late wife.

"He did a fantastic job," Scannell said. "His covering of that song was a very bittersweet thing with the passing of his wife. I was truly honored to accept written the vessel with which he could practise some mourning for his married woman. It's amazing to me that songs tin can hateful one thing at a certain time to ane person, and then something completely dissimilar to someone else in a different gear up of circumstances."

WTOP'due south Jason Fraley previews Vertical Horizon at Wolf Trap (Part 2)

Listen to our full conversation on my podcast "Beyond the Fame."

Jason Fraley

Hailed past The Washington Postal service for "his savantlike ability to name every Best Movie winner in history," Jason Fraley began at WTOP every bit Forenoon Drive Writer in 2008, film critic in 2011 and Entertainment Editor in 2014, providing daily arts coverage on-air and online.