Between 1985 and 1995, The Tickets were the reining kings of the Orange County club scene.  They had a knack for packing the clubs consistently where ever they played. On a typical weekend evening, you¹d show up at one of the few clubs in the area cool enough to have them play and inevitably end up waiting in a line.  Lines to see original music just didn’t happen in OC unless of course you were heading in to see The Tickets. The clubs would fill to capacity early and stay full right through to last call.  Doormen would know that when this group of guys were playing they were going to have a busy night controlling the overcrowding in the clubs.
   
Why the popularity? They were only the best rock and power pop band playing  anywhere in the entire state of California.  The Tickets’ sound was simply remarkable.  Ringing guitars with a rock solid rhythm section fronted by the charismatic Seattle transplant, Bryan Shaddix - who possess one of the best voices around.  Bryan left the Pacific Northwest in the early 80’s and moved to sun-filled Southern California.  He convinced two of his friends from Washington, to do the same.  After finding a drummer in the ads in the local paper, the original line-up of The Tickets was complete.  It featured Byran Shaddix on guitar and vocals, Marcos de la Cruz on Drums, Don Mabbott on guitar and vocals, and Tim Strope on bass.  Don left the band around 1987 and Tim shortly after that.  They were replaced by Brian Martin and Andy Winston respectively.  Bryan, Marcos, Brian, and Andy made up the longest running lineup of The Tickets and are the 4 guys that everyone associates with the band.  Later on, other members came and went, but it was this combination that made the magic happen.
 
Going to a Tickets show was a guaranteed good time, no matter how many times you saw them.  Their song selection was impeccable. Their stage banter was hysterical. It was like going over to a buddies’ house with an armful of records and spending hours discovering great song after great song A standard Tickets’ set included songs by John Hiatt, NRBQ, The Replacements, Marshall Crenshaw, Nick Lowe, XTC, The Knack, Squeeze, and The Pretenders. Every cover song they performed was injected with an energy that often made their version better than the original. Although The Tickets cover songs were amazing, it was their originals that stood out.  Bryan Shaddix consistently fused two of his main influences, Glenn Tilbrook and Nick Lowe, and created amazing pop music. Originals like " Dream About Me" and "Our Two Hearts" sound like they could be Argy Bargy outtakes while "I Don’t Belong" and "Way Down Here" would make Basher proud. To say I was a huge fan would have been an understatement.  I was there every chance I had.  The overwhelming reception their originals received at their live shows prompted the band to enter the studio in 1989 and record an album. The result was the cassette-only pressing of The Tickets Make a Record.  It was destined to be one of my favorite albums of all time and it didn’t disappoint.  The local press praised the tape with all of the accolades it deserved but beyond that it remained relatively unknown except, of course, with the loyal fans of the band. The Tickets continued playing shows throughout the mid-90s but decided to call it quits around 1995.

Jump ahead 10 years to 2005. Out of the blue, I received a CD of demos from Bryan Shaddix who had since relocated to Northern California. We hadn’t really kept in touch except for the occasional email message so the package was a pleasant surprise.  I  popped the disc in my player and within seconds a huge smile crossed my face. That distinctive voice I hadn't heard in years was filling my living room. I immediately called Bryan and told him he needed to come down and record these songs in my studio. A couple weeks later he was down tracking at my place, starting work on what will soon become his first solo album. During one of the sessions, I asked him about that Tickets’ album. I thought it would be a great idea to release it and to do it before Bryan¹s solo album for two reasons. One, it would be a great way to introduce people to Bryan¹s music and two, The Tickets album would finally get its long overdue CD release. He told me that the 2-track master of the album was nowhere to be found but thought that the studio where it was tracked would have the original 2-inch 24-track tapes. The next day, I called For The Record where the sessions were recorded. It turned out that Eric Garten, the original engineer/producer was still there! I mentioned what I was planning on doing and he was thrilled. He’d been recording artists for over 20 years and said Bryan was one of the most talented guys he had ever had a chance to work with.  He said he wasn't sure if the tapes were in his archive closet but he would check and get back to me.  I received a call the next day saying he had found one of the tapes but couldn't find the second one. He suspected that it may have been used for another project and recorded over. My heart sank. He said he had one more place to look but wasn't very hopeful. Another day later, he called and to tell me he had located the second tape. He had already threaded them on the tape machine and said that they sounded as if they were recorded yesterday. I booked time to go to his studio to transfer the tracks from his 2-inch analog tape to digital files so I could re-mix the album from scratch in my studio.

For the next couple of weeks, I was in musical heaven. I was re-mixing one of my favorite albums from the ground up. I started with Marcos¹ kick drum and worked my way through every track until each song was finished. I had such a blast isolating vocal tracks and guitar solos, encountering things that I had never heard before on an album I had listened to hundreds of times.

To round out the album, I decided to include a few bonus tracks. On the original release, Brian Martin sings lead on 3 songs, however, when going through the tracks, I noticed Bryan Shaddix had laid down a lead vocal on two of the three. I thought these alternate versions would be a nice addition. Also included, are two songs from a 45 that the original band lineup put out in 1987. It features Bryan Shaddix singing a song written for the band by Katrina from Katrina & The Waves. The final bonus track is the second song on the 45 called Yesterday¹s Girl and is sung by original member, Don Mabbott.

Although the album was recorded over 17 years ago, the songs encoded on this metallic disc are truly timeless. I hope this CD release will allow more people to enjoy the music of this amazing band.

Walter Clevenger
Executive Producer/Mixing Engineer

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