Freshman 15 signs with Standby Records

For Immediate Release
Contact: Joshua Vardous
Standby Records
www.standbyrecords.net
josh@standbyrecords.net
216-631-6916

August 20th, 2008

Cleveland, OH ..  Today, Standby Records (www.standbyrecords.net) announced news of their latest signing of FRESHMAN 15 (www.myspace.com/freshman15rock):

FRESHMAN 15 have accepted an offer from Standby Records and signed their contract today. "We're so pumped for this relationship and what the future holds" said Davey Fortner, singer/guitarist. "We love Standby's visions for us and their label; it was a perfect fit", he finished. Standby Records owner Neil Sheehan said of the band, "A band with this much talent couldn't have gone on much longer without being signed. I'm glad we made the move first."

This pop-punk group formerly called themselves Xzamen but changed their name about a year ago to shake things up a bit. Since the name change to Freshman 15 they have played extensively throughout their hometown area of Gainesville Georgia, toured through most of the southern states, and recorded their first EP "5 Ways To Get To First Base". Singer/guitarist Davey Fortner says of the band, "We just want to play as many shows as possible and get our music to as many people as possible. We live to make new friends and we wanna hang with celebrities, of course..."

The band will be re-entering the studio October 17th to finish recording their debut Standby release. They will continue their work with producer John Naclerio (My Chemical Romance, Senses Fail, Brand New) of Nada Recording Studio whom recorded their recent EP '5 Ways To Get To First Base'. Of recording with Naclerio, singer Davey Fortner had the following to say, "John is awesome. He is so easy to work with and of course he makes us sound good.", he joked. Davey finished by saying that Naclerio has "worked with so many huge bands yet he's super down to earth. We were recommended to him by our friends in Every Avenue so if it wasn't for them or Naclerio, we wouldn't be here signing our contract today."

The band had sent their EP to Standby Records based off of Naclerio's recommendation. Hundreds of demos are fielded in the Standby offices each week but Freshman 15's EP stood out immediately. "We go through so many demos and myspace pages each week it's amazing we can get anything else done", joked Standby's GM Joshua Vardous. "Luckily I had their CD in my hands that day and I immediately phoned the band directly. It took us about a month to work out a deal but I pretty much wanted to sign them the first day I heard them", he continued.

Neil Sheehan, owner and CEO of Standby Records was very impressed with the work they had done on their EP. He said, "You only need to listen to one song, once, from F15 and you get hooked and start singing the thing all day. That is what grabbed me. When I was driving home after one listen through and I was singing it, I knew we wanted the band."

No release date is set for when Standby will release FRESHMAN 15's debut album.

FRESHMAN 15 are: Davey Fortner (vocals/guitar), Jeremy Smith (guitar/vocals), B.J. Formella (bass/vocals), and Breck Blanchard (drums).

Standby Records (www.standbyrecords.net) is an independent record label with offices in Los Angeles California and Cleveland Ohio. Standby Records is nationally distributed through Victory Distribution.

For more information please contact josh@standbyrecords.net or call (216) 631-6916

......