Modern Logic by the Numbers: 10 years (1983/4 to 1994), 1200+ shows, 6 Bassists, 2 drummers, 6 Acoustic spin-offs. An untold number of managers, agents, road managers, engineers, roadies, techs and flunkies (and the wonderful Modern-Logic-Ladies-Auxiliary Corps); 1 pilot, 2 trucks, 4 records (one unreleased until now); 2 movie tie-ins, 1 cancelled tour of the Soviet Union. 1 record contract that died with Freddy Mercury.

Modern Logic played every type of show in every type of venue imaginable, from delis to ball rooms; from basements to amphitheaters; even birthday parties and a couple of weddings. They played on punk bills and even a metal bill and were (oddly) well-received.

They withstood an enormous head wind of criticism from the labels, because the music didn’t fit into a well-defined sonic cubby hole, but the fans didn’t seem to care.  They explored music well outside of their “genre” whatever that was for them, and it totally confused the suits that had their futures in their back pockets.

1986 brought Tomorrow’s Sun, a Vinyl EP recorded at Island Studios in Richmond with Victor Benshoff engineering. A whirlwind weekend of recording and mixing, throwing caution to the wind after securing a recording date only 2 days prior… Luckily, they had a little studio time under their belts from their time working on “Morgan Stewart’s Coming Home” movie, and weren’t completely out of their element. Compiled in a ridiculous 22.5 hours, Tomorrow’s Sun nevertheless garnered attention internationally as well as sparking the temporary interest of RCA records. (to no avail) NME (New Music Express) deigned ML as THE band for those in need of a “twee bleep fix” (due to the heavy use of cheap synthesizers, and clean clean clean guitars)

By 1989, the boys were fatigued from touring and working constantly and were giving it “just one more” summer to see if anything could possibly happen. It was decided after actually having a great summer tour, combined with the popularity of “Leaving on a Jet Plane” that ML would record Jet Plane as a single and see if they could garner any label interest. With the influx of some (a LOT of) financing, the lowly single turned into a full blow album project -- “Rain Dance” creating one of the first independent releases of the newly popular CD format in Central Virginia. Recorded at Virginia Arts Studio in Charlottesville, VA. Engineered by Barry Schleifer, “Rain Dance” was a monumental task with a budget to match, but it reinvigorated the Logicians to soldier on (they had to pay for the dang thing!) More touches with record companies who couldn’t understand why the songs didn’t all sound the same.

That reinvigoration brought with it more new songs, which had to be shared. 1991’s Vagrant Grace, however, was not going to be the massive undertaking that Rain Dance was. It couldn’t be. It was simple – return to VA Arts, Call Barry back in, record 6 songs that they had  been playing for two years and put out a DIY cassette. Their first release under Painter Music of Nashville, Vagrant Grace garnered more confused interest from labels and more fan fervor. Whereas Rain Dance took two years to break even, Vagrant Grace took 6 months.

Enter Kevin McNoldy, freshly graduated from Berklee with a degree in music production and a stint in the Nashville studio scene. He took ML on as his first ever client as producer. It was also the first time ever that ML had access to anyone willing to help them with the process. The Kevin Mac Sessions proved that ML could take instructions and could be led to amazing recording work. It was also nice not to be counting the dollars going into each and every little aspect of the studio time. The Kevin Mac sessions, along with Painter Music Publishing, garnered the best interest to date -- Hollywood Records. A brand new “future major” label that had just signed Queen to the most expensive record contract ever. They were going to finally give Modern Logic the deal that they had been working on for all those years. That is until Freddie Mercury died. Because Modern Logic’s dream died with Freddie, as the company panicked and cut all new and developing artists to save money. Hollywood Records survived (after some major restructuring). Queen survived. Modern Logic did not.

Turns out that shortly after they disbanded, the whole rock genre game was turned on its head. They were just that much ahead of the curve. So many near misses, but it’s the music biz, not hand grenades: Misses are misses.  

They persevered through near miss after near miss, until they just couldn’t any more. Now, after 32 years, the music is available again. Please enjoy and let us know what you think.