The average college student spends the bulk of his or her time attending class, working on homework and relaxing on the weekends. But Will Anderson, lead singer and keyboardist for pop-rock band Sparky's Flaw - who will be hitting the stage at Jammin' Java in Arlington, Va., Wednesday - had a different college tale to tell.
The summer before Anderson's senior year of college at the University of Virginia, Sparky's Flaw caught the attention of Mercury Records. Amidst midterms and graduation, the band signed a record deal and began working on their still unreleased debut album. Despite all this, Anderson said he had an average college experience.
"We were pretty normal college students," he said. "We played a lot of video games and hated waking up for class."
Despite Anderson's modesty, his schedule during his senior year revealed how unique his college experience truly was. Sparky's Flaw spent weekends recording in Los Angeles and touring to continue promoting the band - returning in time to hand in assignments and attend class.
"We'd fly to L.A. on Thursday and get back ... early Monday morning," he said. "I majored in music, so my professors were pretty cool with it. Nate was a history major ... his professors never gave him any slack. For me, [the professors] loved it. They were like, 'Take pictures and give me a call and let me know how the studio is!'"
Despite the increasing intensity of their pending musical career, the band members and their management agreed it was valuable for Anderson and the other members still in college to finish their degrees.
"We wanted a [label] that would let us finish school," Anderson said. "One of our managers, Chris Sampson ... was always saying, 'You've got to finish school, man ... you can wait that long. You're young.'"
Being relatively new to the "real world," as well as the brutal recording industry, Sparky's Flaw has needed to be cautious. It is a blessing, but also scary, to be young in the industry, Anderson said.
"Being young is always good in the industry because you have a lot of time to build [your career]," he said. "It's bad in that people treat you almost juvenile. People think that because we're young, [they] can take advantage of us."
Anderson added that having a team of seasoned professionals in the industry makes the process less daunting.
"We have awesome, awesome managers [and] we have a label that's very understanding about what we do," he said. "We have the adults who can definitely throw down for us."
Anderson said these adults have helped keep Sparky's Flaw on track and allowed them to make important creative decisions, like first releasing their EP, "Sparky's Flaw EP," instead of immediately recording a full-length album.
"In the end, it was to buy us some time," he said. "We knew that we were in school and wouldn't have enough time to record a full-length."
According to Anderson, this worked out well, satiating old fans until their full-length record was released and allowing new fans to discover their sound.
With college finally out of the way, Anderson said he is excited about the new opportunities Sparky's Flaw has to pursue music as a full time job.
"We are incredibly lucky to get to play music together for a living, and we are very thankful to have been given this opportunity, especially being this young," he said. "Getting to hang out with my five best friends and make music together is awesome."
You can reach this staff writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
