Laden Angel

They haven’t cut their hair or changed their names but they’re still holding out for fortune and fame because the members of Laden Angel still want to be rock stars.

Don’t laugh. The group that began in Charlottesville is about to kick out its first CD with a Richmond release party Saturday and a Charlottesville party to be announced.

“I’ve been at it since about 1998,” says Conley Jones, the bearded lead singer and songwriter, sipping legal stimulants outside a U.S. 29 coffee shop. “I was trying to come up with a name for the group and a guy who was playing with me said I should listen to the songs and see if I could find a recurring theme. Laden Angel is what I came up with.”

Perseverance

There were false starts, but Conley’s baby flew when Mike Heck, a drummer tired of sticks and skins and seeking some string action, checked it out.

“The songs were great, so I said OK. We were playing out in a barn in Scottsville recording a CD, and you had to go through about 100 dogs and cattle and drag your instrument through the mud to play,” he laughs.

Mike soon was promoted to guitar player and the recording site was changed. So were the songs.

“I guess I’m prolific. I love to write music and I write a lot, so while we were trying to record and get it right - we were reading books on recording and promoting records - the number of songs we had to choose from kept growing,” Conley says with a grin.

Mike’s wife, Laura, a keyboardist, joined and the couple moved to Richmond, convincing Conley to come along. There the group’s membership was fleshed out with a little bit of stalking.

Mike tracked down bass player Allen Carpenter, with whom he had played in another group, at Allen’s auto sales job. Conley, in need of both a job and a drummer, got a gig working at a music store. A misspelled flier attracted his attention.

“It was a picture of this guy pointing his sticks at the camera and the caption said, ‘Are you lokking for drummer?’’’ Conley recalls. “It turned out he’s great.”

One more thing ...

All that was left was finishing the CD, and that was easier said than done.

“It’s one thing to make a demo recording but it’s another thing to make an album,” Mike says. “When you’re competing against the other CDs on the market, the quality has to be high.”

“We want it to be good. We want to showcase the songs and the music,” Conley said. “When I was younger I was told I couldn’t do this and it’s become sort of a vendetta over the years. I want to prove we can.”
- Daily Progress