The year is 2004, 15 years prior to winning Netflix's first Rhythm + Flow competition and 17 years before D Smoke earns two Grammy nominations for his album Black Habits. In partnership with his brothers, "Sir" Darryl Farris and Davion Farris, as well as their cousin, Tiffany Gouché, the Inglewood rapper founded the WoodWorks label and songwriting group.

Building a studio in their parent's garage, they set to work. “We did it with our bare hands,” Davion told Rated R&B. Despite being a student with his tuition, room and board paid for, D Smoke told BET that he personally took out the loan to renovate the space. They equiped the studio with gear and instruments given to them by their uncle Andrew Gouché, who played bass for the likes of Prince, Chaka Khan, and Mary Mary. ^[1]

D Smoke's debut album, Producer of the Year, was one of the group's first releases. It was released on May 9, 2006 digitally with a limited physical release on CD. It was their hustle following this release that garnered attention from Jason "JC" Ricks who signed them to a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. ^[2]

While Darryl, Davion, and Tiffany were writing songs for The Pussycat Dolls, Ginuwine, Jill Scott, Tyrese Gibson, Mary J. Blige, Lloyd, and Stevie Wonder, D Smoke finished his degree at UCLA and became a Spanish and Music Theory teacher at Inglewood High. ^[3]

Davion later took a break from music to study acting for 4 years and to teach for another year after that. After two independent releases in 2017, he signed with Hillman Grad Records / Def Jam to release a major label debut in 2021.

SiR began releasing solo work in 2012 and was featured on Anderson .Paak's album Venice in 2014. After releasing his official "debut" Seven Sundays in 2015, he was signed by Dave Free to Top Dawg Entertainment.

Tiffany has released several studio albums. She's worked with artists like Ty Dolla $ign, Solange, Anderson .Paak, Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliot, Iggy Azalea, Usher, and more.

D Smoke returned to music through a number of features and the occasional single until his Rhythm + Flow win and his comeback EP Inglewood High.

After 5 years of searching, I found a digital copy of the record. It's been uploaded to YouTube in its entirety.

Producer of the Year

Label: WoodWorks Music
Date: 05-09-2006
Media: CD, Digital

YouTube

Tracklist:

1. Intro 01:51
2. Prodigal Son 03:57
3. Where's She From 04:05
4. Somethin' You Can Feel 04:12
5. Lesson 1 01:02
6. The Only One 03:49
7. Same Song 03:42
8. Stacy 03:56
9. Lesson 2 01:26
10. Be Alright 03:35
11. Outro 03:03
12. Here With Me 05:24

On Friday, March 5th, 2003, Copeland played third of four at Ace’s basement in Greensboro, NC. Ahead of them on the bill was Mae, with supporting acts The Working Title and Slow Coming Day warming up the crowd.

In an article on the venue and its impression on the Greensboro scene which flourished from 2003 to 2005, Jordan Green writes for the Triad City Beat:

[Ace’s Basement] was in the subterranean level of a crack hotel. The Coliseum Inn, a hive of prostitution and addiction across the street from the Greensboro Coliseum, has long since been demolished, taking the briefly illustrious Ace’s Basement down with it.

Show promoter Joe Ferguson was pivotal in this scene, propping up local pop-punk acts and pulling in touring staples in the genre to headline gigs. On top of that, he recorded the shows he put on, creating a video record of the venue’s impact.

“My specialty was on-the-fly, multi-track editing,” Ferguson recalled to Green. “After the show I was able to hand a DVD to the band before they could even get the sweat off of them.”

Closely associated with the venue were bands like The Necesssary/House of Fools, Alli with an I, Kudzu Wish, Sullivan, Farewell, and Far-Less. Thanks to Ace’s Basement, many more bands would make tour stops in NC, including Lovedrug, The Format, Armor For Sleep, Hot Water Music, Codeseven, Bear vs Shark, A Static Lullaby, The Lawrence Arms, Bayside, Between The Buried And Me, Stretch Arm Strong, Underoath, Glasseater, Halifax, Silverstein, Alexisonfire, Hawthorne Heights, Emery, Demon Hunter, Haste The Day, Dead Poetic, Piebald, The Chariot, Gatsbys American Dream, Circa Survive, Alesana, and Lucero.

Did I mention the venue was only open for two years?

Short-lived as it was, the recordings live on. Some of which were produced into unauthorized DVDs. The Militia Group founder Chad Pearson brought to my attention one such DVD produced for Copeland’s set that night in March of ‘03. He said that that he was “pretty sure only a few copies exist.” The band’s singer, Aaron Marsh, recalled Pearson sending a cease and desist over it. That I have not been able to confirm.

Now that I know about Joe and Ace’s Basement, I’m hoping to track down more footage. If you have any, reach out. In the meantime, I’ve uploaded a rip of this DVD to YouTube. You can watch the set below.

Here's a track I learned about only this week. Before there was Fun., there was The Format. Before there was The Format, there was Never Gonna Score (aka Nevergonnascore / This Past Year) which included both Nate Ruess and Sam Means.

The compilation I found this track on is from Moose Records, also from Glendale which had only a handful of releases. This first one featured tracks from Less Than Jake, Rx Bandits, Riverfenix, and more. I uploaded the whole thing to YouTube here.

If you have more releases from Moose Records, please reach out.

How Many Teeth Do U Have? Vol. 1

Label: Moose Records
Date: 1998
Media: CD

YouTube • Download

Tracklist:

1. The Impossibles - Leave No Man Behind 03:08
2. Never Gonna Score - Rent A Guy 01:04
3. Gob - I Don't Know 01:35
4. Gutfiddle - For The Best 02:18
5. Shower With Goats - Just Wanted You To Know 01:42
6. The Supaflies - Ever Get That Urge 02:21
7. Never Gonna Score - Rent A Guy 01:04
8. Girl Repellent - Don't Tell Her I Was Asking 03:00
9. Mothermania - Alex Rudyard's Last Stand 02:01
10. The Iron Ons - Ted 02:18
11. Bigwig - Cheers 01:55
12. Brady Punx - Looking At You 02:42
13. Less Than Jake - My Very Own Flag 02:50
14. Jeffries Fan Club - Another Love Story 02:57
15. Tuesday - Please Come Home 03:17
16. Riverfenix - G.B.O.H 03:22
17. RX Bandits - S.A.M 03:17
18. Ann Beretta - Crash 02:53
19. Unleaded Plus - Beginning Of The End 02:37
20. The Hippos - Celebrate 02:50
21. The Chinkees - Not Your Pet 01:23
22. 30FootFALL - Still Rock And Roll To Me 02:31
23. Link 80 - Pretty Girls 01:37
24. Los Executivos - My Way 02:56
25. My Superhero - Watcha Gonna Find 03:32
26. Mailbox Bandits - I Wanna Be Zach Morris 01:27
27. Cousin Oliver - Head 02:27
28. 78 RPM's - Pawn Takes King 02:01
29. 30FootFALL - Still Rock And Roll To Me 02:31
30. The Bruce Lee Band - Standing Up For Justice 01:32
31. One In A Million - 12:01am 03:16
32. The Broadways - 25 Degrees North 02:05

Today's treasure of Drive Thru Records' past is a 2002 Something Corporate documentary called 'A Year In The Life.' This captures a really interesting point in the band’s career.

Something Corporate (or SoCo) formed in 1998 and released their first full length, Ready… Break, in 2000 with funding from a local venue called the Coach House. In 2001, the band signed with Drive-Thru and released the Audio Boxer EP with all new material (save “Hurricane”). That was followed by Leaving Through The Window the following year which was made up of a mixture of tracks from Audio Boxer and rerecorded songs from Ready… Break.

In a half hour, A Year In The Life documents SoCo during the recording of, and subsequent touring for, Leaving Through the Window. It takes you behind the scenes of recording with Jim Wirt (The Rocket Summer, Jack’s Mannequin, Alien Ant Farm), the recording “If U C Jordan” and “I Woke Up In A Car” music videos, their early days of Warped touring, and writing what might be the most beloved b-side ever recorded, “Konstantine.”

Unlike The Starting Line Acoustic DVD released by Drive-Thru the following year, this one came in a standard 19х13.5cm case. I’m not sure how necessary that was, really. There are no inserts or booklets to accompany the disc inside. I supposed MCA just had the money for it. I’ve included here a cleaned up scan of the front cover.

I haven't seen this one posted online previously for what I'm assuming is the same reason I had to recut it today. UMG puts out claims on any video containing footage from the "If U C Jordan" and "I Woke Up In A Car" videos, both of which this documentary goes behind the scenes. I’ve trimmed the videos from the documentary and posted the documentary below.

While "If U C Jordan" was directed by Drive Thru's own Richard Reines, "I Woke Up In A Car" was directed by renowned Canadian producer Harvey "Harv" Glazer who went on to work with acts like Kendrick, Drake, Rihanna, and more.

Production credits:

Produced by Tim Stedman
Co-Produced by Brent Kidwell
Edited by Buzz Chatman
Filmed by Brent Kidwell, Hadi Salehi, Buzz Chatman, Jeff Jackel, and Andrew McMahon
© MCA Records

In November of 2003, The Starting Line released The Make Yourself at Home EP which featured 6 acoustic tracks. “The Best Of Me,” previously released as a full-band track on Say It Like You Mean It (2002), was given the acoustic treatment. The 4 remaining songs were new.

Tracklist:

1. Make Yourself At Home 03:57
2. Selective 03:35
3. Playing Favorites 04:02
4. The Night Life 04:01
5. The Best Of Me 04:45
6. Lasting Impressions 03:17

From the liner notes:

Thank you to all of our families and friends. We would list everybody but it would be longer than the lyrics.

Everyone,
Thanks so much for checking out our acoustic EP, we hope you enjoy it. I just wanted to clarify what this recording is, for anyone who is curious. The first three songs of this EP were written while touring in the summer of 2002. With some time off we spent at home, the songs were recorded by my good friend Bob Jones of The Prize Fight in his bedroom. For convenience, the songs were recorded from an acoustic guitar and the beats were taken from an 80's Casio keyboard. Between the positive feedback we received from our friends and our desire to get the new songs out, we decided to release a five song EP including a new song and an acoustic version of The Best of Me. The last two song[s] of the CD were recorded in my basement during March 2003 and this EP was completed. It was a great experience to work on this recording as independently as we did. So thank you again, we hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it.

Love, Kenny and The Starting Line.

P.S. We added Lasting Impressions on quite awhile after the EP's completion. This song was recorded on my own in the back of the bus. It will appear on our next album as a full band song.

“Lasting Impressions” was demoed with the rest of the band during the Geffen Sessions, but would never see an official full-band release.

In addition to the EP, there was a lesser known companion DVD as well, The Make Yourself At Home Acoustic DVD. This release contained a live-recorded acoustic performance with a slightly different tracklisting. The set on the DVD was recorded at the Skate & Surf Festival in late April of 2003.

Tracklist:

1. The Drama Summer 03:18
2. Make Yourself At Home 04:50
3. Playing Favorites 03:45
4. The Night Life 04:21
5. The Best Of Me 05:28

As far as I am aware, this DVD has been out of print for a long time. On Discogs, the number of Wants exceed the Haves and, although it's not historically expensive to pick one up second-hand, the opportunity to do so is fairly uncommon.

So here's the video. I hope nobody associated with the group will mind. It's a fun set that those who have attended the band's 20 year anniversary tour this year should appreciate.

You can purchase The Make Yourself At Home EP digitally on Bandcamp along with the rest of The Starting Line’s discography.

As a bonus, here's a ~6 minute tour bus interview with Kenny Vasoli that came on the DVD, as well as two enhanced CD live videos of “Classic Jazz” and “Surprise Surprise.”

The Make Yourself At Home Acoustic DVD

The Make Yourself At Home EP